The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), USDA announces the Children, Youth, and Families at Risk Sustainable Community Projects (CYFAR SCP) funding program, USDA-NIFA-SLBCD-006528, to improve the quality and quantity of comprehensive community-based programs for at-risk children, youth, and families supported by the Cooperative Extension System. The CYFAR program mission is to marshal resources of the Land-Grant and Cooperative Extension Systems to develop and deliver educational programs that equip limited resource families and youth who are at-risk for not meeting basic human needs with the skills they need to lead positive, productive, contributing lives.
The mission of the CYFAR Program is to marshal resources of the Land-grant and Cooperative Extension Systems so that, in collaboration with other organizations, they can develop and deliver educational programs that equip youth who are at-risk for not meeting basic human needs with the skills they need to lead positive, productive, and contributing lives. The CYFAR philosophy, is the basis for Sustainable Community Projects: https://nifa.usda.gov/sites/default/files/program/CYFAR%20Philosophy%20Update-2017_2.pdf
The purpose of SCP funding is to improve the quality and quantity of comprehensive community-based programs for at-risk children, youth, and families supported by the Cooperative Extension System. Collaboration across disciplines, program areas, and geographic lines, as well a holistic approach that views the individual in the context of the family and community, are central to SCP.
The CYFAR SCP has two strategic objectives:
1. To support community educational programs for at-risk, low income children, youth, and families which are based on locally identified needs, grounded in research, and which lead to the accomplishment of one of four CYFAR National Outcomes (see C.2. of the section below); and
2. To integrate CYFAR programming into ongoing Extension programs for children, youth, and families – insuring that at-risk, low income children, youth, and families continue to be part of Extension and/or 4-H programs, and/or Family and Consumer Science Programs and have access to resources and educational opportunities.
In FY 2018, you may only submit a new application to the CYFAR SCP Program as one of the following types of requests:
New application. This is a project application that has not been previously submitted to the CYFAR Program. We will review all new applications competitively using the screening for administrative requirements, review panel evaluation of proposals using evaluation criteria and selection process described in Part V—Application Review Requirements.
Resubmitted application. This is an application that had previously been submitted to the CYFAR Program but not funded. Project Directors (PDs) must respond to the previous review panel summary (see Response to Previous Review, Part IV). Resubmitted applications must be received by the relevant due dates, will be evaluated in competition with other pending applications in appropriate area to which they are assigned, and will be reviewed according to the same evaluation criteria as new applications.
Eligible Applicants:
Applications may only be submitted by Cooperative Extension at 1890 Land-grant Institutions, including Tuskegee University, Central State University, and West Virginia State University; 1862 Land-grant Colleges and Universities; and the University of the District of Columbia.
Award recipients may subcontract to organizations not eligible to apply provided such organizations are necessary for the conduct of the project. Failure to meet an eligibility criterion by the time of application deadline may result in the application being excluded from consideration or, even though an application may be reviewed, will preclude NIFA from making an award.
Only one application per Land-grant institution will be accepted. Current CYFAR SCP grantees may submit an application for an additional new project; however, if the same community site is being used, a justification must be provided (see Part IV, C, - Field 12, Other Project Information).
Only CYFAR SCP Joint Projects may be considered for center of excellence (COE) designation. See Part IV, B. of this RFA for additional requirements that eligible applicants must meet to be considered a center of excellence.
Failure to meet an eligibility criterion by the application deadline may result in the application being excluded from consideration or, even though an application may be reviewed, will preclude NIFA from making an award.
Interested applicants should send the following documents in sequence in one PDF no later than 4:00 p.m. on the internal submission deadline:
- Principal Investigator’s (PI's) names and departmental affiliation
-
Co-PI's names and departmental affiliation(s)
-
A list of possible participating organizations (if applicable)
-
Proposal Title
-
2 page Project summary to include the relevance of the project to the goals of CYFAR SCP
Formatting Guidelines and Page Limit:
-
Font/size: Times New Roman (12 pt.)
-
Document margins: 1.0” (top, bottom, left and right)
-
Standard paper size (8 ½” x 11)
Questions concerning the limited submissions process may be submitted to limitedsubs@psu.edu.