West Lafayette, Ind. – The North Central Regional Center for Rural Development (NCRCRD) is pleased to announce the award recipients of the 2025 Small Grants for Rural Development Research and/or Extension Projects in the North Central Region.
Offered annually, the NCRCRD competitive small grant program seeks to enhance the ability of the North Central Region’s (NCR) 34 land-grant institutions (LGIs) to positively influence the quality of life in the region’s rural areas. Funds awarded range from $25,000 – $40,000 and all projects must relate to the Center’s three priority areas of work — Creating Resilient Communities and Economies, Developing Leadership and Civic Engagement, Promoting Community Health and Wellness. Grantees have one year to complete their work.
“Every year the proposals we receive provide a glimpse of the creativity, thought, and care that the region’s Extension professionals bring to their work, and this year was no different,” shared NCRCRD Director, Dr. Maria Marshall.
This year the seed grants support the development and expansion of three existing Extension programs that address emerging issues of importance to rural areas in the North Central Region and allow grantees to perform the preliminary research, data collection, training, material development, or testing needed to appropriately adapt these programs for rural use in their state or for the region.
Please join us in congratulating the 2025 Small Grant Award Recipients:
Grant Title: Smartphones, Smart Families: Fostering child and family well-being for rural North Central Region households in a digital age
Principal Investigator: Allen Barton, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Co-Principal Investigators:
Bonnie Brewer, Kansas State University
Patrice Powers-Barker, The Ohio State University
Erin Ruggiero, The Ohio State University
Organization: University of Illinois
State(s): Illinois, Kansas, Ohio
NCRCRD Priority Area: Promoting Community Health & Wellness
Grant Title: Addressing Household Food Waste in Rural Communities
Principal Investigator: Rachel O’Halloran, University of Missouri Extension
Co-Principal Investigator: Carrie Elsen, University of Missouri Extension
Organization: University of Missouri
State(s): Missouri
NCRCRD Priority Area: Creating Resilient Communities & Economies
Grant Title: Financial Caregiving Needs Assessment of Older Adults and Caregivers
Principal Investigator: Naomi R. Meinertz, University of Missouri
Co-Principal Investigator: Marco Pantoja, University of Missouri
Organization: University of Missouri
State(s): Missouri
NCRCRD Priority Area: Promoting Community Health & Wellness
Additional Information:
- Abstracts of the 2025 Small Grant recipient’s projects
- List of all grants and fellowships offered by NCRCRD
- NCRCRD grant award process: All submissions are reviewed by the NCRCRD advisory committee and based on their recommendations, the NCRCRD board of directors selects the final recipients. Because NCRCRD receives its core funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA), the grants are also reviewed and approved by the USDA for consistency with Federal guidelines
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The North Central Regional Center for Rural (NCRCRD) is one of four Regional Rural Development Centers in the United States. NCRCRD’s work links the research and educational outreach capacity of our region’s 34 land-grant universities with our region’s communities, local decision-makers, entrepreneurs, families, farmers, and ranchers to help address a wide range of development issues unique to our 12-state region. NCRCRD promotes regional collaboration by elevating the research and extension programs in our region; offering grant opportunities to support new and ongoing regional research, extension, and integrated activities; establishing a North Central Region dataset to encourage regional exploration; and creating networking opportunities through webinars, sponsorships, and making introductions between our partners. For more information, please visit https://ncrcrd.org/.
NCRCRD receives core funds from the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) as well as from the North Central Regional Association of State Agricultural Experiment Station Directors (NCRA), North Central Cooperatives of Extension Association (NCCEA), and Purdue University, College of Agriculture.