Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** two california community…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** two california community colleges, hartnell college and imperial valley college, and two four-year universities, california state university monterey BAY and the university of arizona, yuma, will engage in a tier 2 partnership to build and sustain the future workforce in food and agriculture sciences through student scholarships, experiential learning, and outreach and engagement projects. The project will scale and grow existing student support and career development programs and be built on a core of four agricultural degree/transfer-track pathways in: agriculture business management; agriculture food safety; agriculture plant science; and industrial automation/mechatronics. The project will lead students from high school to clear agricultural career pathways, resulting in employment in industry and USDA. The partners all serve heavily agricultural regions that share strong industry connections. The project will enroll over 850 eligible students, achieve a transfer rate more than six times the current rate, and increase credential completion rate by 10% (certificate, associate and bachelor's) while improving the lives of all participants. This project's goals align with the primary nextgen program goal to engage, recruit, retain, train, and support students to help build and sustain the next generation of the food and agriculture workforce, including the future USDA workforce. IT will accomplish this by supporting USDA program priorities, including, providing student scholarship support, meaningful paid internships, job opportunity matching, and facilitating opportunities through extensive outreach and engagement to promote the processes and pathways leading to training and employment in industry and at USDA.