Source: PAINTED DESERT DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS, INC. submitted to NRP
VETERANS AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION AND APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM IN THE SOUTHWEST
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1031589
Grant No.
2023-77028-41273
Cumulative Award Amt.
$749,952.00
Proposal No.
2023-06501
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 15, 2023
Project End Date
Sep 14, 2026
Grant Year
2023
Program Code
[AGVET]- Enhancing Agricultural Opportunities for Military Veterans (Ag-Vets) Competitive Grants Program
Recipient Organization
PAINTED DESERT DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS, INC.
145 LEUPP RD
FLAGSTAFF,AZ 860048501
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The overarching goal of this program is to increase the number of military Veterans pursuing successful careers in food, agricultural and green industry sectors through a comprehensive, hands-on, and immersive training program that was begun by the project team in 2019. The foundations of this program include an online curriculum with 33 different classes on topics ranging from horticulture to personal finance, a network of host farms that are willing to take on participants for one-week internships, and dynamic support to participants to help them move beyond the program and develop their careers. The project team will be able to further develop the program with additional recorded virtual content, with additional host farms throughout the state, and specific curriculum development based on participant feedback. In-person events will include the one-week apprenticeships as well as a variety of workshops, farm tours, hands-on projects, and networking events. Through these events, the project team hopes to promote a social network of Southwestern Arizona Veteran Farmers who can work together, share resources, and develop relationships beyond the scope of this project. This social support can make all the difference in the life of a Veteran, along with the healing and therapeutic aspects of agricultural work. The project team is eager to continue efforts to support Arizona Veteran Farmers and increase their participation in our agricultural economies.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
6010199301030%
1310199106030%
9030199302040%
Knowledge Area
601 - Economics of Agricultural Production and Farm Management; 903 - Communication, Education, and Information Delivery; 131 - Alternative Uses of Land;

Subject Of Investigation
0199 - Soil and land, general;

Field Of Science
1060 - Biology (whole systems); 3020 - Education; 3010 - Economics;
Goals / Objectives
Hands on and immersive training experience has been identified as a highly effective strategy to help returning military Veterans begin and sustain successful careers in agriculture. Following NIFA's leadership, the primary goals of this program are:1) To increase the number of military Veterans pursuing knowledge and skill development that lead to successful careers in the food, agriculture and green industry sectors;2) To assist Veterans in securing meaningful employment opportunities that will strengthen rural economies in the Southwest;3) To increase the Veteran's access to Federal, local, and private financial assistance; and4) To offer therapeutic healing to Veterans through farming, animal caring, and green industry practices.
Project Methods
The efforts within this program will include development of agricultural and business development curriculum. This curriculum will be delivered to participants through formal educational courses as well as more informal gatherings, tours, workshops, and events. The teaching methodologies will focus on a flexible and dynamic program that is easily accessible by individuals from a wide range of backgrounds. Veteran participants can be of a wide range of age, educational background, and professional history. It is important to make a program that allows participants to engage at whatever their entry level. To this end, the modular aspect of the program allows participants to choose classes that are most relevant to their interests. Similarly, the week-long internships at host farms are designed to allow participants to choose farms that are most like what their desired operation or focus will be. The week-long internship is an opportunity for participants to synthesize what they learn through the online curriculum. They will find in the day-to-day workings that the educational topics such as soil management, horticulture, and even business development and marketing, are being carried out by the host farms.Additional efforts include connecting participants to business development resources, also depending on their need and interests. Participants may want to start a small business and require assistance developing a business plan, or they may need capital for an existing business and need assistance writing grant applications. The project team will work one-on-one with participants to ensure they have the means to move forward with their career development in the agricultural sector.Evaluation is the subjective interpretation of the data collected in the duration of a project/program. It is about learning andaccountability. In order to provide a reasonable outlook of the extent to which our program meets its intended output andgenerates the intended outcomes, we have retained a third-party evaluator. For this program, evaluation will happen at anytime. Both Participatory Evaluation and formative/summative evaluation methods will be used.Participatory Evaluation will be used as guiding approach to ensure the active involvement of stakeholders throughout theprocess. It engages the evaluators and stakeholders (such as Veteran participants and pilot/model farms, etc.) in the decisionmakingprocess when creating an evaluation and using results. Participatory Evaluation, such as the Veteran agricultural needsassessment will be used to identify the Veterans' needs and expectations, improve program performance, and engage andempower Veteran participants.Formative Evaluation will be used to establish a benchmark before or during the implementing of an activity with the aim ofimproving a performance measure. Then Summative Evaluation will be conducted after the activity is done. The results ofSummative Evaluation will be compared with Formative Evaluation results. Both quantitative and qualitative measures will beevaluated.

