U. S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE U. S. EMBASSY IN SANTO DOMINGO Notice of Funding OpportunityAnnouncement Type: GrantFunding Opportunity Title: Rural Innovation and Pivoting Hackathon NOFO Funding Opportunity Number: S-DR860-NOFO-20-006 Date Opened: Wednesday, July 29, 2020Closing Date and Time for Submission

of Application: August 24, 2020 CFDA Number: 19.040 – General Department of State AssistanceEligibility Category: American and/or Dominican based committed and organized civil-society organizations, think tanks, non-governmental organizations, and academic institutions.

Total Amount Available: $25,000Electronic Requirement: Applications must be submitted by email to the email address listed below.Email: SantoDomingoGrants@state.govA.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONThe Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U. S. Embassy in Santo Domingo, U. S. Department of State, announces an open competition for individuals and organizations to submit applications to carry out a rural innovation and pivoting hackathon, to develop technology-based ideas and solutions to help small and medium businesses in rural areas of the Dominican Republic mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Proposals should include YLAI program resources including the online courses, the online network and YLAI fellows.Please carefully follow all instructions below:The U. S. Embassy, Santo Domingo seeks proposals from U. S. and/or Dominican-based higher education institutions that meet all eligibility requirements outlined below.Organizations should submit proposals via email to SantoDomingoGrants@state.gov by August 30, 2020 at 11:59 p.m.Project Purpose:The goal of this virtual program is to bring together entrepreneurs, students, and academia, to receive hands-on training on innovation and business pivoting and develop technology-based solutions that mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in rural areas of the Dominican Republic.

The participants will share ideas and form teams to work remotely and develop technological solutions that empower rural entrepreneurs and rural development.

The program should provide spaces for the participants to connect, learn best practices on rural business development, promote health and safety measures against COVID-19, and to receive training on business innovation and pivoting.

The working teams will develop technology-based solutions that help businesses pivot their strategy and approach or create new opportunities for economic growth and development in their communities.

These proposals should promote the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative resources such as the online courses and the YLAI network.

At the end of the program, the teams should pitch their projects to a panel composed by program facilitators and mentors, U. S. Embassy representatives, and business leaders, and compete for small seed funding of to kickstart their projects.

These seed funds must amount to at least the ten percent (10%) of the program budget, and can be awarded to more than one proposal.

A distribution and selection criteria for seed funds should be included the proposal.