From Learning to Leading: Cultivating the Next Generation of Diverse Food and Agriculture Professionals

Objective

The NextGen Program seeks to raise awareness, recruit, retain, train students for careers in the food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciencesin order to increase the availability of a well skilled workforce supportive of the food and agricultural sector. NextGen Projects Support Three Main Activities: 1)Outreach and Engagement to raise awareness and exposing learners to possible food and agriculture careers. 2)Scholarships and Fellowships that reduce financial challenges for student recruitment, retention, and graduation from associate, bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs. 3)Experiential Learning Opportunities which support paid domestic or international internships and apprenticeships that provide job shadowing, hands-on learning, and peer-to-peer engagement for students to put academic knowledge into action and develop job-ready skills.

Who Can Apply

• Other

American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Section 1006(b)(4)(A-E), as amended by Section 22007 of the Inflation Reduction Act (Pub.L 117-169), defines eligible applicants as 1890 land-grant institutions, 1994 land-grant institutions, Alaska Native serving institutions and Native Hawaiian serving institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions, and insular area institutions of higher education located in the U.S. territories.

Assistance Types

• Cooperative Agreement

Program Contact

NIFA.workforce@usda.gov
202-445-5594