Notice of Stakeholder Listening Session Regarding Administration of the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program and Veterinary Services Grant Program

요약

USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announces its stakeholder listening initiative, "NIFA Listens Regarding Administration of the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) and the Veterinary Services Grant Program (VSGP)." The objectives of the programs are to help veterinarians offset educational debt in return for food animal veterinary services, to ensure food animal veterinary services are available in priority shortage situation areas, and to support training of veterinary students, interns, and residents. As part of the stakeholder input process, NIFA is conducting a public meeting to solicit comments regarding the administration of the programs and the processes developed and implemented since the conclusion of the first application and award cycle (September 2010 for the VMLRP and September 2016 for the VSGP). Input collected will be used to evaluate and improve processes for shortage situation nominations, shortage area designations and allocations, full-time equivalent requirements, notice of funding opportunities, application processing, processes for matching shortage areas with applicants, and award requirements.