Budget Categories:

• Indirect: Indirect costs are the portion of the general overhead costs of an organization allocated to grant performance. Indirect must: be consistently charged as indirect costs; not to exceed the rate of 15% of direct costs per month; and not include equipment, rental expenses, and the portion of each grant in excess of $25,000.00. Grantees must not duplicate costs as both indirect and direct or be inconsistent in billing costs as indirect or direct. Organizations are not required to claim indirect.

• Staff/Personnel: The cost of staff and personnel on the organization’s payroll that are directly involved in relevant activities during the period of performance. Includes contracted employees and staff.

• Operations: Costs associated with regular or expanded operations (rent, insurance, supplies, transportation costs, etc.).

• Food Purchases: Food purchases for distribution as groceries or meals, culturally familiar foods, etc.

• Pass-Through: Approved third-party services acquired to perform specific activities under this agreement. Excludes contracted employees.

• Contracted Services: Independent contractor of third-party services procured to perform specific activities under the grant. Provides services in support of the activities for the project. An independent contractor may be a person, business, or corporation.

• Equipment: Tangible personal property (including information technology systems) that has a useful life of more than one year, is moveable, and has a per-unit cost including ancillary charges of $10,000 or over. May include a vehicle, reach-in fridge or freezer, cardboard baler, electric pallet jack, forklift, or other. Equipment must be essential to the project to be considered. (Equipment under $10,000 is allowable under Operations.)

Date: May 6th, 2026

What Your Project Is (Re+Filament Farms)

At its core, your project is a decentralized, closed-loop circular agriculture system designed to combat food apartheid and build economic resilience for BIPOC communities in South King County facing displacement.

Instead of treating residents as consumers in a broken food system, you are turning households into hyper-local food producers to achieve "Nutritional and Technical Sovereignty." You are doing this by:

• The Hardware Loop: Recycling residential rainwater, processing food waste into compost, and upcycling household plastic bottles (via extruders like the Polyformer) into 3D printer filament.

• The Food Production: Using that filament to build affordable hydroponic kits and robotic agriculture systems (FarmBot) right in the backyard.

• The Scale-Up: Testing this at a residential "Node A" in Des Moines, and then scaling the curriculum and workforce pipeline through "Node B" at Highline College with Bobby Butler to teach the community these exact agricultural and mechatronics skills.

How Your Project Aligns with the WSDA Grant

Unlike the RWJF grant, which required you to pivot into an academic feasibility study, the WSDA Resiliency Grant is designed to fund the actual, on-the-ground work of hunger relief. Here is why you are a top-tier candidate:

• Direct Hit on Grant Objectives: The grant explicitly looks to fund projects that "Increase client access to food and reduce client barriers." By lowering the cost of agricultural infrastructure through upcycled waste, you are permanently removing the economic barriers that prevent marginalized communities from accessing fresh, nutritious food.

• Actionable Community Need: The WSDA prioritizes "Supporting hunger relief organizations in ways that they determine are best for their community." Your focus on the Filipino, Cambodian, Ethiopian, and Somali communities through your partnerships with the Filipino Community of Seattle (FCS) and South King Tool Library (SKTL) demonstrates that this is a community-led, culturally relevant intervention, not just a top-down mandate.

• Funding the Actual Build (Equipment & Operations): You previously noted you needed money for "site preparation and materials required to get the greenhouse fully operational." This grant allows for exactly that. Their allowable budget categories explicitly include Equipment (like your FarmBots, extruders, or reach-in fridges over $10k), Operations (supplies, rent), and Food Purchases.

• Geographic Allocation: The grant sets aside a massive $4,614,912.56 specifically for the North Puget Sound region (King, Snohomish, Island counties). Since your focus is South King County, you are competing within the best-funded pool in the state.

The Friction Points You Must Navigate

While the project scope is a perfect fit, the administrative execution will require the exact same strategic maneuvering we discussed previously:

1. The Eligibility Hurdle: The grant is strictly for non-profits with 501(c)(3) status, federally recognized tribes, or public entities. As Blackfox Studios, you cannot apply directly. You must use your established strategy of having Highline College (a public entity) or FCS/SKTL (501c3s) act as the lead applicant.

2. The Reimbursement Catch: This is the most critical detail. The WSDA clearly states: "This is a reimbursement grant... organizations must pay the expenses and provide backup and proof of payment before submitting a request for reimbursement." You will need a partner with enough cash flow to front the money for the hardware and materials before the state pays them back.

You have the hardware, the community partnerships, and the vision mapped out perfectly. Since this grant requires floating the cash upfront for reimbursement, which of your institutional partners (Highline College, SKTL, or FCS) do you think has the strongest financial capacity and administrative bandwidth to act as the lead applicant for this physical infrastructure build