Progress 09/15/23 to 09/14/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this program are Veterans who are living in Arizona or the Southwest (defined as AZ, Nevada, and New Mexico). Outreach to these Veterans was completed through social media campaigns, email promotions, radio broadcasts, paper flyers, and participation at Veteran-specific in-person networking events. Participants had to fill out an application and submit a DD214 if they were interested in applying. After reviewing their application, the project team would set up a short virtual video interview with the potential participant. This was a chance to get to know the participant, identify their goals, and identify if those goals line up with the goals of the program. Participants need to be interested in agriculture in any form. So far, most participants have been interested in starting small farm operations, either on rural property or out of existing homes and yards in urban areas. There is no background experience requirement, so participants have had a range of backgrounds with many participants being new to growing food or farming. Changes/Problems:Despite the high level of interest in the program from new participants, and positive feedback from graduates, there are a handful of students who do not complete the program. Our team believes this is largely due to the asynchronous nature of the courses, as well as the time commitment of the apprenticeship. To address this, we have begun to devise graduation incentives beyond the business assistance offered by our team. These incentives include invitations to routine alum events we plan to host moving forward, and a graduation package filled with an award and various other tools which may benefit the participants in their future agricultural work. With the new system the team has in place to track class completion, we plan to check in with those participants who have not progressed within a currently undefined amount of time to identify what challenges are holding them back. Additionally, we are asking participants to schedule their apprenticeship within six months of beginning the program to ensure that the first steps towards completing that module are taken early. We are confident that this combination of additional communication and changes to the program will ensure a higher graduation rate. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Provision of agricultural, food, and green business training opportunities and professional development to Veterans is the primary goal of this program. This is accomplished through online curriculum, hands-on workshops, tours of innovative farm operations, farm internships and apprenticeships, and one-on-one professional planning and development. For specific dates and activities that provided training and professional development, see the above report on project task accomplishments. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?There is an active VAEAP Facebook group where events and updates are shared with followers. The page has 524 followers and events and flyers for the program are regularly boosted through the page. In addition, flyers and promotional material are regularly sent to agencies and Veteran focused organizations for distribution to their members. The project team will continue outreach efforts to share the results of the program as well as recruit more participants. Efforts will include attending more in-person events, printing promotional materials for Veteran organizations to have available or distribute, expanding social media efforts, and connecting with more Veteran friendly businesses and organizations. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The project team will continue to expand its course offerings with the inclusion of the 14 Yuma Extension classes, recorded workshops, and at least two new original classes recorded by our team. We hope to build on the Horticulture Class category, which currently has five classes. Responses to program evaluation surveys provided to participants show that there is a need for classes on soil management, which will guide our team in the addition of incoming classes. Our team will continue to deliver targeted outreach effortsin order to grow our participant pool. We have contacts with Northern Arizona Veteran Stand Downs and plan to collaborate in order to increase our visibility to veterans. In addition to this, Donald Currier will continue to deliver program outreach materials to locations and organizations with high veteran traffic. In order to raise graduation rates in the program, we will work to create protocols for reengaging participants who have not made progress within a certain amount of time. We will also work to keep the community engaged with the continuation of our farm tours / workshops, and annual mixers.