Reinvestment Fund Awards $22.6 Million to Improve Healthy Food Access in Underserved Communities | News

Grant awards to 134 projects to increase obtain to healthful foods in their communities.

PHILADELPHIA, June 10, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Reinvestment Fund today declared $22.6 million in financial aid awards to 134 initiatives via the 2021 spherical of America’s Healthier Food items Funding Initiative’s (HFFI) Specific Modest Grants Application. Funding for the HFFI grants program is furnished by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), authorized by the 2014 Farm Monthly bill. The plan presents 1-time catalytic investments in jobs that will boost entry to new, healthier foodstuff by creating and increasing clean food retail and food enterprises.

The 2021 round is the major considering that the software released in 2018. The 2021 Ask for for Apps (RFA) originally manufactured $4 million offered by way of the plan. The pool was expanded to $22.6 million by the USDA, as a final result of the $155 million in more resources for the HFFI plan introduced by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack very last week below the USDA’s framework for transforming the foodstuff procedure. With this financial commitment, the HFFI application will function with stakeholders toward recognizing the expanded eyesight for the plan that begins to deal with the complexity of food stuff obtain in communities throughout The usa.

“The Biden-Harris Administration and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack are dedicated to building area and regional foodstuff units that benefit all Individuals, from farmers and ranchers to little firms and households who at this time have to travel a lengthy way from residence to obtain new, wholesome foods,” said USDA Rural Development Below Secretary Xochitl Torres Compact. “USDA is happy to companion with Reinvestment Fund to make sure that these resources arrive at the communities in which they are needed most, so men and women can discover healthy food alternatives where ever they live.”

Awardees ended up selected as a result of a aggressive approach that was open up to eligible refreshing meals retail assignments and foods enterprises in search of economical aid to defeat the bigger fees and preliminary obstacles to functioning in underserved areas. The system been given 566 Letter of Fascination submissions to the RFA in December 2021. Based on eligibility, 359 applicants ended up invited to post entire programs in January 2022, with 294 final apps obtained by the deadline in March 2022.

As the Nationwide Fund Manager, Reinvestment Fund administers the HFFI application on behalf of USDA. The public-non-public partnership aims to provide ability making and financing methods to encourage food small business progress at scale and construct a more equitable meals technique that supports the overall health and financial vibrancy of all Us citizens.

“The legacy of racist policies like redlining and the ensuing disinvestment go on to hurt communities in so many strategies, which includes through the lack of entry to healthful, very affordable food stuff,” claimed Don Hinkle-Brown, President and CEO of Reinvestment Fund. “We are honored to work with the USDA to deal with some of these historical injustices by the HFFI system by investing in foods methods assets that not only boost meals obtain in underserved communities but strengthen health, fortify neighborhood economies, mature wealth and top quality work, and build crucial community anchors.”

Awardee jobs are situated 46 states, in addition to Puerto Rico and Washington DC. Of the 134 grant awardees, 45% serve rural communities and 81% are owned or led by people today of shade, lower-cash flow persons, gals, and/or native people today. Of the awardees, 69% are grocery retail projects. A different 31% of awardees offer choice retail types together with cell marketplaces, CSAs or meals packing containers.

Awardees include:

• The Neighborhood Farm Cooperative, a worker-owned, community-primarily based cooperative farm business in Selma, Alabama that seeks to establish a cellular sales unit to market excellent, fresh generate and staple goods to underserved communities through Dallas County.
• Manuel’s Food items Industry, a neighborhood grocer in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that will be improving upon its retail functions by partnering with community farmers to provide clean make to the retail store, building a business kitchen to get ready food items, and offering weekly subscription produce packing containers.
• Nalwoodi Denzhone Local community Standard Store, a nonprofit in San Carlos, Arizona, that will address the ongoing foodstuff difficulties facing the San Carlos Apache communities by producing a standard retail outlet on a tribally-owned, 90-acre farm.
• Northeast Grocers, a Black-led community coalition that has been performing to handle the deficiency of grocery suppliers in Northeast Kansas Metropolis, Kansas by leveraging local and philanthropic funding to produce a organization design for a cooperative retailer.

The 2021 HFFI system supplied financial help in the form of 1-time grants to food stuff vendors and foodstuff enterprises that aimed to reinforce, increase, and innovate within the foodstuff retail source chain. The method assists a range of corporations, business enterprise designs, and cash requirements of ventures that system, distribute, mixture, industry, and provide balanced, fresh new, and very affordable foods to underserved communities and marketplaces. A whole list of awardees is out there at http://www.investinginfood.com.

Though new at USDA Rural Improvement, the U.S. Section of the Treasury and U.S. Office of Well being and Human Companies have invested in nutritious meals jobs as a result of Group Advancement Economic Establishments and Neighborhood Development Organizations given that 2010. To date, federal support has totaled $270 million in grants and has leveraged an approximated $1 billion in supplemental financing. It has also supported nearly 1,000 grocery and other nutritious food retail initiatives in more than 35 states throughout the country, revitalizing e
conomies, producing jobs, and improving well being.

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About Reinvestment Fund

Reinvestment Fund is a mission-driven monetary establishment committed to producing communities function for all folks. We bring money and analytical applications to partnerships that operate to assure that individuals in communities throughout the place have the opportunities they try for: affordable locations to live, access to wholesome food stuff and health treatment, educational institutions in which their youngsters can flourish, and robust, neighborhood companies that guidance employment. We use facts to have an understanding of marketplaces and how transactions can have the most powerful effect, which has continually earned us the prime Aeris ranking of AAA for money energy and 4 stars for impression administration. Our asset and threat management systems have also acquired us an A+ ranking from S&P. Due to the fact our inception in 1985, Reinvestment Fund has presented more than $2.7 billion in funding to reinforce neighborhoods, scale social enterprises, and develop resilient communities. Learn far more at reinvestment.com.

Media Make contact with

Kavita Vijayan, Reinvestment Fund, 1 2155745893, [email protected]

 

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