Administered by Hope Enterprise Corporation in partnership with The Food Trust, the Mid South Healthy Food Financing Initiative is a regional healthy food financing program that offers flexible financing for new store development and renovations, as well as training with retailers to promote healthier choices projects across three states in the Mid South region.
This set of 4 one-pagers introduces the rationale behind and benefits of a comprehensive approach to the retail environment. Use the sample talking points in each of the conversation starters below to identify shared goals and make the case for collaboration.
The West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition has compiled a growing library of free resources for farmers, food businesses, advocates, and others to explore studies and reports focused on local food in the West Virginia region. Reports include assessments of food hubs, the FSMA produce rule and cooperatives, among others.
The Cooperative Fund of New England has played a leading role in financing the Northeast’s cooperative food movement. As a CDFI it has served as a financer, lender, and advisor to nearly every food co-op in the area.
Cooperatives differ from traditional businesses in that they are jointly owned by, and operated for the benefit of, the people using their services. A cooperative’s profits are distributed among its members, and decisions are made democratically.
Grocery stores and food co-ops can improve health outcomes, increase employment opportunities, spur economic development, and create access to opportunity for residents of low-income communities and communities of color. Integrating equity into your economic plan will help grow your grocery store or food co-op. This resource includes some strategies to increase store profits by buildinga sustainable community of opportunity where everyone can participate and prosper.
Across the country, markets are adopting unique and innovative business strategies to provide healthy food to underserved communities. The range and delivery of these alternative models run the gamut from farmers’ markets that incorporate community health clinics to large urban farms serving grocery stores and institutional clients. This webinar details successful strategies and highlights important impacts such as reduction in diet-related diseases and the revitalization of communities by providing needed jobs.
Mariposa Food Co-op operates as a full-service, cooperatively-owned and -operated grocery store in Philadelphia, PA. With more than 1,500 members they are active leaders in the cooperative movement. They currently employ 45 people, making them one of the neighborhood’s largest employers. This profile highlights the Co-op's impact on the local community and the funding and financing behind their recent expansion.
Green City Growers Cooperative (GCGC) is a cooperative urban greenhouse in the heart of Cleveland, Ohio. GCGC provides an example of an innovative and employee-owned food production enterprise that is revitalizing Cleveland’s Central neighborhood while providing quality employment opportunities, building community wealth and assets, and promoting healthy food access both in the neighborhood and citywide.
The Healthy Food Access Fund is a lending program that provides capital financing for full-service grocery businesses or developers with a grocery tenant. It was created to help grocers succeed in underserved markets and is designed with those grocers' needs in mind.
Today's natural food cooperatives are a thriving part of the natural food retail landscape. This webinar offers a basic overview of natural foods retailing, with specific emphasis on consumer-owned natural foods cooperatives. Learn about the unique aspects of underwriting cooperatively-owned enterprises, review typical financial performance measures for natural foods cooperatives, and explore a brief case study of a recent project.