ORONO, Maine — The Maine Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (FRSAN) is seeking applicants for Small Grants to Support Maine Agricultural Well-Being. The deadline to apply is Nov. 15. Applications are available online in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole.
University of Maine Cooperative Extension manages the Maine FRSAN program, which is offered through the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) in collaboration with many other supporting agricultural organizations in the state. The program has more than $46,000 in available funding which it will distribute in individual grants ranging from $1 to $5,805.
To be eligible for funding, you must:
Be an organization or entity that serves Maine agricultural populations, including farming, fishing, forestry or Indigenous food and medicine producers. Additional insurance requirements are listed on the FAQ document.
Explain how the project or program for which you are seeking funding contributes to direct wellness support (broadly defined) for agricultural populations in the state. Examples include: addressing lack of access to physical and/or mental health services; providing equipment or services to decrease daily work stress; or addressing social or ecological changes in the environment that create strain for the person.
Applications to the Small Grants Fund are expected to be competitive and to exceed the amount of funding available. Should this be the case, program administrators will rank applications based on a variety of criteria including projected impact, availability of requested services and potential to support farmers and farm communities categorized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as historically socially disadvantaged or as Limited-Resource Farm Households.
For more information, see this FAQ document. To apply over the phone, call Izzy for English at 207.570.8308, Cynthia for Haitian Creole at 207.800.5112, and Maria for Spanish at 207.800.7605.
The Small Grants Fund is a project of the Maine Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network funded by USDA National Institute for Food & Agriculture, awarded to the Maine DACF and managed by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.
University of Maine Cooperative Extension:Â As a trusted resource for over 100 years, University of Maine Cooperative Extension has supported UMaine’s land and sea grant public education role by conducting community-driven, research-based programs in every Maine county. UMaine Extension helps support, sustain and grow the food-based economy. It is the only entity in our state that touches every aspect of the Maine Food System, where policy, research, production, processing, commerce, nutrition, and food security and safety are integral and interrelated. UMaine Extension also conducts the most successful out-of-school youth educational program in Maine through 4-H.
About the University of Maine:The University of Maine, founded in Orono in 1865, is the state’s land grant, sea grant and space grant university, with a regional campus at the University of Maine at Machias. UMaine is located on Marsh Island in the homeland of the Penobscot Nation. UMaine Machias is located in the homeland of the Passamaquoddy Nation. As Maine’s flagship public university, UMaine has a statewide mission of teaching, research and economic development, and community service. UMaine is the state’s public research university and a Carnegie R1 top-tier research institution. It attracts students from all 50 states and 81 countries. UMaine currently enrolls 11,989 undergraduate and graduate students, and UMaine Machias enrolls 747 undergraduates. Our students have opportunities to participate in groundbreaking research with world-class scholars. UMaine offers more than 100 degree programs through which students can earn master’s, doctoral or professional science master’s degrees, as well as graduate certificates. UMaine Machias offers 18 degree programs. The university promotes environmental stewardship, with substantial efforts campuswide to conserve energy, recycle and adhere to green building standards in new construction. For more information about UMaine and UMaine Machias, visit umaine.edu and machias.edu.
–University of Maine