HFFI FARE FUND

FOOD ACCESS AND RETAIL EXPANSION FUND

Reinvestment Fund is now accepting Funding Inquiry Form submissions for the 2024-2025 HFFI FARE Fund.

Before submitting an Inquiry Form, please review the eligibility criteria for the HFFI FARE Fund in the 2024-2025 Request for Applications.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

 

Download the Request for Applications (RFA)

To be considered for a grant in Round 1 of the HFFI FARE Fund, Funding Inquiry Forms must be received by October 14, 2024 by 11:59 PM Eastern Time. Any Inquiry Forms submitted after this date and time will be considered for Round 2. Inquiry Forms submitted outside of the SmartSimple online grants portal will not be accepted. Technical assistance and loans will be distributed on a rolling basis.

Applicants will be contacted once their Funding Inquiry Form has been reviewed no earlier than October and, if eligible, will receive an invitation to submit a full application. Review time for Funding Inquiries will vary based on the volume of submissions.

SUBMIT A FUNDING INQUIRY FORM

The HFFI Food Access and Retail Expansion Fund (HFFI FARE Fund) is a new program under the expanded America’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative.

Over the next 5 years, the new program will provide $60 million in loans, grants, and technical assistance for the predevelopment, planning, and implementation of eligible food retail and food retail supply chain projects.

 

AVAILABLE FUNDING

Competitive grants and technical assistance will be available for eligible food retail and food retail supply chain projects in the predevelopment and implementation stages. In the 2024-2025 funding cycle, at least $9,000,000 is available for implementation grants, at least $1,500,000 is available for technical assistance, and at least $16,000,000 is available for loans. Grant funds will be distributed through three rounds of funding. Technical assistance and loans will be distributed on a rolling basis.

Grant awards will be up to $250,000 for implementation and up to $100,000 for early-stage planning, predevelopment, and technical assistance. Loans to eligible projects may range between $500,000-$5,000,000. Loans may be paired with technical assistance or a grant to strengthen the viability of the project.

 

ELIGIBLE PROJECTS

The HFFI FARE Fund could assist a variety of organizations, business models, and capital needs of ventures that process, distribute, aggregate, market, and sell healthy, fresh, and affordable foods to underserved communities and markets.

Applicants must demonstrate how their proposed project will contribute to food access through the availability of an assortment of Staple and Perishable Foods for retail sale, either directly or as part of the retail supply chain. Funding should build programmatic capacity, unlock additional sources of capital, catalyze project sustainability, meet financing gaps, and/or enable the next phase of project implementation for deeper impact or reach.

Funding is designed to support catalytic projects that aren’t able to access traditional financing and may be used for predevelopment activities, equipment, construction hard costs, acquisition of land or buildings, and other one-time soft costs such as community engagement and environmental assessment.

 

WHO IS ELIGIBLE

Eligible applicant entities include for-profit business enterprises (including a corporation, limited liability company, sole proprietor, public benefit corporation); cooperatively-owned businesses; tax-exempt nonprofit corporations; institutions of higher education; state and local governments and governmental agencies, authorities, commissions and food policy councils; tribal governments and tribal governmental agencies, authorities, and food policy councils. Individuals are not eligible to apply to this opportunity.

* State, local, and tribal governments are eligible for grants and technical assistance, but currently not for loans.

 

WEBINARS

Reinvestment Fund will host informational webinars to provide potential applicants with an overview of the RFA, the grant and loan application processes, information on how to navigate the online submission process, and to answer questions about the program.

No registration is required. To join each webinar, please use the following links in the webinar schedule below.

 

 

RESOURCES