The month of May highlights Military Appreciation Month, which plays a crucial role in fostering an awareness and understanding of the challenges service members, veterans, and their families face. [1] Military Appreciation Month celebrates a few of the following observance days:
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) has recently launched four programs to help U.S. agricultural producers promote and sell their goods internationally. This action follows U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brook Rollins’ latest announcement to visit six international markets—Brazil, India, Japan, Peru, Vietnam, and the United Kingdom—to boost American agricultural exports and expand markets for U.S. farmers, ranchers, and producers.
Be aware that the application deadline for all four programs is June 6, 2025. Applicants can submit questions to the agency's point of contact for all four programs until May 30, 2025.
The month of February has been recognized as Black History Month since 1976, and USFCR has maintained a proud partnership with organizations, such as the National Black Chamber of Commerce, to help the African American community. Today, USFCR gives special attention to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). NAACP Day, which falls every February 12, celebrates the organization’s 1909 founding by a diverse group of legal experts, suffragists, civil rights activists, labor reformers, and others who sought to counter violence and racism against the Black community in the United States. [1] Dedicated to the goal of an integrated society, the NAACP stands as the nation’s oldest civil rights organization. [2] From its conception in the early 20th century to its work present day, the NAACP continues to work towards the betterment of the African American community.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is offering up to $20 million in funding to assist farmers actively working in the Gulf of Mexico watershed. This opportunity is open until January 28, 2025. The Farmer to Farmer 2024 BIL program will allow farmers to conduct projects that improve water quality, habitat, or resilience. Collaboration and outreach with farmers are required, and organization partnerships are encouraged.
“Even the smallest act of service, the simplest act of kindness, is a way to honor those we lost, a way to reclaim that spirit of unity that followed 9/11.”
— Barack Obama
Memories of September 11th have been “firmly embedded in the minds of most Americans old enough to recall the attacks.”1 Though marked by a tragic event in modern American history, this day revealed the resilience of American citizens and their willingness to risk their own lives to help others.
In the aftermath of September 11th, notable agencies began surveying the physical and mental health effects of this event on the American people, especially first responders and survivors who managed to escape the World Trade Center. For example, the World Trade Center Registry enrolled over 71,000 individuals to study the physical and mental health effects of September 11th. Most notably registered were first responders, passersby, residents of the surrounding building, evacuated workers in the World Trade Center, and volunteers who spent time at Ground Zero weeks afterward.2 Furthermore, USA Today stated that the rate of various cancers among first responders was over 30% higher than the general population, with the average September 11th first responder living until around age 55.
“The first wealth is health.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Maintaining a healthy and balanced diet helps prevent many chronic non-communicable diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.1 Ensuring our communities are educated on the importance of incorporating healthy food into their diet is essential.
USFCR presents the following opportunities that highlight the significance of healthy foods and nutrition education:
“As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way.”
—Mary Anne Radmacher
National Nonprofit Day celebrates the hard work that nonprofit organizations undertake to lift the hardships of their communities, whether locally or across the globe. Founded by Sherita J. Herring, a respected author and speaker, it also acknowledges the signing of the Tariff Act on August 17, 1894. The Act provides exclusions from the federal income tax levied on corporations for charitable organizations and charities.1 Since then, National Nonprofit Day is commemorated every August 17th.
The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program is offering up to $68,000,000 in funding that supports the recruitment, preparation, and retention of highly effective K-12 STEM teachers and teacher leaders in high-need school districts. This program offers four distinct avenues that applicants can choose from:
[…] Disasters come in all shapes and sizes—fires, hurricanes, economic downturns, droughts, virus outbreaks, terrorism. We can’t predict how long the impact will be felt but we can do much to be ready. […] Disasters stretch the limits of community systems. Communities that recover best are […] those that have invested in social fabric, inter-connectedness, physical and emotional infrastructure, and those that have woven bonds between sectors and between citizens.
Jennifer Cole, Metro Nashville
Arts Commission1
Given the uncertainty of disasters, humanities organizations must have precautionary preparedness plans to ensure that their valuable works are accounted for. Some risk strategies to develop include:
- Relocating pieces to more structurally-sound areas;
- Conducting comprehensive structural assessments of the building to determine areas of vulnerability;
- Training staff to know the plan of action when disasters occur;
- Prioritizing pieces of most importance; and
- Ensuring that individuals are not put in harm's way in order to protect their work.2
