The guide describes grants available from USDA that are applicable to food hubs and other food systems organizations, including grants from: Rural Development, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Risk Management Agency, Agricultural Marketing Service, Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Department of Commerce, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Department of Treasury, Appalachian Regional Commission, and Small Business Administration.

Rural grocery stores anchor a community by supplying fresh foods and staples; creating local jobs; attracting complementary businesses; and increasing the tax base. Today they are under siege because of competition with “big box” stores for customers; high energy costs, the inability to buy products in small quantities; elderly owners with no succession plans, and low population density. This webinar explores the unique challenges that rural grocers face and discuss innovative solutions to improving access to healthy foods in rural America.

The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program incentivizes private investment in low-income communities by permitting individual and corporate investors to receive a tax credit against their federal income tax return in exchange for making equity investments in specialized financial institutions called Community Development Entities (CDEs). The NMTC program has a proven track record in expanding access to healthy foods by encouraging private sector investment in underserved communities. This webinar serves as an introduction to a complex financing tool and explores some examples of how NMTCs are being used to finance a variety of projects designed to improve access to healthy foods.

Map which shows the location, grantee, and financing initiatives.

Across the country local stakeholders are adopting methods and strategies to improve access to healthy foods by advocating for policy change. This webinar uses The Food Trust’s recently published Healthy Food Financing Handbook: From Advocacy to Implementation to discuss how these efforts have led to the creation of healthy food financing initiatives at the city, state and federal level. This webinar offers a roadmap for how to successfully advocate for initiatives that improve access to healthy food through the development of healthy food retail. Additionally, the webinar provides an overview of how healthy food financing initiatives are administered by government agencies, community development financial institutions, and food access organizations. 

This webinar provides an overview of the “Find Money” section of the Healthy Food Retail Portal and provide examples of specific federal, state and local resources that can be tapped to create or expand healthy food retail opportunities in underserved communities.

Across the country talented grocers have opened successful stores in once undeserved communities to increase access to healthy food. More opportunities exist nationwide for similar projects that are profitable, sustainable and contribute to the health and economic well-being of neighborhoods. This training reviews the obstacles to grocery retail development in underserved communities and the strategies that grocers can utilize to overcome these challenges. It also highlights financial resources and tools available to grocers building or expanding stores in these communities.  Experts from the supermarket industry discuss lessons learned from the field and the innovative business models that have been adopted by grocers to improve healthy food access.

MyTown Marketplace, a supermarket that serves the Highland Falls community of New York State, opened in 2011 with a grant provided by the New York Healthy Food Healthy Communities (HFHC) Fund.  The HFHC Fund is a healthy food financing program that supports healthy food retail projects in communities where residents struggle with limited access to healthy foods. The HFHC Fund is administered by the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF), a national community development financial institution, and The Food Trust, a national food access organization.

Northgate Markets, a family-owned grocer with 34 locations in Southern California, responded to Inglewood residents’ request for better access to healthy food.  Located southwest of Los Angeles, Inglewood is a diverse community, with large African American and Latino populations.  Coming out of the Great Recession, the Inglewood community has continued to face economic hardships, with 21 percent of the population living below the poverty level, compared to 14 percent statewide. With funding from the California FreshWorks Fund (CAFWF), Northgate was able to expand and open 30,000 square feet of new grocery retail, improving food access for 105,000 nearby residents. Northgate also serves as a critical economic anchor for the area, creating 125 new jobs, most of which are held by local residents.

Fare & Square is the culmination of numerous attempts to attract healthy food retailers to the severely distressed city of Chester, PA. Owned and operated by Philabundance, a nonprofit hunger relief organization, this 16,000-square-foot, nonprofit grocery store offers shoppers convenient access to “good food right around the corner” that has not been available in a grocery store format for more than a decade.