Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** community through colors (CTC) will…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** community through colors (CTC) will provide direct training, land access, marketing services, financialassistance, and business support to 50 military veteran farmers in vieques, puerto rico over a three-yearproject period. Veterans will become equipped with the tools and networks necessary to successfully enterthe agricultural workforce. Through this project, CTC will provide military veterans an innovative internshipprogram that exposes participants to a wide range of opportunities in the agricultural workforce. Internshipsaddress four unique program areas, with participants able to experience the full internship program over aone-year period. Program areas cover the following topics: agroecological production, livestockmanagement, organic waste management, and value-added food products. Military veteran farmers andranchers will be trained in regenerative and sustainable agriculture, helping ensure an environmentally soundapproach to farming in vieques. This project will help military veteran farmers in vieques make theiroperations more financially viable, where CTC assists farmers with production planning, one-on-onetechnical assistance, and centralized point-of-sale opportunities. Each farmer will work with CTC teammembers to develop a personalized training plan which extends beyond the core project curriculum for eachfarmer. Once farmers have completed their planned training modules, they will either be provided a one-acreparcel of land on the incubator farm, secure employment in agriculture, or start their own small-scale farm.through this project, the CTC team will provide support to each military veteran farmer in vieques indeveloping the requisite skills and have access resources to have a successful agricultural livelihood.