Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the primary purpose of this project…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the primary purpose of this project is to align the efforts of multiple hispanic serving institutions in southern and central texas who have ongoing programs for academic development and career attainment of underrepresented groups in fields related to sustainability in agriculture, including soil and water management, horticulture, animal science, and whole farm systems. This consortium of hsis have agreed to collaborate in specific ways: (1) enhance the quality of education at hsis by developing a clear intra-state, multiple-point-of-entry roadmap for high school, associates, bachelors, and masters students interested in fanr-related studies. (2) facilitate the impactful training of 48 undergraduate and 10 graduate students across the consortium using a assets-based framework that highlights regional opportunities and focuses on cultural-relevant approaches for training across the state of texas. (3) strengthen curricula at partnering institutions through cross-institutional exchange, including annual offerings of short courses to be held each summer at either utrgv or txst; (4) prepare students for careers in the globally competitive U.S. Agriculture industry by providing student experiential learning opportunities at partnering USDA agencies and other institutions, which will increase technical and professional competencies for cross-sector employability; (5) enhance the preparation of 40 stem teachers, faculty and student counselors across the region to effectively integrate agriculture into stem instruction and heighten awareness of the multiple regional options in education and careers for students in texas. An external project evaluation will provide annual assessments toward these objectives and will document the impacts and outcomes of the implementation of related activities.