“The context for why there are food access gaps is really different between rural Alaska and the west side of Chicago, but HFFI is a very flexible tool.” says program director Molly Hartman.
A program designed to bring fresh fruits and vegetables to Austin through weekend popup shops recently received a federal grant that could help it become a more permanent presence in the community. The Austin Grocery Initiative, which is a collaboration between Forty Acres Fresh Market and the Westside Health Authority, received $185,000 in financial assistance from Healthy Food Financing Initiative, a new grants program through the United States Department of Agriculture. The Austin Grocery Initiative was one of 23 grantees awarded financial and technical assistance grants.
Forty million Americans still live without easy access to fresh and healthy food options. But not if the Healthy Food Financing Initiative(HFFI), which provides financial assistance and technical assistance to food access projects, has anything to say about it. Set into motion by the Agricultural Act of 2014, the HFFI is a public-private partnership headed by Reinvestment Fund on behalf of USDA (United States Department of Agriculture).
The Erie Downtown Development Corporation (EDDC) is among 13 organizations receiving a grant from an United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) program to help develop its Culinary Arts District in downtown Erie. A total of $400,000 in technical assistance awards was provided to the recipients from the Healthy Food Financing Initiative’s (HFFI) inaugural grants program.
The US Department for Agriculture (USDA) has awarded an US$80,000 (£65,560) grant to a Cincinnati co-operative grocer. Apple Street Market is planning a a full-service, community and worker-owned grocery store on Apple Street in the city’s Northside neighbourhood, offering food access for the underserved neighbourhoods of Northside, South Cumminsville, Camp Washington, and College Hill.
Despite gains over the past decade, limited access to healthy food continues to affect urban and rural communities across the United States. Financing the construction of new supermarkets and the expansion of existing stores is one of the primary strategies to increase access to sources of healthy food in underserved communities. Reinvestment Fund’s Limited Supermarket Access (LSA) analysis is a tool to help investors and policymakers identify areas across the 48 contiguous United States and the District of Columbia that have both inadequate and inequitable access to healthy food and sufficient market demand for new or expanded food retail operations.
This report summarizes Reinvestment Fund’s 2018 update to the LSA analysis, including results for selected regions as well as relevant changes to the methodology and data sources used in the analysis.