There are two excellent funding opportunities from the Department of Agriculture this week. One grant will provide monies for training programs to enhance farming and ranching opportunities for military veterans. The other grant will award funds to develop and offer education, training, outreach and mentoring programs to enhance the sustainability of the next generation of farmers. For organizations who have or want to offer reentry programs, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is providing funding to expand substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and related recovery and reentry services to sentenced adult offenders/ex-offenders with a SUD.
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Grant Title: Enhancing Agricultural Opportunities for Military Veterans Competitive Grants Program
Grant Info: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=298885
Details: NIFA requests applications for the AgVets for fiscal year 2017 (FY17) to provide grants to nonprofit organizations for training programs and services to establish and enhance farming and ranching opportunities for military veterans.
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Grant Title: Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program
Grant Info: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=298993
Details: Beginning farmer education for adult and young audiences in the United States can generally be traced back to the advent of the 1862 and 1890 Morrill Land Grant Acts. But for the first time, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Pub .L. No. 110-234, Section 7410) appropriated $75 million for FY 2009 to FY 2012 to develop and offer education, training, outreach and mentoring programs to enhance the sustainability of the next generation of farmers. The Agriculture Act of 2014 provided an additional $20 million per year for 2014 through 2018. The reasons for the renewed interest in beginning farmer and rancher programs are as follows: the rising average age of U.S. farmers; the 8% projected decrease in the number of farmers and ranchers between 2008 and 2018; and the growing recognition that new programs are needed to address the needs of the next generation of beginning farmers and ranchers.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Grant Title: Offender Reentry Program
Grant Info: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=298782
Details: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2018 Offender Reentry Program (ORP) grants. The purpose of this program is to expand substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and related recovery and reentry services to sentenced adult offenders/ex-offenders with a SUD and/or co-occurring substance use and mental disorders, who are returning to their families and community from incarceration in state and local facilities including prisons, jails, or detention centers (hereafter known as “the population of focus”). For the purpose of this FOA, sentenced adult offenders/ex-offenders are defined as persons 18 years of age or older (or adults as defined by your state or tribal law) under the jurisdiction of the criminal justice system who have been sentenced to incarceration as adults. If your state or tribe uses a different age range for adult offenders, you must document how the age of “adults” is defined in your state or tribal justice system. Applicants are expected to form stakeholder partnerships that will plan, develop and provide a transition from incarceration to community-based SUD treatment and related reentry services. SAMHSA’s interest is to actively support offender reentry stakeholder partnerships so that clinical needs are met and clients are treated using evidence-based practices. By providing needed treatment and recovery services, this program is intended to reduce the health and social costs of substance use and dependence to the public, and increase the safety of America’s citizens by reducing substance use related crime and violence. Additional anticipated outcomes include: increased number of individuals served; increased abstinence from substance use; increased employment rates; decreased recidivism rates; increased housing stability; decreased criminal justice involvement; improved individual and family functioning and well-being; increased social connectedness; and decreased risky behaviors.