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.

New research in a joint report by PolicyLink and The Food Trust, Access to Healthy Food and Why It Matters: A Review of the Research, underscores healthy food access as the foundation necessary for reaping the positive benefits associated with healthy food. The research reveals that improving healthy food access in low-income communities and communities of color continues to be an urgent need with nearly 30 million people living in low-income areas with limited access to supermarkets. The webinar features report authors along with a local government official. Speakers discuss how findings from the new report can be used to expand healthy food access in communities across the country.

"We know that a lot of things contribute to poor nutrition and obesity but access is a key issue," says Dr. Giridhar Mallya of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. "People don't have the ability to get healthy foods in their community at an affordable price. That makes it that much harder for them to be healthy overall." See how The Food Trust and its partners are improving food access and health in Philadelphia and around the country.

Everyone deserves access to healthy food. 

Whether you are an investor or lender considering investing in a food hub, a food hub operator undertaking business planning, or a policymaker looking to better understand the food hub sector, Wholesome Wave’s Food Hub Business Assessment Toolkit provides you with the tools to evaluate a food hub business’ readiness for investment. The Toolkit provides a framework for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of food hubs in the areas of business model and strategy, impact potential, market overview, marketing and sales, operations, organization and management, risk mitigation, technology and systems, and finance.

Children consume a significant portion of their daily calories at school; when schools have healthy foods and beverages in cafeterias and vending machines, children eat better. But what if families don’t have access to healthy food when their children come home from school?

Without access to healthy foods, a nutritious diet and good health are out of reach. And access to healthy food brings a triple bottom-line benefit to communities – a revitalized economy, new jobs, and better health. These benefits also advance equity, the fair and just inclusion of all residents in communities.

Join co-sponsors MomsRising and PolicyLink for a healthy food access portal webinar that will draw connections between efforts to bring healthy food to schools and the movement for healthy food access in communities across the country. Speakers will share their successes and strategies for overcoming challenges in their work and provide recommendations to the broader community of advocates and practitioners.

Featured Speakers:
•    Allison Hagey, Associate Director, PolicyLink (moderator)
•    Monifa Bandele, Senior Campaign Director, MomsRising
•    Sheilah Davidson, Policy Program Manager, School Food Focus
•    Dara Cooper, Director, New York Food and Fitness Partnership

This report examines programs designed to influence individual food choices; presents a summary of evidence-based strategies that encourage healthy shopping and eating habits; and offers recommendations for further research. Given the growth of diet-related diseases as a public health risk in the United States, particularly among poor and minority populations as well as children, many are focused on slowing and reversing this trend. This report, funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, seeks to highlight some of the barriers to healthy eating as well as effective intervention strategies to address them.  The Reinvestment Fund summarizes the findings of existing research on healthy food interventions, with a particular focus on intervention strategies that seek to influence an individual’s personal food environment. TRF then highlights programs, or components of programs, that TRF believes have promise.

The Douglas County Commission established the DCFPC in 2009 with the goal of strengthening the local food system for farmers, consumers and buyers in the greater Douglas County area. Between 2009 and 2012, the DCFPC worked with key stakeholders to consider strategies to strengthen the local food system. One priority was to investigate the potential for a food hub as a means to accelerate, strengthen and expand the local food system. In October 2013, the DCFPC selected SCALE to lead this examination.

Across the country healthy food financing initiatives and programs are helping to increase access to nutritious foods for millions of Americans. Terms such as "food desert" and "underserved" have become commonplace, yet clear definitions can be elusive and vary by state and program. Other challenges include building a robust pipeline of applicants and marketing the program effectively, as well as attracting additional investment to support projects. This webinar discusses how these initiatives are being administered by community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and food access organizations on the local and state level. Audience members learn how program administrators determine the eligibility of projects in areas of need, employ marketing and outreach strategies to attract grocery applicants, and attract additional  investments to healthy food financing programs. Speakers share best practices and case studies from the field. Click here to playthe recording.

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.