The Local Initiatives Support Corporation New York City (LISC NYC) has launched a three-year pilot program to help low-income families in New York live longer and healthier by expanding access to healthy food in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Called Communities for Healthy Food NYC, the new program connects to broader LISC NYC efforts to revitalize struggling communities and improve overall quality of life. It focuses both on locating healthy food outlets in places without them and educating residents about nutrition, food preparation and overall health.

ChangeLab Solutions' fact sheet, Fruitful Collaboration, is written for anyone involved in the development or implementation of a healthy food retailer program. It describes the Specialty Crop Block Grant funding stream and how to tap into it. You can also download our background paper, "Can the Speciality Crop Block Grant Program Support Efforts to Bring Fruits and Vegetables into Small Food Retail Stores?" which describes the analysis that informed the fact sheet.

Speakers from the Healthy Food, Healthy Economies: The Impact of Healthy Sustainable Food Systems webinar address reoccurring themes during the Question and Answer period. Pat Smith explains the importance of the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, Dr. Oran Hesterman discusses the Double Up Bucks food program, Jim Weill shares additional information on SNAP benefits and Helen Dombalis talks about strengthening local food systems.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) released Notices of Funds Availability (NOFA) for the fiscal year (FY) 2013 funding rounds of the Community Development Financial Institutions Program (CDFI Program) and Native American CDFI Assistance Program (NACA Program).

A list of glossary terms relevant to the New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) Community Development Entitiy (CDE) certification.

Drawing from his new book, “Local Dollars, Local Sense:  How to Shift Your Money from Wall Street to Main Street,” Michael Shuman explains a dozen, low-cost strategies local businesses are using to secure new capital from the general public.  He talks about specialized bank CD programs, prepurchase deals, new-generation cooperatives, internet sponsorship sites (like Kickstarter), P2P lenders (like Prosper and Kiva), community lending circles, investment clubs, municipal bond schemes, local revolving loan funds, direct public offerings, and local stock exchanges.

Spartanburg City Council unanimously agreed to support the Healthy Food Hub on the city's north side by reallocating federal Community Development Block Grant funds and committing construction management expertise to the project. When complete, the farmers market will relocate there in addition to a garden, commercial kitchen and a cafe that will sell nutritious meals.

A group of community organizations transforming a patch of overgrown land on Spartanburg's north side into a complex of buildings dubbed the Northside Healthy Food Hub. When completed, the compound will host a garden, a community kitchen and a cafe that sells nutritious, ready-made meals and fresh produce.

State lawmakers are revealing a new plan to end rising obesity rates in Tennessee. They want to fight fat by bringing more supermarkets to the state.