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Brown Urges Ohioans to Apply for 1890 Land-Grant National
Scholars Program
Program Provides Full Tuition, Fees, Books, Room and Board
to Students Pursuing Degrees in Agriculture, Food, Natural
Resource Sciences or Related Academic Disciplines at 1890
Land-Grant Institutions
Deadline to Apply for 2020
Scholarship Program is Friday, January 31, 2020
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown
(D-OH), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, is
urging Ohioans to apply for the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's (USDA) 1890 National Scholars Program. The
program aims to increase the number of students studying
agriculture, food, natural resource sciences, and other
agriculture-related disciplines at 1890 Land-Grant
Institutions, which are historically black universities. For
generations, 1890 Land-Grant Institutions have educated
historically underrepresented students, and this program
will help recruit and train the next generation of leaders
in agriculture and bolster the pipelines for a diverse
agriculture workforce. Brown secured funds for the
scholarship program as part of the 2018 Farm Bill. The
deadline to submit an application for the program is Friday,
January 31, 2020. Ohio students who are interested in
applying, can get more information and download the
application here
<https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2019/10/29/usda-announces-1890-national-scholars-program-funding-opportunity>.
"1890 Land-Grant
Institutions are HBCUs that have fostered generations of
African American students, farmers, and scientists in our
communities for years," said Brown. "This scholarship could
provide Ohio students with an immense opportunity and I urge
them to apply."
The USDA 1890 National
Scholars Program is available through the USDA Office of
Partnerships and Public Engagement (OPPE), and was
established in 1992 as part of the partnership between USDA
and the nineteen 1890 Land-Grant Universities. The program
provides full tuition, fees, books, room and board to
students pursuing degrees in agriculture, food, natural
resource sciences, or related academic disciplines.
When the student has
completed the academic and summer work requirements of the
scholarship, USDA may convert the student to a permanent
employee without further competition. Currently, USDA and
1890 Land-Grant Universities are providing scholarships to
109 students.
Brown has been working to
secure critical investments for 1890 Land-Grant institutions
like Central State University in Wilberforce, securing an
additional $3 million for research in a spending package
passed by the Senate last month. The funds will go toward
research at Centers for Excellence, which Brown secured the
creation of as part of the 2018 Farm Bill that was signed
into law in December 2018. The designated lead universities
at each Center for Excellence are required to develop
public-private partnerships, to ensure that their research
activities provide increased access and economic returns to
farmers and rural communities, and to contribute to poverty
reduction, and reduce health disparities and economic
vulnerability of local communities.
For more than 100 years,
Central State University was denied 1890 Land-Grant status,
meaning it was ineligible for funding from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) for its innovative
scientific research. Brown secured a provision in the 2018
Farm Bill that corrects the oversight and increased the
amount of formula funding that Central State is able to
receive from USDA, while not jeopardizing the funding of any
other 1890 Land-Grant institution.
Brown was also able to
include a provision from his Carryover Equity Act in the
2018 Farm Bill, which fixed a provision that prohibits 1890
Land-Grant Universities from carrying over more than 20
percent of their equity from one fiscal year to the next.
This arbitrary provision limited the ability of these
universities to use their funds as they see fit and notably
diverges from policies that govern other similar Department
of Agriculture programs.
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