The A1461 Environmental Justice program area priority within the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Foundational and Applied Science Program seeks to develop models and methods that enable NIFA to better track how agency investments in clean energy, climate change, water, and food and nutrition security impact underserved communities.
Climate change poses a significant risk to agriculture, forests, and rangelands across the United States. Underserved communities are especially vulnerable to climate change and research-based understanding is needed to advance environmental justice and ensure food and nutrition security and economic opportunities for communities at risk.
Program Information
The program seeks applications that use stakeholder-informed approaches — those that meaningfully incorporate perspectives, knowledge and input from Indigenous and underserved communities — to document and measure the secondary, or indirect, community-level social benefits and impacts of NIFA’s programs.
The program will fund a single, $1 million award for a Standard grant to support a research project. Conference grants — funded at a maximum of $50,000 — are also available.
How to Apply
A letter of intent is required for this program. They are due on June 15, 2023. Full applications are due on September 14, 2023.
See the AFRI Foundational and Applied Science Request for Applications for details on how to apply.
Eligibility Requirements
Applicants to this program must meet the requirements outlined in the Request for Applications. For research projects, eligible applicants include:
- a State Agricultural Experiment Station
- colleges and universities (including junior colleges offering associate degrees or higher)
- university research foundations
- other research institutions and organizations
- federal agencies
- national laboratories
- private organizations or corporations
- individuals who are U.S. citizens, nationals or permanent residents
- any group consisting of two or more entities identified in a) through h)
Eligible institutions do not include foreign and international organizations.
Definitions
Applications from or collaborations with minority-serving institutions are required. Applications that form collaborations with NIFA AI Institutes are encouraged.
Minority-serving Institution: an accredited academic institution whose enrollment of a single minority or a combination of minorities exceeds 50% of the total enrollment, including graduate and undergraduate and full- and part-time students. An institution in this instance is an organization that is independently accredited as determined by reference to the current version of the Higher Education Directory, published by Higher Education Publications, Inc., 6400 Arlington Boulevard, Suite 648, Falls Church, Virginia 22042 (703-532-2300).
