well I would like to welcome everybody to the nifa food and agriculture non-formal education technical webinar this is the place where we will go through the request for application try to give you more than enough details that you can complete this grant program and submit it food and agriculture non-formal education is what we call FANE it's also known as the AFRI a7801 this is for year 2023 and Welcome to our webinar okay so if you open up the RFA all the important information that you're most interested in is on page 18 and we've also have a QR code there for your convenience as well as a link directly to it as I mentioned before it is program code a 7801 the program name is food and agriculture nonformal education the application deadline is December 7th 2023 at 5:00 pm eastern time and there are two Grant types standard Grant and FASE which is a strengthening standard Grant only the grant duration can be 36 to 48 months and the maximum award amount is $750,000 which of course includes your indirect cost the meeting today will be recorded and it will also be posted on the nifa website if you need tech support here's a number for you press option number two and throughout the presentation you may type questions in the question and answer box Erika will be answering some of those and she may bring some of them forward for all all of us to see and the slides and the recording for this webinar will also be posted on the afro education Workforce Development web page so that will be there for viewing later as well so as you get into this and you're wondering what was said what was covered it will be there for you to watch again our non-discrimination statement is in this slide I am expected to read the first paragraph so I will do that and in accordance with Federal civil rights law and US Department of Agriculture USDA civil rights regulations and policies the USDA its agencies offices and employees and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race sex color national origin religion gender identity including gender expression sexual Orientation disability age marital status family parental status income derived from a public assistance program political beliefs or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA not all bases apply to all programs remedies and compliant filing deadlines vary by program or incident and as you know USDA is an equal opportunity provider employer and lender and there is a link to that if you are interested in reading more about that your Fame program contacts are myself I am Dr Jeff Sallee I'm the national program leader in the Division of Youth and 4 my email address is Jeffrey with an rey. usda.gov and Erika Kraus who also has her PhD she is a program specialist and her address is erika.kraus at usda.gov if you have any questions want to reach out to us those are the two main contacts that you will want to reach out to for fame today we will cover a nifa overview very briefly program overview we will cover the request for application details proposal evaluation process so you can see kind of what happens as we evaluate this and additional information or resources okay so nefa is the National Institute for food and agriculture is the extra mural science funding agency within usda's research education and economics Mission area you will often see that listed as re re nifa invest in and support reports initiatives that ensure the long-term viability of Agriculture nifa provides funding and strategic leadership for programs that ensure groundbreaking discoveries in agricultur related sciences and Technologies reach the people who can put them into practice it's why USDA is known as the people's agency topics that are covered by nifa programs are Advan Advanced Technologies animals business and economy natural resources education which includes minority serving institutions teaching and learning Workforce Development environment farming and ranching human Sciences food science food and nutrition Security International and plants for a program overview AFRI is a short for the Agriculture and food research initiative within the RFA you will see the priority areas listed on page eight and those areas are plant health and production and plant products Animal Health and production and animal products food safety nutrition and health bioenergy natural resources and environment agriculture Systems and Technology and agricultural economics and Rural communities if you were involved with this RFA last year you will notice some updates and I wanted to point these out for changes in the program and this RFA covers the physical year of 2023 Grant application res re review cycle for this cycle funding for FY 2023 and FY 2024 budgets will be used so funding will be coming from both years and you'll notice being due December the 7th it's going to uh overlap between 2023 and 2024 the big new thing for this year that we want you to not to make special note of is inclusion of the requirement for mentoring plan in all applications to all program area priorities so on pages 11 and 12 of the RFA and we will cover this in more detail later removal of research and extension experiences for undergraduates Education coordination Network opportunity has been taken out and the special Workforce Development topics are not being offered in the fiscal year 2023 as they were in the past afri education and Workforce Development ewd request for applications on page 8 through 11 okay this seeks to address projected shortfalls in qualified graduates in the agricultural food and renewable natural resources sectors of the US economy FY 2324 has four overarching goals with the addition of special topics growing agricultural literacy and Workforce Development for the future which is often known as pedal a751 training or retraining of agricultural workers which is awt a761 developing Pathways FANE a 7801 and reeu a741 are pro developing Pathways as the program that FANE falls under and advancing science pre and postdoctoral fellows a711 and a721 and this is all one large grant program under the education and Workforce Development and the total ewd funds and that is for all of these programs that I just went over is approximately $49 million additional projects submitted under this RFA will be considered should additional funding become available beyond the amount listed above and just for your information we received several questions about past awardees and what their projects are those were just released today in the nifa update and so you can look at those for the past last year and last year we received $8.2 million just for FANE but the warning with that is it doesn't mean we're going to receive $8.2 million for fame this year we're
