The Veterinary Services Grant Program (VSGP) is designed to support education and extension activities and practice enhancement initiatives that will enable veterinarians, veterinary students, veterinary technicians, and veterinary technician students to gain specialized skills and provide practices with additional resources (e.g., equipment, personnel) needed to more effectively mitigate veterinary service shortages in the U.S. Ultimately, this program will bolster the capacity of private practitioners to provide food animal veterinary services in designated rural veterinarian shortage situations.
Donor Name: National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 03/21/2024
Size of the Grant: Not Available
Grant Duration: 2 Years
Details:
The purpose of Veterinary Services Grant Program is to develop, implement, and sustain veterinary services and relieve veterinarian shortage situations in the U.S., which includes insular areas. Grants will be made available on a competitive basis to: 1. Establish or expand accredited veterinary education programs, veterinary residency and fellowship programs, or veterinary internship and externship programs carried out in coordination with accredited colleges of veterinary medicine. 2. Provide continuing education and extension, including veterinary telemedicine and other distance-based education, for veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and other health professionals needed to strengthen veterinary programs and enhance food safety and public health. 3. Cover travel and living expenses of veterinary students, veterinary interns, externs, fellows, and residents, and veterinary technicians. 4. To expose students in grades 11 and 12 to education and career opportunities in food animal medicine.
Grants will be made available on a competitive basis to:
- Enhance or expand accredited veterinary education programs, veterinary residency and fellowship programs, or veterinary internship and externship programs carried out in coordination with accredited colleges of veterinary medicine.
- Provide continuing education and extension, including virtual and other forms of distance-based education, for veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and other health professionals needed to strengthen veterinary programs and enhance food safety and public health,
- Cover travel and living expenses of veterinary students, veterinary interns, externs, fellows, and residents, and veterinary technician students attending training programs in food safety, public health, or food animal medicine.
- To expose students in grades 11 and 12 to education and career opportunities in food animal medicine.
- Expand or enhance private practice capabilities, services, and resources.
USDA Strategic Plan FY 2022-2026 goals:
- Strategic Goal 2: Ensure America’s Agriculture System is Equitable, Resilient, and Prosperous;
- Strategic Goal 4: Provide All Americans Safe and Nutritious Food;
- Strategic Goal 5: Expand Opportunities for Economic Development and Improve Quality of Life in Rural and Tribal Communities
- USDA Science and Research Strategy, 2023–2026 priorities:
- Priority 3 – Bolstering Nutrition Security and Health
- Priority 5 – Translating Research into Action: Education and Workforce Development.
Project and Grant Types
Education, Extension, and Training (EET) grants
- EET grants support the following types of formal coursework, clinical training, and practice enhancement activities:
- To allow veterinary students, veterinary interns, externs, residents, and veterinary technician students to cover expenses (other than the types of expenses described in the Rural Practice Enhancement program area) of attending training programs in food safety, public health, or food animal medicine.
- To modify a course(s) of accredited veterinary education programs that includes but is not limited to updating course materials for in-person or remote learning; faculty recruitment and retention for such a course.
- To support training of veterinary residents, interns and externships carried out in coordination with accredited colleges of veterinary medicine.
- To provide continuing education and extension, including virtual and other formats for distance-based education, for veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and other health professionals needed to strengthen veterinary programs and enhance food safety.
- To expose students in grades 11 and 12 to education and career opportunities in food animal medicine
- Although these grants last a minimum of 3 years, they do not have a minimum service commitment to a designated veterinary shortage area.
Rural Practice Enhancement grants
- Rural Practice Enhancement grants will support the development and provision of veterinary services to substantially relieve designated rural veterinary shortage situations in the United States and Insular Areas and support education or extension needs specified in the shortage area nomination. Funds may be used for one or more of the following:
- Equip veterinary offices. Applicants must explain how requested equipment will be used to provide veterinary care for agricultural animals in veterinary shortage situations.
- Purchases for clinical equipment may include, but are not limited to, animal restraints, diagnostic and therapeutic tools, such as chutes, imaging equipment, head gates, hoof trimming instruments, breeding soundness examinations, etc.
- Share in reasonable costs of operating an eligible veterinary practice. iv. Overhead costs may include, but are not limited to, salary and fringe benefits for veterinarian(s), support personnel, office rent, vehicle fuel supporting ambulatory services, maintenance contracts on equipment used to treat food animals, expendable medical and office supplies, computer software, utility expenses, and business consultant fees.
- Establish mobile veterinary facilities. Mobile veterinary facilities include, but are not limited to, a vehicle equipped to provide mobile veterinary services, mobile restraint devices, veterinary truck inserts, point of care testing equipment, etc.
- To support the exposure of students in grades 11 and 12 to education and career opportunities in food/large animal medicine and herd health management.
Funding Information
This RFA is being released prior to the passage of a full appropriations act for FY 2024. Enactment of a continuing resolution or a full appropriations act, or other authorizing legislation may affect the availability or level of funding for this program. The amount available for VSGP in FY2024 is approximately $3,822,070.
Grant Period
36 Months.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible Applicants for EET:
- State, regional, or national organization supporting food animal veterinary programs.
- Allied or professional food animal veterinary organization recognized by the American Veterinary Medical Association,
- College or school of veterinary medicine accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association,
- University research foundation or veterinary medical foundation,
- Department of veterinary science or department of comparative medicine accredited by the U.S. Department of Education,
- State agricultural experiment station or Research Farm (1890 institutions),
- State, local, or tribal government agency.
Eligible Applicants for RPE:
- For-profit or non-profit entity located in the United States or an Insular Area, such as a veterinary clinic or hospital, that provides mixed/large animal veterinary services in a rural area of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1991(a)), within a current VMLRP shortage area. FY2024 veterinary shortage situation areas are found here.
- Clinic or hospital that employs a current VMLRP awardee with a current service agreement at the time of the application and applies with reference to the single shortage area to which they are obligated to serve. If this is done, the clinic will be obligated to retain that VMLRP awardee for the 36-month duration of the VSGP award or forfeit the awarded funds (with proration for time served) upon their departure.
- RPE awards are made to clinics, not individuals. Therefore, only a clinic (even if a solo practitioner), may apply for and be awarded an RPE grant.
- Shortage situations must qualify as rural of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1991(a)).
- VMLRP Type II shortage situations are rural.
- For Type I shortage situations, use the USDA Rural Development’s Business Program’s Rural Community Development Initiative (RCDI) map to assess “rural” eligibility.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
