Purdue Extension partners to offer grant writing workshops
February 19, 2015
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Six grant writing workshops are being offered in Indiana to help potential applicants understand, develop and submit their federal grant applications for the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program.
The Purdue Extension Local Food Program, in collaboration with the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, is partnering with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service and National Institute for Food and Agriculture to conduct the grant writing workshops.
Jodee Ellett, Purdue Extension's local foods coordinator and Indiana state coordinator for the project, said the grant programs will award $30 million in 2015 to local food system projects. The workshops are part of the Agricultural Marketing Service Technical Assistance Project.
"Our workshops will enable grant writers to submit high-quality grant applications to support farmers markets and local food system projects," Ellett said. "It is our goal to help catalyze the excellent projects and ideas already in motion in Indiana with support from the AMSTA projects."
NIFA is coordinating the workshops through the Regional Rural Development Centers. Cooperative Extension System educators will provide training in all regions of the country.
Stephan J. Goetz, of the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development at Penn State University, will direct the effort for the national training project.
"In the history of the RRDCs, this is an unprecedented collaboration in terms of the scope and reach of a single project," Goetz said.
Workshop times and locations:
* March 16, 1-6 p.m. (EDT): Purdue University, 1601 W. State St., West Lafayette.
* March 19, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (CDT): Archie and Clyde's Restaurant, 8309 Bell Oaks Drive, Newburgh.
* March 26, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (EDT): Jackson County Courthouse, Suite 010, 111 S. Main St., Brownstown.
* March 31, 3-8 p.m. (EDT): Allen County Extension Office, 4001 Crescent Ave., Fort Wayne.
* April 7, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (EDT): Hancock County, 802 N. Apple St. Greenfield.
*April 16, 1-6 p.m. (EDT): LaPorte County Extension Office, Suite A, 2857 W. State Road 2, LaPorte.
AMS administrator Anne Alonzo said the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program is a key to USDA's efforts to revitalize rural economies by supporting local and regional food systems.
"The grant workshops will ensure that more communities and businesses across the country can participate in the competitive grant process with proposals that create real economic opportunities and help meet the growing demand for locally and regionally produced food," she said.
To register for any of the workshops, participants should visit https://purdue.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8v4qSGO3glHSftz.
For questions about meeting location information or about registering, contact Ellett at Jellett@purdue.edu or call 765-494-0349. Contact information for each location is available at https://extension.purdue.edu/Pages/article.aspx?intItemID=8959.
Writer: Carlee Glassburn, 765-496-2384, cglassbu@purdue.edu
Source: Jodee Ellett, 765-494-0349, jellett@purdue.edu
Ag Communications: (765) 494-2722;
Keith Robinson, robins89@purdue.edu
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