still waiting to see how this shakes out okay food and Agriculture and non-formal education program priorities Pages 18 through 20 of the RFA so for Fain we want to develop content and activities to enhance use understanding of technologies that enhance the food and agricultural enterprise examples of these Technologies are biotechnology Gene editing data science artificial intelligence robotics Automation and others so don't read this list and think you're limited to just those things there are other technologies that enhance the food and agricultural enterprise our second priority we want to prepare youth to help meet the needs of the future Workforce through enhanced nonformal educational modules so we're preparing the future Workforce third priority develop Outreach materials that clearly communicate the demonstrated benefits of agricultural Technologies and biotechnology so the the Outreach materials that clearly communicate are very important in this just like in the top priority develop content and activities those two tie together very well in our last priority is complement and build upon programs that have successfully demonstrated positive Youth Development strategies and outcome and once again these are just examples 4h AG programming agriculture in the classroom fda's agricultural biotechnology education and Outreach initiative and there may be other programs that you can build upon out there as well our next priority is very important involve youth in the design execution and evaluation of activities that lead to the development of consumer friendly content that builds public confidence in the safe use of biotechnology in agriculture and the food system and I want you to take special note at the beginning of that it's all important but involve youth in the design execution and evaluation of activities that lead to the following in our last priority develop activities that cultivate interest and competencies in stem and in food and agriculture sciences and support at least one of the six Farm build priority areas of afre okay the mentoring plan for fame is on page 20 of the RFA MP short for mentoring plan uh a mentoring plan describing peer mentoring layered mentoring or similar mentoring activities is required for this program detailed information regarding the specific requirements of the mentoring plan could be found in the afre ewd RFA additional information for part 4C FY 23 the PDF file in the attachments list on the afre RFA resources page C part four C is the important thing that you really want to hang on to there read that and the mentoring plan should include the roles and responsibilities of the Project Director and the co-project directors in managing the mentoring process the mentoring plan should also include training for and or credentials of individuals who will serve as mentors as an example Mentor training mentors may be experienced mentors from Academia industry or government or student peers at various levels who are expected to provide guidance cultural support in a sense of community with the activities and facilitate the amplification of program specific perspectives and accomplishments of the mentees number three a description of mentoring activities that may include but are not limited to peer mentoring layered mentoring whereby a set of mentees are progressively mentored by others at a higher level in their careers these activities should be incorporated into the overall project timeline and fourth one a description of processes to ensure reasonable accommodations for program participants with disabilities or challenges with assessing program activities scholarship programs should include plans to accommodate scholarship recipients who find it necessary to interrupt their program of study because of Health personal or other reasonable non-academic non-disciplinary causes and this is new for this year so we want to spend a little bit of extra time on the mentoring plan moving on to FANE project types which is on page 18 first of which is education projects projects develop human capital relevant to overall program goals for us agriculture includes formal classroom instruction laboratory instruction and practicum experience in the food and agricultural Sciences extension projects conduct programs and activities that deliver science-based knowledge and informal educational program programs to people enabling enabling them to make practical decisions and then integrated projects which are a combination of education and extension and includes least at least two of the three functions of the Agricultural knowledge system within a project okay our grant types and descriptions can be found on page 18 and Page 30 standard grants support Target targeted original scientific research education extension or integrated projects strengthening standards are targeted towards minority serving institutions which is greater than 50% minority small and midsize institutions less than or equal to 17,500 students and epcore States we're taking two submission types new applications and resubmitted applications and the descriptions of the grant types are on page 30 uh this link here would work if you download the presentation and there's also a flowchart that we've made Available to You eligibility for single function projects page 31 whether it's education or extension State agricultural experiment stations colleges or universities including junior colleges offering associate degrees or higher University Research foundations other research institutions or organizations federal agencies National Laboratories private organizations or corporations US citizens Nationals or permanent residents any group consisting of two or more entities identified above eligibility for integrated projects is on page 31 um it includes colleges and universities all 1862 1890 and 1994 land grant institutions and Hispanic serving agricultural colleges and universities application submissions on page 37 eligible institutions May submit more than than one application to this program as a lead institution okay budgeting basics for FANE is on page 18 what can go in the budget participant stiens and travel provider Personnel salaries software curricula scientific instrumentation science kits as needed for the program $750,000 is the maximum request amount per allocation the project periods can be 36 to 48 months and must include the indirect cost okay requests for application documents this slide includes what I call your friends there is a link to the RFA there is a link to part 4 C which contains additional information