Funding Opportunities

EDEN Development Grants Program

Advancing Disaster Education Initiatives in Rural America

Request for Proposals must be submitted by 11:59pm Pacific on Monday, May 1, 2023.

Background Information

The purpose of the Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) Development Grants Program is to invest in the development of innovative educational resources and Extension initiatives that can advance the work of EDEN and the broader land-grant and sea-grant systems across the nation in addressing the preparation for, response to, and recovery from hazards and disasters. Five Critical Focus Areas (CFAs) emerged from EDEN’s Strategic Planning process led by the EDEN Executive Committee. This document outlines the key information for applicants planning to submit grant proposals to address one of the five CFAs. Proposals will support the development of collaborative teams to conduct applied research to evaluate existing resources, identify gaps in programming, facilitate the develop of, certification methods for, and the regionally-based delivery of training to enhance the capability of Extension professionals in the critical areas. The primary outcome would be a white paper that would identify current gaps and future directions, opportunities, and challenges to addressing the CFAs.

Award Amount

The maximum amount allowed for any single EDEN grant proposal is $20,000. Applicants will be allowed a 10 percent indirect cost rate in their budget. However, the total amount may not exceed the $20,000 allocation. In addition, award recipients would also be provided graphic design and editing support to complete their final report.

Eligible Applicants

Applications may be submitted by Extension professionals employed by land-grant or sea-grant universities. At least one individual on the project must be an EDEN delegate or Point of Contact.

Project Duration

Grantees will have 11 months (June 1, 2023 to April 30, 2024) to complete their projects. It is highly suggested that the Principal Investigator (P.I.) apply to present the project at the 2024 EDEN Annual Conference, typically held in the fall with proposals accepted in the spring.

Award Notification

All successful grantees will receive preliminary notification of the award around mid-May 2023.

Priority Themes and Topics

EDEN is interested in proposals that support the development of collaborative teams to conduct applied research to evaluate existing resources, identify gaps in programming, facilitate the develop of, certification methods for, and the regionally-based delivery of training to enhance the capability of Extension professionals in the critical areas. The primary outcome would be a white paper that would identify current gaps and future directions, opportunities, and challenges to addressing identified gaps surrounding the five Critical Focus Areas (CFAs).

Critical Focus Areas:

Providing Logistical Support to Directly Address US Agricultural Biosecurity through Distribution & Food Supply
Enhancing Cybersecurity to Support Agriculture and Rural/Tribal Communities
Promoting Resilience to Climate Vulnerability
Cultivating an Efficient and Productive Intersection between Research and Extension
Strengthening Extension’s Disaster Response Functions

Application Guidelines

All proposals must be organized in the following manner.

Title of the proposal
The specific research topic(s) being addressed and indicate which of the Critical Focus Areas your proposal most closely aligns.
Principal Investigator(s) and Collaborators
- List the name and institutional affiliation of each team member. Provide the telephone number, mailing address and email address of the Principal Investigator(s).
- At least one team member must be an EDEN delegate or Point of Contact (POC).
Project Summary (250-word summary of your proposal)
Layout
- The proposal shall not exceed 2 pages of written text and up to 1 additional page for figures and tables.
- The document must include all of the following:
  - 1-inch margins;
  - Times New Roman 12-point font; and
  - Single- or double-spaced text.
- Project Description
  - Introduction and Problem Statement
  - Methods
  - Data Analysis Procedures
  - Project Timeline: Provide a project timeline that specifies the activities to be completed over the period of the grant. NOTE: Grantees will have approximately 11 months (June 1, 2023 to April 30, 2024) to complete their projects. A “no cost” extension beyond the 11-month period are not allowed.
  - Proposed Budget: Specify the anticipated budget expenditures for your project and include a brief justification for these budget expenditures. As noted earlier, the indirect cost rate is limited to 10 percent.
- Relevant Experiences of Researcher(s) and Curriculum Vita
  - Briefly highlight the past activities that the applicant(s) has been engaged in that are relevant to the proposed project. This could include a listing of relevant publications, reports, and contributed papers. The Principal Investigator(s) abbreviated curriculum vita of (maximum of 3 pages) must be included with the grant proposal packet. These products are not part of the 2-page limit noted in the previous section.

Grant Review Process

The EDEN Development Grants Program takes seriously the need for a sound and unbiased peer-review process of all proposals that it receives. As such, all reviews and decisions regarding projects to be funded will be made by the Purdue FADI EDEN Team. Proposals will be evaluated on the following criteria:

The merit of the project being proposed and its intended impact on the Extension community (20 percent)
The relevance of the proposed project in terms of addressing one or more of the Critical Focus Areas (20 percent)
The soundness of the methodology being proposed (20 percent)
The project’s potential contribution to the research literature; to informing policy discussions at federal, regional, state, and/or local levels; and/or to improving food assistance/nutrition-related program outreach/delivery activities (25 percent)
The qualifications of the individual or team that will provide leadership to the research effort (15 percent)

Questions

If you have questions about any aspect of the EDEN Development Grants Program, please contact Amanda Mosiman, National EDEN Project Coordinator, at bailey1@nullpurdue.edu or 812-897-6100.