AFRI Food & Ag Non-formal Education FANE Technical Assistance Webinar

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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

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