which will be very helpful in helping you complete the the application which includes content and form of the application detailed guidance for information requested including project summary project narrative additional attachments including the data management plan which is required the logic model which is required CVs Etc which as you know are required nifa afre RFA review criteria part 5B and nfag grants.gov application guide excuse me which includes General guidance on using grants.gov and how to on forms referenced in the RFA back to the important application information on page 18 remember the program code is a 7801 do not mix that up the program code name is food and agriculture non-formal education the application deadline is December 7th 2023 at 5:00 pm Eastern Time Grant types standard and phase strengthening standard grants only the grant duration is limited to 36 to 48 months and the maximum amount is $750,000 total key documents for FANE applications from part 4 C on pages 13- 22 you need a summary and Abstract project narrative has a 10 page limit bibliography and references cited Key Personnel roles two-page limit project model also has a two-page limit management plan three pages data management Point two-page limit do not forget your data management facilities and other resources biographical sketch two pages conflict of interest current and pending support budget budget justification and representations regarding felony conviction and tax delinquency status for corporate applicants within the project narrative part 4C Pages 14- 16 within the 10 pages need to describe your over review and justification which includes the objectives and what is the need the extension environment location who is involved Key Personnel Partnerships host sites what is the approach youth involvement Outreach materials development plan of operation and methodology project evaluation and Reporting timeline approach for tracking youth centered learning outcomes expected outputs number of products underrepresented youth youth participants indirect use Serve expected out books out excuse me expected outputs table does not count against the 10-page limit of the project narrative applications be aware applications exceeding the page limitation will be returned without review for the application submission nifa only accepts electronic submission of applications nifa grants application guide is available at the following link and application documents must be in portable document format PDF to be accepted by nifa including your narrative and budget justifications grants.gov may allow other formats but nifa does not do not not use thirdparty PDF
Builders okay evaluation criteria it's on page 45 of part 4B Pages 11 and 12 detailed evaluation criteria for each project type Grant type are found in the afre review criteria PDF and the attachments listed on the afre resource page we will use the appropriate EV valuation criteria to review applications submitted in response to this RFA in program area priority so what that means is look that up look at your Grant applications and know that that's what they're going to be judged against the evaluation criteria page 45 part 4B page 11 and 12 Merit of the application for science extension meets project objectives and out outomes methodology is appropriate data management plan is clearly described involvement of Youth in design and implementation measurably increased number of Youth with enhanced agriculture literacy qualifications of personnel facilities and project management Key Personnel experiences and youth roles proposed work is original instit capacity to carry out the project clear project management plan adequate funds directed towards participant engagement in Project relevance project is supportive of program goals methods of evaluate methods to evaluate performance levels and document outputs outcomes and impacts sustainability after Grant period ends and perceive pitfalls and alternatives to address them the evaluation process is in the following steps proposals are assigned for review to at least three reviewers with expertise in the proposed topic that's step one step two reviewers will produce individual reviews for each proposal evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the proposal step three these written reviews are used to begin panel discussions with other reviewers serving on the review panel and last through these discussions peer review panelists come to consensus on the final rating and ranking of proposals this is all done by the Merit reviewers which have expertise in the proposed topics timeline of competitive programs the first one to two months uh the request for application was released proposal writing in planning hopefully that's going on right now proposals are due December 7th 2023 and the next two to three months proposal under peer review proposal funding notifications may take two to three months after proposal submission and then a following one to two months awards are finalized and made this is a slow process on average a competitive program takes about five months from a proposal due date to an award being made to an institution we will keep you updated as much as much as possible and we appreciate your patience in this process additional information uh if you would like to see previous Awards as I mentioned ear earlier you can go to the nifa data Gateway which enables users to find funding data metrics and information about research education and extension projects that have received Grant awards from nifa users can use terms and filters to search for projects choose the data elements to see the results and Export export the results so it's a good place to look up previous Awards Grant resources funding opportunities are at the following website competitive grants flowchart is also online we have a page for nifa Grant resources under Grant Training we have a nifa policy guide for you indirect cost nifa grants application guide and information on awarded grants so all these may be valuable links to you and volunteer to become a panelist if you're listening to this and thinking maybe I'm not quite ready to apply becoming a grant panelist or volunteering to be a panelist is a great way to learn more about the process if you have the credentials that you know about the program and would be considered a merit reviewer let us know you can scan this QR go to the link below and volunteer to be a panelist to learn more about the process okay I will now open it up for questions I'm here Dr Kraus is here also she may have some answers for some of our questions and you can stop recording now too
2023-10-24