2020 Technical Assistance Grants
Like the Technical Assistance (TA) Grants from round one in 2018 and round two in 2019, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) entered into a third agreement with NACD to provide funding to enhance conservation district technical assistance across the nation.
Roughly two-thirds of the grants from this agreement were directed to continue funding the work that was started with the previous (2019) agreement. Nationally, over 400 full- and part-time staff positions are supported using the funds. Some positions were filled by contractors and some covered multiple districts. The requirement for match of 25 percent, of which NACD would provide the first 5 percent. Grant recipients would supplied the remaining 20 percent.
In March 2020, NACD announced the award of $8.5 million in priority request awards to over 300 conservation districts in 49 states and territories. In July 2020, NACD announced an additional $6.5 million in new technical assistance grants to benefit nearly 400 conservation districts in 36 states and territories.
This cooperative agreement included $15 million in funding to support hiring for conservation operations planning assistance (COTA) and to assist with implementing Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) contracts.
View the map below to learn about the 2020 TA Grantees.