The purpose of the Smith-Lever Special Needs Competitive Grants Program (SLSNCGP), is to support innovative, education-based approaches to address disaster preparedness and specific responses related to disasters or disaster threats caused by natural, human-made, or technological hazards, or by other factors that contribute to the exposure or vulnerability of a community. The goals and objectives of SLSNCGP include supporting quality of life in communities across the United States by addressing disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation in food and agricultural systems. The SLSNCGP also seeks to continue to provide information and resources to USDA stakeholders and collaborators to improve decision-making before, during, and after disasters.
Grant funds will support innovative extension education initiatives that address risks, hazards, and threats that may lead to disasters. The SLSNCGP enables the Cooperative Extension System (CES) to assist in preparing for, providing an educational response to, recovering from, and mitigating disasters and disaster threats. Types of hazards and disaster-related projects that were funded in previous years included uncertainties caused by losses of economic infrastructure, extreme weather or other disasters, security breaches, human disease, volunteerism, local coordination, or high consequence animal diseases and plant pests. The SLSNCGP promotes awareness and capacity building of urban and rural communities’ response to disasters by strengthening individual, family, farm, and small business disaster preparedness, particularly for those who have been historically underserved, through education and collaborations with other agencies/volunteer organizations.
For further details on program purpose and priorities, see https://www.nifa.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2023-03/FY23-SLSNCGP-RFA-F_0.pdf#page=6.
Project and Grant Types: https://www.nifa.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2023-03/FY23-SLSNCGP-RFA-F_0.pdf#page=9
Estimated Total Program Funding:
