Economic Development Administration; Department of Commerce

EDA funds research and technical assistance projects to promote competitiveness and innovation in distressed rural and urban regions throughout the United States and its territories. By working in conjunction with its research partners, EDA will help states, local governments and community-based organizations achieve their highest economic potential. EDA is soliciting applications for funding the following projects:

1. Information dissemination to practitioners serving economically distressed areas
2. Research addressing the area of business incubators

Online, visit
http://www.eda.gov/ImageCache/EDAPublic/documents/ pdfdocs2007/nta2ndfforeopeningfinal1007_2epdf/v1/ nta2ndfforeopeningfinal1007.pdf

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

$1.2 million

This program is intended to improve the quality and quantity of comprehensive community-based programs for at-risk children, youth and families. The program's mission is to marshal resources of the land-grant and Cooperative Extension Systems to develop and deliver educational programs that equip limited resource families and youth who are at-risk for not meeting basic human needs with the skills they need to lead positive, productive, contributing lives.

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

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

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; Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service

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

W.K. Kellogg Foundation

For the nation's food system to function effectively, it must provide access to a safe and nutritious food supply for all segments of society. To ensure continued food security, this same system must produce food in a manner that protects the environment, while adding economic and social value to rural and urban communities. Kellogg Foundation-funded projects seek to achieve these and other goals as they build partnerships among nonprofit organizations, consumers and producers. They also support relevant market and policy changes, and link higher education institutions to communities in ways that support a healthy, viable and sustainable food system.

Online, visit http://www.wkkf.org/default.aspx?tabid=66&CID=4&NID=25&LanguageID=0