missouri

With last month’s announcement of the 2023 Specialty Crop Block Grant awards, the program has reached a milestone of over $1 billion invested into projects to support the U.S. specialty crop industry. Since the program’s inception in 2006, 1890s land-grant universities throughout the country have been using USDA’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) funding to address key specialty crop challenges in their states. SCBGP supports these historically Black colleges and universities, and others nationwide, by funding a variety of grant projects that enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops.

In 2013, Citizens Memorial Hospital (CMH) in Bolivar, Missouri experienced an overwhelming shortage of quality healthcare professionals. Simultaneously, its partner Bolivar Technical College (BTC) had outgrown its facility and had twice as many applicants as it had space for students.