Deadline: 10/25/17
Amount: Rather than providing monetary funds, this program provides successful applicants with a two-day planning workshop devoted to developing an implementable action plan that promotes local food and neighborhood revitalization. Award recipients located in the federally designated Appalachia and Delta regions may be eligible for financial support for implementation beyond the planning assistance.
Eligible applicants are:
  • Local governments
  • Indian tribes
  • Nonprofit institutions and organizations proposing to work in a neighborhood, town, or city of any size in the United States
Regional organizations are eligible to apply; however, applications should focus on a single neighborhood, town, or city.
The purpose of this program is to help communities create walkable, healthy, and economically vibrant neighborhoods through the development of local food systems. Successful applicants will receive planning assistance that centers around a two-day community workshop. At the workshop, a team of experts will help awardees develop an implementable action plan that promotes local food and neighborhood revitalization. This program also aims to boost economic opportunities for local farmers and main street businesses, improve access to healthy local food, especially among disadvantaged populations, and promote childhood wellness.
Special consideration will be given to communities identified by the Centers for Disease Control as having an adult obesity rate greater than or equal to 40 percent.
Previous award recipients have worked on projects such as:
  • Opening year-round, downtown markets featuring foods from local farmers
  • Planning cooperative grocery stores to help revitalize small-town main streets
  • Creating centrally located community kitchens or food hubs to aggregate and market local foods
  • Starting business incubators to help entrepreneurs launch food-related businesses on main streets
  • Making it easier for people to walk or bicycle to farmers markets and local restaurants
  • Helping schoolchildren to grow their own food, and making healthy local food accessible to families, including via Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits
  • Developing community gardens in walkable, transit-accessible places
Projects on tribal land, in Appalachia, or in the Delta will receive special consideration during the selection process. Applicants in the federally designated Appalachian and Delta regions may be eligible to receive financial assistance for implementation of community plans that result from the technical assistance provided by this program.