Veterinary Services Grant Program (VSGP) | USDA NIFA VSGP 008119

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NIFA VSGP 008119

The Veterinary Services Grant Program (VSGP) is a competitive grant opportunity run by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) meant to address shortages of veterinarians in rural parts of the United States, including U.S. insular areas. The program focuses on strengthening the pipeline of food animal veterinary professionals and boosting the day-to-day capacity of private veterinary practices that serve rural communities. In practical terms, VSGP supports projects that help veterinarians, veterinary students, veterinary technicians, and veterinary technician students build specialized, job-ready skills while also helping clinics and training programs obtain the resources they need (such as equipment or personnel) to deliver services more effectively where shortages are officially recognized.

The purpose of the program is to develop, implement, and sustain veterinary services in areas facing veterinarian shortage situations, with an emphasis on food animal veterinary care and related public health needs. VSGP is structured to fund efforts that either directly relieve these shortage situations or that support private practices involved in public health activities connected to veterinary services. This includes initiatives that improve the reach and quality of veterinary care in rural regions, where access challenges can affect livestock health, farm productivity, disease surveillance, food safety, and broader community health outcomes.

VSGP funds several main types of activities. First, it can support the establishment or expansion of accredited veterinary education and training pathways, including veterinary education programs, residencies, fellowships, internships, and externships, as long as they are carried out in coordination with accredited colleges of veterinary medicine. Second, it supports continuing education and extension efforts for veterinarians, technicians, and other relevant health professionals, including telemedicine and other distance-based training models that can reach practitioners who are far from traditional training centers. Third, the program can cover travel and living expenses for trainees, including veterinary students and trainees in internships, externships, residencies, and fellowships, as well as veterinary technicians, which helps reduce the financial barriers that often prevent people from training in or serving remote shortage areas.

Eligibility depends on which program area an applicant is pursuing. For Education, Extension, and Training (EET) projects, eligible applicants include a wide range of institutions and organizations: state, national, allied, or regional veterinary organizations or specialty boards recognized by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA); AVMA-accredited colleges or schools of veterinary medicine; university research foundations or veterinary medical foundations; departments of veterinary science or comparative medicine accredited by the U.S. Department of Education; state agricultural experiment stations or research farms (including 1890 institutions); and state, local, or tribal government agencies. These EET-eligible entities can submit applications as long as their proposed work substantially relieves veterinary shortage situations or supports/facilitates private veterinary practices engaged in public health activities.

For Rural Practice Enhancement (RPE) projects, eligibility is targeted more narrowly at entities and individuals directly operating veterinary clinics. Eligible RPE applicants may be for-profit or nonprofit entities located in the United States, or individuals, that operate a veterinary clinic providing veterinary services in a rural area (as defined in federal statute at 7 U.S.C. 1991(a)). In addition, the clinic must be tied to a specific shortage situation in one of two ways: either the applicant is a current awardee under the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) with an active service obligation and applies with reference to the single shortage area where they are obligated to serve, or the applicant is not a current VMLRP awardee and applies with reference to a single current veterinarian shortage situation that is listed as "Open" on the VMLRP shortage map for the relevant cycle (noted in the notice as 2020 or 2021, depending on the application year). A key compliance detail is that the shortage area designation has to be explicitly included in the proposal title and narrative and entered in the appropriate field on the application form.

The rules on multiple submissions differ by track. RPE applicants are not allowed to submit duplicate or multiple applications; if an RPE applicant submits more than one, NIFA will disqualify both. By contrast, multiple submissions are allowed under EET when they come from different departments within an eligible institution, which gives larger institutions flexibility to propose distinct, non-duplicative projects.

From the published opportunity details, this is a discretionary USDA grant under CFDA 10.336, administered by NIFA, with an award ceiling listed at $250,000 for this particular funding notice. The opportunity information provided also lists an original closing date of April 16, 2021, and indicates the program uses a competitive selection process. Overall, VSGP is designed to solve a very practical workforce and service-delivery problem by investing in training, continuing education (including distance-enabled approaches like telemedicine training), and direct practice support, all aimed at improving access to food animal veterinary services and strengthening the public health and food safety infrastructure in rural shortage areas.

• The National Institute of Food and Agriculture in the agriculture sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Veterinary Services Grant Program (VSGP)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.336.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-01-15.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-04-16. (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 $250,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for USDA NIFA VSGP 008119

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: