Advancing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA).

National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) recognizes research, education, and extension efforts will have the greatest impacts when programs are grounded in DEIA. NIFA is committed to enhancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility of programs and encourages individuals, institutions, and organizations from underserved communities to apply to funding opportunities as lead, co-lead, or subaward recipient(s), and to engage as leaders in the peer panel review process to support the development of strong networks and collaborations. NIFA encourages applications that engage diverse communities and have broad impacts through research, education, extension, and integrated activities to address current and future challenges.

A proposed project must address two or more Educational Need Areas and/or be an Applied Project that addresses education/teaching, outreach and capacity building to benefit the communities served, especially that of their students.

Educational Need Areas: Student Experiential Learning; Student Recruitment, Retention, Mentoring and Educational Equity; and Curriculum Design, Materials Development, and Library Resources.

Types of projects or grants that are eligible for funding:
1. Integrated Education/Teaching and Extension/Outreach Projects. For this program, an integrated project includes education and extension functions (components) within the project. Functions should be focused on the problem or issue and should be interwoven throughout the life of the project to complement and reinforce one another. The education and outreach functions should be interdependent and necessary for the success of the project and no more than two-thirds of the project’s budget may be focused on a single function.
2. Grant Types. Standard grant is the grant instrument for this RFA. This is an award instrument by which NIFA agrees to support a specified level of effort for a predetermined project period without the announced intention of providing additional support at a future date.

Maximum award amount: Up to $200,000 total for 24-36 months

Cost Sharing or Matching: In accordance with 7 U.S.C. 5925(a)(2)(A) the grant recipient is required to match the USDA funds awarded on a dollar-for-dollar basis from non-Federal sources with cash and/or in-kind contributions.