News and new grant funding opportunities and resources for the S.C. Lowcountry Promise Zone

UPDATE OVERVIEW

In this update, you will find new information and recent news on a variety of topics, including:

NEWS:   Read about how a small group of Walterboro citizens has embraced a new opportunity to make a positive contribution to the community through arts and culture.

LEARNING:   A new mapping tool as well as links to great online grant resources.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES:  There are lots of new and current funding opportunities, plus many for which deadlines are approaching.  See below for a comprehensive list of what’s new and available.

RESOURCES:  This section provides links to studies and stories that you may find helpful.

NEWS

Walterboro project engages citizens through arts, culture

A small group of Walterboro citizens has embraced a new opportunity to make a positive contribution to the community through involvement with the South Carolina Arts Commission.

For several months, Gary Brightwell, director of the Colleton Museum, Farmers Market and Commercial Kitchen, has been leading a team to consider issues local citizens face and how arts and culture might be incorporated to address one or more of those challenges. Last spring, when the South Carolina Arts Commission reached out about a pilot program, The Art of Community: Rural S.C., Brightwell answered the call.  She agreed to serve as the “maven,” or connector, for Colleton County. Today, as part of the Art of Community initiative, she and her team are exploring the most relevant ways to connect local citizens with issues related to food, health and agriculture and adding a dose of arts and culture as a binder.   Read more..

• RELATED: Museum gets $1,000 grant, The (Walterboro) Press and Standard, Dec. 1, 2016

LEARNING

The Children’s Health and Education Mapping Tool (new)

The School-Based Health Alliance offers this interactive mapping resource that focuses on education and health disparities among low-income children using geographic information systems (GIS). County-level data and statistics included for child health, education, and socioeconomic status.

How to write grant proposals

On this page, we offer webinars and other information that can help you learn how to write winning grant proposals and improve your proposals.  If you have similar resources to share with others in the Promise Zone, send links by email.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

USDA:  Apply for next round of Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive Program Grants

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the availability of up to $16.7 million in competitive grant funding to increase the purchase of fruits and vegetables by families and households participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The funding will be awarded to eligible nonprofits and governmental organizations through the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) Grant Program, administered by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill.

• Applications are due by 12, 2016.

DOT:  FASTLANE Program (new)

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has announced the U.S. Departments of Transportation’s (USDOT) Build America Bureau is now soliciting applications for up to $850 million in Fostering Advancements in Shipping and Transportation for the Long-term Achievement of National Efficiencies (FASTLANE) grants. The FASTLANE program was established in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act to fund critical freight and highway projects across the country.

• Deadline for submitting applications is 8 p.m. Dec. 15, 2016.

EPA:  Brownfields grant money

EPA is offering grants to nonprofit and public agencies for either: 1) developing inventories of brownfields, prioritizing sites, conducting community involvement activities, and conducting site assessments and cleanup planning related to brownfields sites, or 2) cleaning up contaminated brownfields sites.

• Deadline:12/20/2016. Click here for program guidelines and to apply.

USDA:  Solid Waste Management Grant Program (SWMFY2017)

Offers funds to organizations to provide technical assistance that will reduce or eliminate pollution of water resources in rural areas and improve planning and management of solid waste sites in rural areas.

• Application Deadline:Dec 31, 2016

USDA:   Water and Waste Disposal Technical Assistance and Training Grants

Offers grants for organizations that assist communities with water or wastewater operations through technical assistance and/or training.

• Application Deadline:Dec 31, 2016

HRSA:  Rural Health Network Development Planning Grant Program (new)

The Federal Office of Rural Health Policy  offers grants to promote the planning and development of healthcare networks in order to achieve efficiencies; expand access to, coordinate, and improve the quality of essential healthcare services; and strengthen the rural healthcare system as a whole.

• Application Deadline:Jan 3, 2017

EPA:  Environmental Justice Small Grants (new)

EPA’s Environmental Justice Small Grants program provides financial assistance to community-based organizations, and local and tribal governments working on projects to address environmental and public health concerns. EPA will award grants that support activities designed to empower and educate affected communities and to identify ways to address environmental and public health concerns at the local level. Approximately 40 one-year projects will be awarded at up to $30,000 each nationwide.

An eligible applicant MUST BE one of the following entities: 1. Incorporated, non-profit, community-based organizations. This includes environmental justice networks, faith based organizations and those affiliated with religious institutions; 2. federally recognized tribal governments; OR 3. tribal organizations.

