PHILADELPHIA — Reinvestment Fund is inviting applications for grant awards through the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) Planning Grant Program, a new program that will provide grants to eligible organizations to support healthy food retail or food retail supply chain projects that are in early-stage planning and predevelopment phases.
The American Rescue Plan Act provided $6 million in funding for the new HFFI Planning Grant Program. Grant awards up to $150,000 per project will be made to support the planning and predevelopment activities of new or expanded sustainable business models that will improve retail access to fresh, healthy food in underserved areas across the country. Awardees will be selected through a competitive application process.
Reinvestment Fund is a national Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that serves as the National Fund Manager and program administrator for America’s HFFI, a program of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development. To date, Reinvestment Fund has awarded over $25 million directly to food retail and food enterprise projects in 48 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, through three rounds of the HFFI Targeted Small Grants (HFFI TSG) Program. Additionally, over $40 million has been awarded to support new and existing regional, state, and local food financing programs through the inaugural 2023 round of the HFFI Local and Regional Healthy Food Financing Partnerships Program.
Reinvestment Fund will host an informational webinar on Thursday, May 16, 2024, at 2:00 PM ET. Applications are due Monday, June 17, 2024, at 11:59 PM ET. A full Request for Applications (RFA) with more information on eligibility and the application process is available at http://www.investinginfood.com/planning-grant/. Award announcements will be made no earlier than August 2024.
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Media Contact: media@reinvestment.com
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About Reinvestment Fund
Reinvestment Fund is a mission-driven financial institution committed to making communities work for all people. We bring financial and analytical tools to partnerships that work to ensure that people in communities across the country have the opportunities they strive for: affordable places to live, access to nutritious food and health care, schools where their children can flourish, and strong, local businesses that support jobs. We use data to understand markets and how transactions can have the most powerful impact, which has consistently earned us the top Aeris rating of AAA for financial strength and four stars for impact management. Our asset and risk management systems have also earned us an AA- rating from S&P. Since our inception in 1985, Reinvestment Fund has provided over $3.2 billion in financing to strengthen neighborhoods, scale social enterprises, and build resilient communities. Learn more at reinvestment.com.