Veterinary Services Grant Program
What is the Veterinary Services Grant Program?
The Veterinary Services Grant Program is a federal project-based grant program administered by the USDA. The program is designed to support organizations that are working to substantially relieve veterinarian shortage situations or facilitate or support veterinary practices engaged in public health activities in the U.S. There are two types of grants available; the following types of organizations may apply for each grant:
For Rural Practice Enhancement (RPE) Program Area:
- a for-profit or nonprofit entity located in the United States that, or individual who, operates a veterinary clinic providing veterinary services, (i) in a rural area, as defined in section 343(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1991(a)), AND (ii) in a veterinarian shortage situation designated under the VMLRP. Please read the VSGP RFA Part II C Rural Practice Enhancement Grants “Other Program Area Requirements” to determine the complete list of shortage situations available for VSGP in the current year.
For Education, Extension, and Training (EET) Program Area:
- a state, national, allied, or regional veterinary organization or specialty board recognized by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA); a college or school of veterinary medicine accredited by the AVMA;
- a university research foundation or veterinary medical foundation;
- a department of veterinary science or department of comparative medicine accredited by the Department of Education;
- a state agricultural experiment station; or
- a state, local, or tribal government agency.
Where must services be provided in order to qualify for these project grants?
Recipients of RPE grants must provide services in rural shortage situations (although the physical location of the practice need not be located in the rural shortage situation). However, an applicant does not need to be practicing in the rural shortage situation at the time of application submission.
Applicants for EET grants need not be located in a shortage situation, but the proposed project must be designed to alleviate veterinarian shortage situations in the U.S.
Each year, NIFA designates veterinarian shortage situations through the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP). Applicants for RPE grants may propose to provide services in rural VMLRP-designated veterinary shortage situations designated for the current fiscal year. These situations, along with a map and related information, can be found on the VMLRP Shortage Situations web page.
Additionally, for VSGP a shortage situation must qualify as rural (as defined in Section 343(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1991(a)). By definition, VMLRP type II shortage situations are rural. For Type I shortage situations, you can use the USDA-Rural Development’s Business Program’s Rural Community Development Initiative (RCDI) map to assess rural eligibility. The map can be found at the USDA Income and Property Eligibility Site. To determine if a location is considered rural, select business programs under Property Eligibility on the left, then the link for RCDI, accept the disclaimer and zoom into the area of interest.
Where can I find details on full eligibility requirements for this program?
Click here to get more details on eligibility requirements from USDA.
