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Healthy Soils Block Grant Pilot Program

Grantor:
CA Department of Food and Agriculture
Portal ID:
28055
Status:
Closed
Opportunity Type:
  • Grant
Last Updated:
 | 
Categories:

Details

Purpose:

The Healthy Soils - Block Grant Pilot Program is a part of the Healthy Soils Program, which stems from the California Healthy Soils Initiative, a collaboration of state agencies and departments that promotes the development of healthy soils on California’s farmlands and ranchlands. The Block Grant Pilot Program is designed to facilitate financial assistance to California agricultural operations through regional block grant administrators.

Description:

The grant term is four years. The minimum and maximum award per block grant application is $2,000,000 and $5,000,000 respectively.

 

Program Structure:

For the purpose of this program, there are three entities of interest.

1. Block Grant Recipients

The eligible entities include (1) Resource Conservation Districts; (2) University of California, California Community Colleges, or California State Universities; (3) Federally- and California- Recognized Native American Indian Tribes; (4) Local or regional government agencies such as air pollution control districts; (5) State agricultural marketing programs, and federal marketing programs that represent California commodities; and (6) Nonprofit organizations such as Groundwater Sustainability Agencies, irrigation districts and land trusts.

2. Grant Beneficiaries

The eligible entities or individuals (1) California farmers, ranchers, business entities, and federally and California Recognized Native American Indian Tribes; (2) Nonprofit organizations as agriculture operations.

Grant Beneficiaries must be at least 18 years old.

Project eligibility includes:

·       Projects must be located on agricultural operations in California.

·       The project boundaries must be within the state of California.

·       Awards are limited to one per agricultural operation using a unique tax identification number per grant cycle.  

Ineligible entities and project conditions:

·       University and research farms are not eligible.

·       Cannabis cultivation operations are not eligible.

·       Projects that use potted plants and plant growth media other than soil are not eligible.

3. Technical Assistance Providers

Applicant organizations are required to provide technical assistance to Grant Beneficiaries as required by AB 2377. The eligible entities for TAPs are (1) Resource Conservation Districts, (2) University of California Cooperative Extension and (3) Nonprofit organizations.

If the block grant applicant is not one of the entities, they must partner with one such entity to be eligible for this grant opportunity.

Note that all entities receiving grant funds must be located in California with a physical California business address.

Program Priorities

The program aims to achieve at least 25% targeted funding to Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers. A socially disadvantaged group is defined by the 2017 Farmer Equity Act as a group whose members have been subjected to racial, ethnic, or gender prejudice because of their identity as members of a group without regard to their individual qualities. For the program, these groups include African Americans, Native Indians, Alaskan Natives, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

CDFA also encourages BGRs to facilitate outreach and grants to projects that benefits disadvantaged communities and low-income populations as defined in SB 535 and AB 1550.

Eligibility Requirements

Eligible Applicants:

  • Nonprofit
  • Public Agency
  • Tribal Government

Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs); University of California (UC), California Community Colleges, or California State Universities (CSU); Federally- and California-Recognized Native American Indian Tribes; Local or regional government agencies such as air pollution control districts; California Commodities; Nonprofit organizations including, but not limited to: Groundwater Sustainability Agencies, Irrigation districts, and Land trusts.

Eligible Geographies:

All entities receiving grant funds must be located in California with a physical California business address.

Matching Funding Requirement:

Match funding is not required but encouraged.

Important Dates

The date (and time, where applicable) by which all applications must be submitted to the grantmaker. Time listed as “00:00” equates to midnight.
The date on which the grantor expects to announce the recipient(s) of the grant.
July 2023
The length of time during which the grant money must be utilized.
About four years

Funding Details

The total projected dollar amount of the grant.
$29,000,000
A single grant opportunity may represent one or many awards. Some grantors may know in advance the exact number of awards to be given. Others may indicate a range. Some may wish to and wait until the application period closes before determining how many awards to offer; in this case, a value of “Dependent” will display.
Dependent
Grant opportunities representing multiple awards may offer awards in the same amount or in varied amounts. Some may wish to wait until the application period closes before determining per-award amounts; in this case, a value of “Dependent” will display.
$2,000,000 – $5,000,000
Certain grants require that the recipient(s) provide a letter of intent.
No
Certain grants require that the recipient(s) be able to fully or partially match the grant award amount with another funding source.
No
The funding source allocated to fund the grant. It may be either State or Federal (or a combination of both), and be tied to a specific piece of legislation, a proposition, or a bond number.
  • State

Funding Source Notes:

the California State Budget, authorized by the Budget Act of 2022 (SB 154).

The manner in which the grant funding will be delivered to the awardee. Funding methods include reimbursements (where the recipient spends out-of-pocket and is reimbursed by the grantor) and advances (where the recipient spends received grant funds directly).
  • Advances & Reimbursement(s)

Funding Method Notes:

The grant recipient is eligible to request an advance payment no more than 25% of the total grant funding amount. Then the payment will be reimbursement basis upon quarterly reporting.

How to Apply

State agencies/departments recommend you read the full grant guidelines before applying.

Resources

For questions about this grant, contact:
1-916-654-0466, cdfa.hsp_tech@cdfa.ca.gov

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