William T. Grant Foundation

The goal of the Distinguished Fellows Program is to increase the supply of, demand for and use of high-quality research in the service of improved youth outcomes. The program is intended to help researchers strengthen the ways in which their work reflects an understanding of policy and practice, and help policymakers and practitioners enhance their capacities to recognize and use high-quality research. To accomplish this, the fellowship allows mid-career practitioners/policy makers to spend extended time working in a research setting or researchers to spend extended time working in a practitioner/policy-making setting. Two to four fellows are selected annually.

Online, visit http://www.wtgrantfoundation.org/info-url_nocat3042/info-url_nocat_show.htm?doc_id=253857&attrib_id=10216

National Education Association

Unspecified

The NEA Foundation supports a variety of efforts by teachers, education
support professionals and higher education faculty and staff to improve
student learning in U.S. public schools, colleges and universities. The
foundation is accepting applications for the following programs:

• Learning & Leadership Grants: Provide opportunities for teachers,
  education support professionals, and higher education faculty and staff
  to engage in high-quality professional development and lead their
  colleagues in professional growth. The grant amount is $2,000 for individuals and $5,000 for groups engaged in collegial study.
  
  
• Student Achievement Grants: Provide grants of $5,000 each to improve the academic achievement of students by engaging in critical thinking and problem solving that deepen knowledge of standards-based subject matter. The work should also improve students’ habits of inquiry, self-directed learning, and critical reflection.

Online, visit http://www.neafoundation.org/grants.htm

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

This program supports research on environmental and policy strategies to promote healthy eating among children to prevent childhood obesity, especially among low-income and racial/ethnic populations at highest risk for obesity. Two separate calls for proposals are now available:                                           

• Healthy Eating Research Round 3: This round of grants focuses on studies of policy and environmental strategies in the areas of food pricing and economic approaches; food and beverage marketing and promotion; improving access to affordable healthy foods in low-income communities; and evaluations of other promising food-related policy and environmental strategies.
  
  
• Health Eating Research Special Solicitation Round 2: These childhood obesity-related grants are for junior investigators from historically disadvantaged and underrepresented communities who have completed their doctorate or terminal degree within the last seven years. The study topics are the same as those listed for Round 3.

Online, visit http://www.healthyeatingresearch.org/

U.S. Department of Agriculture; Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service

CSREES requests applications for the Higher Education Challenge Grants Program to stimulate and enable colleges and universities to provide the quality of education necessary to produce baccalaureate or higher degree level graduates capable of strengthening the nation's food and agricultural scientific and professional workforce. Projects supported by this program will:

1. Address a state, regional, national or international educational need
2. Involve a creative or non-traditional approach toward addressing that need that can serve as a model to others
3. Encourage and facilitate better working relationships in the university science and education community, as well as between universities and the private sector, to enhance program quality and supplement available resources
4. Result in benefits that will likely transcend the project duration and USDA support

Online, visit http://www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/educationchallengehigheredhep.cfm

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service

This program provides matching funds on a competitive basis to state departments of agriculture, state agricultural experiment stations and other similar state agencies for applied research projects that address barriers, challenges and opportunities in the marketing, transportation and distribution of food and agricultural products. Proposals may deal with any stage of the marketing chain and may involve small, medium or large-scale agricultural entities but should potentially benefit multiple producers or agribusinesses. Of particular interest are proposals that reflect a collaborative approach between the states, academia, the farm sector and other appropriate entities and stakeholders. Approximately 25 to 30 projects are funded annually. The average award is $50,000.

Online, visit http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?mode=VIEW&oppId=40159

U.S. Department of Agriculture;
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service

$5.1 million

The Rural Development Program will focus on developing sustainable rural communities through integrated projects focused on enhancing economic vitality of rural communities and reducing rural poverty; protecting and enhancing economic growth and the natural resource base of rural areas by developing strategies that reduce the competition between economic growth and the environment; and building a diversified workforce to meet the needs of the present and for the future.

Online, visit http://www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/ruraldevelopmentnri.cfm

U.S. Department of Agriculture;
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service

$12.3 million

The Capacity Building Grants program supports projects that strengthen teaching programs in the food and agricultural sciences in the areas of curriculum design and materials development, faculty preparation and enhancement for teaching, instructional delivery systems, scientific instrumentation for teaching, student experiential learning, and student recruitment and retention. The program also supports projects that strengthen research programs in the areas of studies and experimentation in food and agricultural sciences, centralized research support systems, technology delivery systems, and other creative applications.

Online, visit http://www.csrees.usda.gov/funding/rfas/1890_capacity.html