Capacity Building Grants for Non-Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture Program (NLGCA)

NLGCA Institutions may use the funds: (a) to successfully compete for funds from Federal grants and other sources to carry out educational, research, and outreach activities that address priority concerns of national, regional, State, and local interest; (b) to disseminate information relating to priority concerns to interested members of the agriculture, renewable resources, and other relevant communities, the public, and any other interested entity; (c) to encourage members of the agriculture, renewable resources, and other relevant communities to participate in priority education, research, and...

Applications may only be submitted by a Non-Land Grant College of Agriculture (NLGCAs) certified as such by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. In order for an institution to qualify as a NLGCA, it must be a public college or university offering a baccalaureate or higher degree in the study of food and agricultural sciences, as defined in 7 U.S.C. 3103(9). A list of NLGCA’s certified by NIFA can be found at https://nifa.usda.gov/resource/nlgca-list. Award recipients may subcontract to organizations not eligible to apply to this grants program, providing such organizations are necessary for the conduct of the project. Section 7101 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 required NIFA to establish a process through which institutions may apply for designation as a NLGCA. To request that NIFA provide certification of NLGCA status, an Authorized Representative must go to: http://www.nifa.usda.gov/webform/request-non-land-grant-university-designation and complete a web-based form indicating the institution meets the qualifications. Within 30 days of submission, NIFA will provide the administrative point of contact specified on the request, with a certification of NLGCA designation or a response indicating why the request for certification is being denied. You must attach this certification to your application in order to be eligible to apply (see Part IV, B, 3. Field 12). Additionally, section 7101 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (Public Law 113-79), amended 7 U.S.C. 3103 to allow Hispanic-serving Agricultural Colleges and Universities (HSACUs) and State-certified non-land-grant institutions eligible to receive funds under the McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Act of 1962 to opt out of their respective designation to qualify as Non- Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture. Please see the Federal Register Notice published on May 22, 2014 for more information (https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2014/05/22/2014- 11851/process-for-non-land-grant-college-of-agriculture-nlgca-designation). Institutions that are eligible to receive funds under the McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Program and did not opt out of that status by October 13, 2015, will not be eligible to request designation as NLGCA and submit applications in response to this RFA. For the purposes of this program, the individual branches of a college or university that are separately accredited as degree-granting institutions as indicated per the Official List of Certified Non-Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture, are treated as separate institutions, and are therefore eligible to apply for NLGCA Program awards. Separate branches or campuses of a college or university that are not individually accredited as degree-granting institutions are not treated as separate institutions, and are therefore not eligible to submit an application. Accreditation must be conferred by an agency or association recognized by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. NLGCA applicants may submit (as the lead applicant) any number of applications in response to this RFA; however, your institution will be limited to a maximum of two (2) grant awards as the lead (applicant) institution. Your institution may participate in any number of NLGCA-funded projects as a partner institution in any given year. However, a Project Director is limited to one funded-project, for which they are the lead Project Director in the FY.

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