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Task 1 Outreach, Veteran Engagement and Needs Assessments Subtask 1.1: Active Outreach and Veteran Engagement (Obj. 1) Established social media presence. A Facebook group and a project web page are live. The Facebook page has 487 likes with 524 people following the page. Contracted Donald Currier, a veteran farmer, to conduct veteran focused outreach at Veterans Association centers, Davis Monthan Air Force Base, and future veteran-centric outreach events. Donald Currier has delivered program flyers and posters to Davis Monthan Air Force Base and the Tucson Veterans Affairs office. Project team members attended the Twin Arrows Veteran Stand Down event on 06/27/2024. Flyers were handed out and attendees spoke with project members. Project team members attended the Maricopa County Veteran Stand Down event on 03/21/2024. Flyers were handed out and attendees spoke with project members. Project team members attended the Veterans Stand Down event hosted in Williams, AZ on 09/13/2024. Flyers were handed out and 9 attendees signed up to receive more information via email. Thirteen new participants were recruited this year, bringing the total number of enrolled participants to 77. Subtask 1.2: Facilitate the Veterans' Connections to USDA, Cooperative Extension, and Other Agencies (Obj. 5) Hosted Ask a Professor online drop in event on 07/23/2024, giving participants the opportunity to connect with Cooperative Extension faculty and ask any questions they may have. Subtask 1.3: Build a Virtual Collaborative Network for Job Referral/Placement (Obj. 4) The project team has connected with 4 new businesses this year through this program as farm tour hosts. This brings the total number of connected businesses to over 14. This program offers letters of recommendation for veterans who are seeking a career transition. Task 2: On-line Classes and Apprenticeship Trainings Subtask 2.1: Further strengthen the Curriculum for Classroom Training on Food, Agriculture, Green Industry, and Related Business Development (Obj. 2) 3 online classes have been added on subjects such as raising alpacas, commercial drone use, and supplemental information on solar photovoltaics. The team is currently negotiating the addition of 14 pre-existing classes on loan from the Yuma Exchange office. These courses would provide education on subjects such as innovative weed management strategies, soil fertility and management, irrigation efficiency, and more. This addition would expand our total number classes offered by nearly 50%. Subtask 2.2: Provide Online Class Training (Obj. 2) All 30 of our classes have been moved from YouTube to a new video hosting website, the Extension Foundation Campus, to allow for more centralized online training. The new video hosting website provides the project team and participants with certificates of completion to allow for better process tracking for individuals. During this reporting period, 173 classes were completed by program participants. Subtask 2.3: Host Apprenticeship Program at the Model Training Sites (Obj. 2) Two students this year have completed their Apprenticeship at Steadfast Farms, in Mesa, AZ, making 16 the total number of graduates thus far. The project team is currently negotiating the recruitment of 1potential new host farm located in Yuma, AZ. Program update to increase Apprenticeship follow-through: participants must schedule their internship within 6 months after enrollment. Subtask 2.4: Organize Farm Tours/Hands-on Workshops Promoting Innovative Technologies and Practices (Obj.3) 02/24/24 - 4 participants and Sofia Montes completed a tour of Hostile Hare in Casa Grande, AZ to learn about rabbit and quail production. 03/02/24 - 10 participants completed a tour of the Maricopa County Cooperative Exchange Office, followed by a propagation workshop led by Dr. Ursula Schuch. 03/23/24 - 8 participants completed a tour of Dynamite Farms in Surprise, AZ, learning about vegetable and flower production. 04/27/24 - 5 participants completed a tour of Nalwoodi Denzhone Community to learn about regenerative agriculture, egg production, and more. 05/10/24 - 5 participants attended a business development workshop over Zoom 05/24/24 - 4 participants attended a solar technology workshop hosted on Zoom 08/24/24 - 4 participants took part in a Horticulture and Water Harvesting workshop led by Dr. Ursula Schuch Task 3: Direct Technical Assistance Subtask Subtask 3.1: Sustainable Business Assistance (Obj. 6) Sofia Montes met with participant Jessica Lang on 02/07/24 to discuss forming a business plan and create a site plan. Sofia Montes met with participant Kristil Hightower on 04/04/24 to create a site plan. Sofia Montes met with participant Shantell Frazier on 07/17/24 to begin forming a business plan and to create a site plan. ? Task 4: Program Management (Obj. 1-6) Subtask 4.1: Program Meetings/Communications 11/11/23 Meeting - In attendance: Mark Sorensen (PDDP); Dr. Jing Luo, Sofia Montes, Madison Prester (AATech); Dr. Ursula Schuch, Dr. Edward Franklin, Robert Masson (U of A); Kevin Fort (RBI); Donald Currier (Contracted Vet Farmer). 02/17/24 Meeting - In attendance: Mark Sorensen (PDDP); Dr. Jing Luo, Sofia Montes, Madison Prester (AATech); Dr. Ursula Schuch, Dr. Edward Franklin, Robert Masson (U of A); Kevin Fort (RBI). 07/15/24 Meeting - In attendance: Dr. Jing Luo, Sofia Montes, Madison Prester (AATech); Dr. Ursula Schuch, Dr. Edward Franklin, Robert Masson (U of A); Donald Currier (Contracted Vet Farmer). Subtask 4.2: Program Evaluation and Control A program survey was developed and sent to participants to gauge interest in future courses/workshops and to help determine what topics should be explored. Ten responses were collected.

Publications