1890 Institution Teaching, Research and Extension Capacity Building Grants (CBG) Program | USDA NIFA CBGP 008120

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NIFA CBGP 008120

The 1890 Institution Teaching, Research and Extension Capacity Building Grants (CBG) Program is a discretionary grant opportunity run by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to build long-term institutional capacity at the 1890 Land-Grant Universities. Its core purpose is to strengthen food and agricultural sciences at these institutions by improving their teaching, research, and extension capabilities, with a strong emphasis on projects that expand the schools' ability to deliver high-quality academic programs, produce relevant research, and serve communities through outreach and extension. The program also encourages integrated approaches that intentionally connect education, research, and extension into a single, coordinated project, rather than treating them as separate tracks.

CBG funding can support several types of capacity-building work. On the teaching side, the program backs efforts such as curriculum design, instructional and course-material development, and faculty development, along with other activities that improve academic quality and student learning in food and agricultural sciences. On the research and extension side, it supports studies and experimentation, and also helps build extension program development support systems and other infrastructure or capability improvements that increase the effectiveness and reach of extension and applied research programs. In addition to standard and collaborative projects, the program explicitly supports integrated project grants, reflecting NIFA's intent to strengthen the 1890 institutions by linking classroom learning, discovery, and community-facing solutions in a unified plan.

All applications must align with at least one NIFA strategic goal area listed in the opportunity materials: sustainable bioenergy, food security, childhood obesity prevention, or food safety. In practical terms, that means proposed activities should be clearly framed around one (or more) of those themes and show how the project will build lasting capacity at the 1890 institution while producing measurable improvements in teaching, research, extension, or integrated programming.

Eligibility is tightly limited to the designated 1890 Land-Grant Institutions (as referenced under Section 7129 of Pub. L. 113-79 and 7 U.S.C. 3152(d)(2)). The eligible applicants listed in the opportunity include: Alabama A&M University, Alcorn State University, Central State University, Delaware State University, Florida A&M University, Fort Valley State University, Kentucky State University, Langston University, Lincoln University (MO), North Carolina A&T State University, Prairie View A&M University, South Carolina State University, Southern University and A&M College, Tennessee State University, Tuskegee University, University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, Virginia State University, and West Virginia State University. Applications submitted by entities outside this list are not eligible as lead applicants, and failing to meet the eligibility requirements by the deadline can exclude an application from consideration or prevent NIFA from making an award.

The opportunity also spells out participant eligibility rules when grant funds are used for developmental activities or educational costs for faculty and students. In those cases, supported faculty and students must qualify as eligible participants, meaning they must be U.S. citizens or U.S. nationals (with specific definitions referenced in the RFA). Students must be enrolled at an institution that is eligible to receive CBG awards. Where eligibility is claimed under the immigration definition at 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(22), documentation from USCIS may need to be provided to NIFA upon request. The citizenship requirements differ depending on the project role and grant type: U.S. citizenship is not required for faculty serving as project director (PD), co-PD, or key personnel on Standard or Collaborative projects, but U.S. citizenship is required for faculty serving as PD on a Professional Development project.

There are also workload and project-leadership limits intended to prevent overcommitment and to spread leadership opportunities. A faculty member may not serve as PD on more than two active CBG projects at a time; if they already have two active awards, at least one must be scheduled to expire by the end of the current fiscal year for them to remain eligible to lead another. Faculty may submit multiple Standard and/or Collaborative applications as lead PD in the relevant fiscal year (as described in the posting), and there is no stated limit on how many proposals a person can join as a co-PD or key personnel. However, all key personnel must provide a current and pending support form, and key personnel may not commit more than 100 percent total effort across concurrent projects.

For collaborations, the program allows subcontracting to organizations that are not themselves eligible to apply as prime applicants, as long as the subcontract is necessary for a successful project and directly advances capacity building at the 1890 institution in the area covered by the application. This creates flexibility to bring in specialized partners (for example, other universities, nonprofits, industry, or government entities) while keeping the central focus on strengthening the 1890 institution's own capabilities.

From the posted opportunity data, the program is administered by USDA NIFA under CFDA 10.216, uses the grant instrument, and falls under the agriculture funding activity category. The opportunity listing shows an award ceiling of $750,000 and identifies the closing date shown in the source as October 15, 2021 (with the opportunity created January 15, 2021). The overall takeaway is that CBG is designed less as a one-time project funding source and more as a targeted capacity-building investment for the 1890 Land-Grant system, prioritizing durable improvements in programs, people, curricula, research and extension systems, and integrated models that connect these functions to address major national food and agriculture priorities.

• The National Institute of Food and Agriculture in the agriculture sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "1890 Institution Teaching, Research and Extension Capacity Building Grants (CBG) Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.216.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-01-15.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-10-15. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $750,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for USDA NIFA CBGP 008120

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