Capacity Building Grants for Non-Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture Program (NLGCA) | USDA NIFA NLGCA 007392

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NIFA NLGCA 007392

The Capacity Building Grants for Non-Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture (NLGCA) Program is a discretionary grant opportunity run by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) that is designed to strengthen the capacity of eligible non-land-grant public institutions to build and expand their agriculture and forestry-related education, research, and outreach work. The core idea is to help these colleges become more competitive for future external funding while also improving their ability to serve priority needs that matter at the national, regional, state, and local levels across agriculture, renewable resources, and related communities. In practice, the program supports projects that position an institution to win additional federal and non-federal grants, share useful knowledge with stakeholders and the public, and actively draw community and industry participation into priority-focused education, research, and outreach efforts, including by using matching funds to leverage other grant dollars.

Allowable uses of funds are broad but clearly oriented toward capacity building rather than construction. Institutions can use grant support to disseminate information on priority concerns to audiences such as producers, natural resource professionals, renewable resource communities, and the general public. They can also use funds to stimulate participation in priority activities by providing matching funds that help leverage other grants. On the institutional capacity side, the program explicitly supports acquiring equipment and other infrastructure, but it excludes alteration, repair, renovation, or construction of buildings. It also supports professional growth and development for NLGCA faculty and the creation or support of graduate assistantships, which can be important for expanding research and outreach throughput and strengthening training pipelines.

Eligibility is narrowly defined and depends on formal NIFA certification as a Non-Land Grant College of Agriculture at the time of application. Only institutions that are on NIFA's current certified NLGCA list can submit applications as lead applicants. If an institution was certified prior to December 21, 2018, it must reapply for certification under updated criteria referenced in the Federal Register notice. To become certified (or recertified), an authorized representative must submit a web-based designation request through NIFA's non-land-grant university designation process, attesting that the institution meets NLGCA qualifications. NIFA then typically responds within 30 days with either confirmation of certification or an explanation for denial.

To qualify for NLGCA designation in the first place, an institution must be a public college or university that offers a baccalaureate or higher degree in agricultural sciences, forestry, or both, and that degree program must align with one or more of a specified set of 32 recognized areas of study. Those areas span a wide range of agriculture and natural resource disciplines, including but not limited to animal sciences, plant sciences, soil sciences, agricultural engineering, agricultural economics, horticulture-related fields (such as greenhouse operations, floriculture, turfgrass management, and nursery management), forestry and wood science, natural resources management and policy, range science, aquaculture, food science, agricultural communication, and agricultural education/extension education services. NIFA also provides an eligibility flow chart to help institutions gauge whether they should pursue the designation.

The program also clarifies a policy change made by the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018: institutions that are Hispanic Serving Agricultural Colleges and Universities (HSACU) and/or McIntire-Stennis Colleges and Universities no longer face a requirement to relinquish those statuses to seek NLGCA designation. In other words, those designations are no longer mutually exclusive with NLGCA participation, removing a previous barrier for some institutions.

There are additional eligibility nuances for multi-campus systems. Individual branches of a college or university are treated as separate institutions for this program only if they are separately accredited as degree-granting institutions and appear as such on the official list of certified NLGCA institutions. Branch campuses that are not individually accredited are not treated as separate institutions and cannot apply on their own. The required accreditation must come from an accrediting agency or association recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

In terms of application volume and award limits, an NLGCA-certified institution may submit any number of applications as the lead applicant in response to the request for applications, but it is limited to receiving no more than two awards in a given cycle as the lead institution. At the same time, the institution can participate in any number of funded projects as a partner or subrecipient. While only certified NLGCAs can apply directly, awardees are allowed to issue subawards to otherwise ineligible organizations when those partners are necessary to carry out the project work.

From the funding notice details provided, the opportunity is listed under CFDA 10.326, administered by NIFA, with an award ceiling of $750,000. The opportunity was labeled USDA NIFA NLGCA 007392, categorized as a discretionary grant, and had an original closing date of October 28, 2020.

• The National Institute of Food and Agriculture in the agriculture sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Capacity Building Grants for Non-Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture Program (NLGCA)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.326.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-04-17.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2020-10-28. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $750,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for USDA NIFA NLGCA 007392

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