Purpose

• The overall goal of the Rural Youth Development program is to help children and teens in agrarian communities learn to step up into leadership roles and be active with their communities. The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture cites a list of specific issues facing rural youth that it tries to address through the grants. Eligible projects can address areas such as health, education, poverty or technology. Along with improving the children who participate in grant-funded projects, Rural Youth Development also intends to improve communities overall in areas such as economic development or the environment.
  
  

Eligibility

• The USDA provides Rural Youth Development grants to participants in one four national organizations: the National 4-H Council, Boys Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of America and the National Future Farmers of America organization. Each organization's national office must apply for the grants, and then funnel awards to individual local programs. The national organizations can also give awarded grant money to groups outside their own if they need an organization's services for a project.
  
  

Funding

• The USDA had a budget of about $1.7 million for Rural Youth Development grants in 2010. The maximum individual award that year was $685,000, and the average was $428,000. Unlike many grant programs, Rural Youth Development does not require recipients to match any portion of their awards with their own funding. Congress budgets for the USDA program through the Consolidated Appropriations Act.
  
  

Applications

• The USDA solicits Rural Youth Development grants on the Grants.gov website (see Resources), a federally managed online database of grant programs. The website is the only way for eligible organizations to apply for the program. The USDA generally has issued solicitations in the spring. After receiving applications, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture will review them to ensure project eligibility and to determine how much funding they deserve.