NCI Wins USDA Grant

May 01, 2023

MSU’s National Charrette Institute and Toolbox Dialogue Initiative partnered to win a grant for an Urban and Indoor Agriculture Proposal Development Conference from the USDA’s National Institute of Food & Agriculture.

In 2022, Michigan State University’s National Charrette Institute (NCI) and Toolbox Dialogue Initiative (TDI) teamed up to help a group of researchers and natural resource managers craft a proposal to develop a decision-support tool for managers of Gulf of Mexico natural resource systems. Access the resulting publication here.

Based on the success of the process, NCI and TDI teamed up again, this time with Washington State University's Metro Center for Applied Research and Extension and Center for Environmental Research Education and Outreach, to develop a conference for researchers, educators, and practitioners in urban and indoor agriculture to develop interdisciplinary proposals.

The USDA’s National Institute of Food & Agriculture is supporting the conference through a grant to MSU. This approach marries two successful programs: a Toolbox Dialogue Initiative (TDI) workshop inside a virtual National Charrette Institute charrette conference to build networks and develop more integrated teams for collaborative research proposals that improve urban agriculture broadly.

“Our goal through this charrette-style approach is to create stronger, more innovative, and more competitive proposals that support urban and indoor agriculture; make for more successful project outcomes; strengthen researchers’ capacity for interdisciplinarity throughout their careers; and result in research-based programming that is more connected to and aligned with stakeholder needs in urban agriculture,” said Holly Madill, NCI director.

This project was one of 12 proposals that were funded through the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Urban, Indoor, and other Emerging Agricultural Production Research, Education and Extension Initiative (UIE). The first phase of the conference will occur in November 2023 with the second in January 2024.

The National Charrette Institute is a program within the School of Planning, Design and Construction at MSU that is dedicated to transforming the way people work together by building capacity for collaboration.

NCI is part of the School of Planning, Design and Construction that brings a wealth of expertise to both built and natural environments in construction management, interior design, landscape architecture, and urban and regional planning. NCI is also affiliated with MSU Extension which specializes in helping people improve their lives by bringing the vast knowledge resources of MSU directly to individuals, communities and businesses.