1. Overview of USDA/NIFA Partnerships for
Education
Victoria LeBeaux, PhD

2. USDA’s Education Portfolio
Spans Across Several Agencies
Agricultural Research Service
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Economic Research Service
Farm Service Agency
Food and Nutrition Service
Food Safety and Inspection Service
Forest Service
National Agricultural Statistics Service
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Natural Resources Conservation Service
Rural Development
COMMON THEMES:
Learning and Engagement
Internships, research experiences
Capacity Building
Workforce Development
Educational Campaigns and Outreach
Workshops, seminars and trainings

3. National Institute of Food and Agriculture
USDA’s principal extramural scientific research, education and extension agency
Research: to develop the knowledge to address national challenges
Education: to strengthen schools and universities that train the next generation of scientists, educators and producers
Extension: to bring knowledge gained through research and education to the public
nifa.usda.gov

4. Education Strategies Curriculum Development
Improving Instructional Delivery Systems
Expanding Student Career Opportunities
Increasing Faculty Teaching Competencies
Facilitating Institutional Collaborations

5. Agclassroom.org

6. NIFA: USDA Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) funding
American Samoa
Northern Mariana Islands
Guam
Puerto Rico
Micronesia
Virgin Islands of the U.S.

7. USDA Rural Development
Community Facilities Program: USDA can provide colleges with loans and grants to construct and renovate classrooms and dormitories, and to purchase school student transportation vehicles.

8. USDA Rural Development
Distance Learning and Telemedicine grants can cover the cost of video conferencing and distance learning equipment.

9. USDA Rural Development
Community Connect program provides grants to build broadband infrastructure and establish community centers that offer free public access in rural areas where broadband service is least likely to be available.

10. USDA Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food (KYF2)
Helping communities scale up local and regional food systems and strengthen their economies

11. USDA Summer Food Service Program

12. USDA: The People’s Department
Collaboration with other Federal Agencies
Land Grant Universities, Non Land Grants, Community Colleges +
Extension
4-H (Nonformal education)
USDA.gov and nifa.usda.gov
Blogs, social media
Stakeholder Listening Sessions
Stakeholder Feedback solicited for all NIFA Grant Programs
Serve on a Award Review Panel

13. National Program Leader NIFA Division of Community and Education
Victoria LeBeaux, PhD.
National Program Leader
NIFA Division of Community and Education

14. National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
Mission: to advance knowledge for agriculture, the environment, human health and well-being, and communities Priority Science Areas
Food Security and Hunger
Climate Change
Sustainable Energy
Childhood Obesity
Food Safety
nifa.usda.gov

15. Funding Mechanisms Scientific and Technical Workforce Development
Capacity Building
Grants for Non Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture Program (NLGCA)
Alaska Native-Serving and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions
1890 Land Grant Programs
1994 Land Grant Tribal Programs
Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI)
Scientific and Technical Workforce Development
Multicultural Scholars Program (MSP)
National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowship (NNF)
AFRI NIFA Undergraduate, Pre and Post Doctoral Fellowship Program
Women and Minorities in STEM (WAMS)
Learning and Engagement Programs
Non Formal (4-H)
Secondary Education, Two-Year Postsecondary Education, and Agriculture in the K-12 Classroom Challenge Grants Program (SPECA)
Higher Education Challenge (HEC) Grants Program
K-12 Ag in the Classroom

16. Higher Education Challenge (HEC)
Challenge Grants Programs
Higher Education Challenge (HEC)
Secondary Education, Two-Year Postsecondary Education, and Agriculture in the K-12 Classroom (SPECA) Challenge
Funded activities include developing, evaluating, and disseminating:
Exceptional educational, laboratory, or related curricular materials
Instructional delivery methods to improve student retention of academic content
Professional development approaches to improve the capacity of faculty to provide effective and up-to-date instruction and to recruit and advise diverse student populations
Support the creation, adaptation, and adoption of learning materials and teaching strategies to operationalize what we know about how students learn

17. AFRI Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Human Sciences Education and Literacy Initiative : Undergraduate Experiential Learning Fellowships program
Promote research, education and extension experiential learning for undergraduates such that upon graduation they may enter the agriculture workforce with exceptional skills.

18. Undergraduate Experiential Learning Fellowships Program
Non-exhaustive examples of experiential projects include:
(a) research and/or extension apprenticeships, internships, or similar participatory learning within the six AFRI priority areas;
(b) practicums in agricultural laboratories, farms or Cooperative Extension Programs;
(c) externships in the private or public sector;
(d) study abroad focused on global food security issues to develop global competency skills.

19. Food and Agricultural Science Enhancement (FASE) Grants
Food and Agricultural Science Enhancement (FASE) Grants are designed to help institutions develop competitive projects, and to attract new scientists and educators into careers in high-priority areas of national need in agriculture, food, and environmental sciences.

20. FASE Strengthening Grants
Sabbatical Grants
Equipment Grants
Seed Grants
Coordinated Agricultural Project Grants
Conference Grants

21. FASE Strengthening Grants
Strengthening Grants are available during each funding cycle to ensure that researchers at institutions and states that are underrepresented in terms of Federal research, education, and/or extension funding receive a portion of AFRI funds.