Southeast Food Foward
Funding for community-driven food enterprises increasing healthy food access in underserved communities across the Southeastern United States.
About Southeast Food Forward
On April 23, 2025, Reinvestment Fund will release a Request for Applications (RFA) for Southeast Food Forward (SFF), a grants and technical assistance funding opportunity.
Reinvestment Fund will host an informational webinar on Wednesday, April 23, 2025 at 11 AM ET / 10 AM CT. Live Spanish interpretation will be available for webinar attendees.
Through this program, approximately $1 million will be funded in competitive awards to entities implementing and operating community-driven business models along the food supply chain. Funding will be awarded to projects that will increase equitable healthy food access in underserved and resource-constrained communities in the Southeastern (SE) United States.
Funding for SFF is made possible through Reinvestment Fund’s Equitable Food System – Southeast Initiative (EFS-SI), a project funded by the Walmart Foundation, with the goal of addressing twin issues facing communities in the SE: (a) limited food access and (b) stymied growth of food enterprises — both issues directly related to the systemic and historic underinvestment in the food supply chain and necessary infrastructure, along with the lack of institutional support.
A full RFA with more information on eligibility and the application process will be available on April 23, 2025. Sign up for our mailing list to receive notification of the RFA.
Eligibility
Projects eligible for funding must be community driven and impact geographic areas affected by systemic disinvestment and/or historic marginalization. They must be able to demonstrate that funding will increase the entity’s capacity to build and sustain equitable food access in underserved communities in the long term.
Enterprises must operate in the post-harvest food supply chain, for example, food processors/manufacturers, aggregators, wholesalers, distributors, commercial kitchens and other supply chain infrastructure, retailers, delivery solutions, and points of service. This also includes farm-to-institution initiatives that improve food access, such as farm-to-school and farm-to-corrections programs.
To be considered for funding, projects must also be located in and serve communities in the following geographies: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and the Native American tribes within the region.