Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Missouri NRCS Partnership Notice of Funding Opportunity (NFO)

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NFO) is being released prior to appropriation and/or apportionment of funds for fiscal year 2023. Enactment of additional continuing resolutions or an appropriations act may affect the availability or level of funding for this program.

The NRCS, an agency under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is seeking opportunities to partner with, and support the efforts of natural resource conservation partners in Missouri to achieve any one of the following objectives:

Implement, coordinate, and/or support the development of Urban Gardens and/or People’s Garden’s Initiative: Proposals should seek to increase awareness, utilization, and installation of vegetable, specialty crop, native plant, and or related vegetative gardens in urban areas in Missouri. Proposals shall provide learning opportunities to educate the general public and urban residents on the benefits of urban gardens, and locally produced food and/or garden sites. Proposals shall utilize innovative urban or established urban conservation practices or seek to demonstrate overall benefits of urban gardens. Applicant must demonstrate the capability to unite members of the urban community to share their knowledge with producers, consumers, and other interested parties.

This notice identifies the objectives, eligibility criteria, and application instructions. Proposals will be screened for completeness and compliance with the provisions of this notice. Incomplete and/or noncompliant proposals will be eliminated from competition, and notification of elimination will be sent to the applicant. The Missouri State Conservationist reserves the right not to fund any or all applications. NRCS will accept applications under this notice for single or multiyear applications submitted by eligible entities.

For new users of Grants.gov, see Section D. for information about steps required before submitting an application via Grants.gov.

Key Dates

Applicants must submit their applications via Grants.gov by 11:59 pm Eastern Time on May 22, 2023. For technical issues with Grants.gov, contact Grants.gov Applicant Support at 1-800-518-4726 or support@grants.gov. Awarding agency staff cannot support applicants regarding Grants.gov accounts.

For inquiries specific to the content of the NFO requirements, contact the federal awarding agency contact (section G of this NFO). Please limit questions to those regarding specific information contained in this NFO (such as dates, page numbers, clarification of discrepancies, etc.). Questions related to eligibility or the merits of a specific proposal will not be addressed.

The agency anticipates making selections by June 22, 2023 and expects to execute awards by September 30, 2023. These dates are estimates and are subject to change.

A webinar will be conducted at 10:00am central standard time, on Wednesday, April 12th, 2023. Information on how to participate may be obtained by contacting Brad McCord at 573-876-9423 or Amanda Zapien at 573-876-0901 or brad.mccord@usda.gov, or Amanda.zapien@usda.gov.

Nonprofit

• Other Native American tribal organizations
• Nonprofits non-higher education with 501(c)(3)
• Nonprofits non-higher education without 501(c)(3)

Government

• Public and Indian housing authorities
• County governments
• Federally recognized Native American tribal governments
• State governments
• Special district governments
• City or township governments

Education

• Private institutions of higher education
• Public and state institutions of higher education
• Independent school districts

Miscellaneous

• Individuals