Deadline: December 4, 2017
Amount: $8.64 million available
Eligibility: Public food program service providers, tribal organizations, or private nonprofit entities, including gleaners.
The purpose of this program is to meet the food needs of low-income individuals through food distribution, community outreach, and improving access to food as part of a comprehensive service. Funding is intended to increase the self-reliance of communities in providing for the food needs of the communities, as well as to promote comprehensive responses to local food access, farm, and nutrition issues. By bringing together stakeholders from distinct parts of the food system, this program strives to foster understanding of national food security trends and how they might improve local food systems.
Projects supported through this program must meet specific state, local, or neighborhood food and agricultural needs, including needs relating to:
  • Equipment necessary for the efficient operation of a project
  • Planning for long-term solutions
  • The creation of innovative marketing activities that mutually benefit agricultural producers and low-income consumers
This program aligns with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Research, Education, and Economics Action Plan, as well as the NIFA Strategic Plan. Refer to page 4 of the NOFA file for additional information regarding these plans.
Funding will be provided for the following program components:
  • (Part A): Community Food Projects (CFP)
  • (Part B): Training and Technical Assistance (T&TA) Projects
  • (Part C): Planning Projects (PP)
The purpose of the Community Food Projects (CFP) component is to create community-based food projects with objectives, activities, and outcomes that advance the primary goals of this program overall. Examples of supported projects include community gardens with market stands, value chain projects, food hubs, farmers’ markets, farm-to-institution projects, and marketing and consumer cooperatives. All projects must involve low-income participants.
Preference will be given to projects that:
  • Develop linkages between two or more sectors of the food system
  • Support the development of entrepreneurial projects
  • Develop innovative connections between the for-profit and nonprofit food sectors
  • Encourage long-term planning activities and multisystem, interagency approaches with collaborations from multiple stakeholders that build the long-term capacity of communities to address the food and agricultural problems of the communities
  • Develop new resources and strategies to help reduce food insecurity in the community and prevent food insecurity in the future by Developing creative food resources
  • Coordinating food services with park and recreation programs and other community-based outlets to reduce barriers to access
  • Creating nutrition education programs for at-risk populations to enhance food-purchasing and food-preparation skills and to heighten awareness of the connection between diet and health
An optional webinar will be held on:
October 16, 2017
2:00 p.m. ET