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Food Safety Outreach Program

USDA-NIFA Food Safety Outreach Competitive Grant Program provides funding for food safety training and education for small and mid-sized producers and processors affected by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

In FY 2024, FSOP will maintain focus on delivery of customized training to members of the target communities by continuing to solicit Community Outreach Projects and Collaborative Education and Training Projects. The program will also support outreach to underserved audiences by establishing grant writing skills technical assistance resource awards. Community Outreach and Collaborative Education and Training projects will focus on, but are not limited to, providing on farm or on-site training and/or technical assistance that addresses knowledge and resource gaps for target communities in the areas of pre- and post-harvest water testing and sampling, soil amendments, developing supply chain programs, and/or developing food safety plans. The program will also continue to fund projects that develop bilingual, accessible, and culturally appropriate training. Technical Assistance - Grant Writing Skills projects will focus on developing grant writing skills and providing resources for entities that support individuals or groups that are led by and directly interact with underserved populations including new applicants, Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) to strengthen FSOP applications from these entities.

Community Outreach Projects

Community Outreach Projects will support the development of new food safety education and outreach programs in local communities and expand upon existing food safety education and outreach programs that address the needs of small, specialized groups whose education needs have not been adequately addressed. Projects will focus on building the capacity of local groups to identify very specific needs within their communities, and to implement appropriately customized food safety education and outreach programs to meet those specific needs. In addition, projects will enable existing programs to reach a broader target audience, provide technical assistance and/or to expand to new audiences. Community Outreach Projects will enable existing education and training curricula to be modified to ensure they are consistent with new FSMA rules and to ensure that they meet the needs of expanded audiences. New audiences may include those from a variety of agricultural production and processing systems.

Collaborative Education and Training Projects

Collaborative Education and Training Projects will support the development of multi-county, state-wide or multi-state programs. For example, these projects will support collaborations among states not necessarily located within the same regions, but having common food safety concerns, or addressing common commodities. Potential applicants must have an established track record of working with target audiences and must be capable of developing and modifying food safety training curricula to meet new FSMA rules for a variety of agricultural production and processing systems.

Technical Assistance – Grant Writing Skills Projects

Technical Assistance – Grant Writing Skills Projects will support the development and refinement of grant writing skills and provide grant writing resources for entities that support individuals or groups that are led by and directly interact with underserved populations including new applicants, CBOs, and MSIs to strengthen applications to the Food Safety Outreach Program from these entities. Projects must work collaboratively with the regional centers to ensure broad coverage and outreach to their specific regions and communities to include coordinating and communicating workshops and sessions through the centers as well as utilizing regional center websites, portals, and social media feeds to share toolkits, webinars, and other resources. The grant writing resources developed will significantly increase the number of successful applicants from organizations that support food safety education and training, servicing the FSOP’s target audience.

Collaborative Engagement Supplements

NIFA will provide Collaborative Engagement Supplements for applications submitted under Community Outreach Projects, Collaborative Education and Training Projects, and Technical Assistance – Grant Writing Skills Projects that support significant collaboration among 1890s, 1862s, 1994s, entities in Insular Areas, ANNH, HSACU, HBCUs, and CBOs serving underserved populations. Applications that include significant collaborations with 1890s, 1862s, 1994s, entities in Insular Areas, ANNH, HSACU, HBCUs, and CBOs to increase outreach to underserved minority communities will be funded up to $150,000 above the listed budget maximum (up to $300,000 for Community Outreach, $550,000 for Collaborative Education and Training, and $300,000 for Technical Assistance – Grant Writing Skills Projects).

The full Request for Application can be found on the NIFA website.

Webinars

Program Tip Sheets

NIFA developed tip sheets for FSOP project types to help applicants navigate and understand the application process. These tip sheets are specific to the three project types: Community Outreach, Collaborative Education and Training, and Technical Assistance -- Grant Writing Skills. 

Download the FY 2024 Tip Sheets 

FSOP Awardees

Program Frequently Asked Questions

Program Contacts

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