• Deadline: RFP period is open through Jan. 31, 2017
• More info on the RFP and program: EPA Environmental Justice website
• Other info: All proposals must be submitted through Grants.gov. You can find a direct link to the Opportunity Notice on Grants.gov here!

USDA:  National School Lunch After School Snack Program 

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service offers funding for schools and residential child care institutions to provide after school snacks to low-income children who participate in the National School Lunch program.

• Deadline: Applications accepted on an ongoing basis.

USDA:  Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program (RMAP) (new)

This program provides loans and grants to Microenterprise Development Organizations (MDO’s) to provide microloans, training, and technical assistance to microloan borrowers and micro entrepreneurs.

• Funding: Up to $205,000 annually (with 15% matching); loans up to $50,000-$500,000 for MDOs; loans up to $50,000 to ultimate recipients.
• Deadline: Rolling (applications will be considered for next Federal fiscal quarter).

USDA:  FSA Microloans (new)

USDA’s Farm Service Agency provides financial assistance for small, beginning farmer, niche and non-traditional farm ownership or operations. Non-traditional farm operations can include truck farms, farms, direct marketing farmers, Community Supported Agriculture, restaurants and grocery stores, or those using hydroponic, aquaponic, organic, and/or vertical growing methods.

• Funding: Maximum of $50,000.
• Deadline: Ongoing

USDA:   Economic Impact Initiative Grants

Funding is available to assist in the development of essential community facilities in rural communities that have extreme unemployment and severe economic depression.

• Applications accepted on an ongoing basis

OTHER GRANT OPPORTUNITIES

Healthy Smiles, Healthy Children Access to Care Grants

Offers matching grants to support community-based initiatives that provide dental homes to children whose families cannot afford dental care.

• Application Deadline:Dec 15, 2016
• Sponsor:American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry

CenturyLink Clarke M. Williams Foundation Invites Applications for Teacher Technology Grants

• DEADLINE: 12, 2017
• Grants will be awarded to K-12 teachers to help fund classroom projects that advance student success through the innovative use of technology..

Advanced Nursing Education Workforce (ANEW) Program

Grants to support innovative academic-practice partnerships to prepare primary care advanced practice registered nursing students to practice in rural and underserved settings through academic and clinical training.

• Application Deadline:Jan 25, 2017
• Sponsor:Bureau of Health Workforce

Bush Foundation Accepting Applications for Community Innovation Grant Program

• DEADLINE:Open
• Grants of up to $200,000 will be awarded in support of inclusive, collaborative projects that use community assets to address a community need or opportunity….

NEA, Kresge:   Creative Placemaking Program

The National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with the Kresge Foundation, has announced the launch of a technical assistance program for the creative placemaking field. Through the program, Kresge and the NEA will collaborate with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the National Creative Placemaking Program, and PolicyLink to provide fourteen organizations and their partners with specialized technical assistance aimed at building each organization’s capacity to lead placemaking projects that result in positive short- and long-term outcomes for their community. The program also will work to clarify standard practices in creative placemaking by sharing lessons learned and will inform future funding practices for NEA’s Our Town program and Kresge’s own investments in the field.

NACO:     Rural Impact County Challenge: A National Effort to Combat Rural Child Poverty 

The National Association of Counties’ Rural Impact County Challenge will recognize and support counties making strides in reducing child poverty in rural communities. The challenge will provide educational opportunities, networking forums, and resources to develop and implement evidenced-based approaches to reduce the number of children and families living in poverty in rural areas.

• Deadline: Applications accepted on an ongoing basis.

 RESOURCES

Rural America at a Glance, 2016 Edition 
A report that provides an overview of social and economic factors affecting rural America. Includes data and statistics about employment, population, poverty, and income trends.

• Sponsoring organization: USDA Economic Research Service

One in six U.S. households with children were food-insecure at some time in 2015

In 2015, 16.6 percent of U.S. households with children (6.4 million households) were food insecure at some time during the year. In about half of these households, only adult household members were food insecure as the children had normal or near-normal diets and meal patterns. However, in 7.8 percent of households with children (3.0 million households) both children and adults were food insecure. In 0.7 percent of households with children (274,000 households), food insecurity among children was so severe that caregivers reported that children were hungry, skipped a meal, or did not eat for a whole day because there was not enough money for food. In some households with very low food security among children, only older children may have experienced the more severe effects of food insecurity while younger children were protected from those effects. In 2014, 1.1 percent of households with children reported very low food security among children.

MORE INFORMATION

• PAST INFO:  To access past resources and opportunities, Click here
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