Competitive Cooperative Agreement Award To Establish a USDA RIDGE Partnership for Food and Nutrition Assistance Research

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS), in collaboration with USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), invites applications for a competitively awarded cooperative agreement to establish a research partnership to administer the Research Innovation and Development Grants in Economics (RIDGE) Program. The USDA RIDGE Partnership will:

1.    Provide renewed focus on economic aspects of food and nutrition assistance research;

2.    Stimulate innovative research on domestic food and nutrition assistance issues by providing small grants for new analyses of the USDA major food and nutrition assistance programs and food security.

3.    Broaden the network and diversity of social scientists working to expand the understanding of the economic, nutrition, and health outcomes of participation in USDA’s food assistance programs, as well as of the issues surrounding program implementation and delivery.

ERS anticipates that $750,000 will be awarded in fiscal year 2022 to support this activity. If funding is available, the Research Partner could be asked to fund subsequent rounds of small grants in FY 2023 and FY 2024. This document describes the RIDGE Partnership responsibilities and application requirements. The deadline for submission of applications is August 8, 2022.

Education

• Public and state institutions of higher education
• Private institutions of higher education