ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Reinvestment Fund awarded $40,336,270 in grant funding for the Local and Regional Healthy Food Financing Partnerships Program (HFFI Partnerships Program) to support food financing programs in rural, urban and Tribal communities across 20 states and Washington D.C.
“Improving food access, economic strength, and resilience for communities across the country requires a multifaceted approach with both national and localized solutions,” said Don Hinkle-Brown, President and CEO of Reinvestment Fund. “The HFFI Partnerships Program investments will help build the capacity of our nationwide healthy food financing field and provide critical resources to local partners who directly reduce barriers and increase access to an equitable, resilient food system that benefits thousands of families.”
“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to supporting local and regional food systems so people who live in even the most remote parts of the country won’t need to travel far from home to find fresh, healthy and affordable food,” U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Secretary Torres Small said. “USDA is proud to continue its partnership with Reinvestment Fund as we work together to ensure even more people can find nutritious food options anywhere they live, all while supporting local farmers and ranchers.”
Today’s grant award announcement follows the 2023 expansion announcement of America’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI). The HFFI Partnerships Program investment will complement the ongoing national HFFI program, which addresses the complexity of food access in communities across America.
The HFFI Partnerships Program is designed to invest in local capacity and capital to establish and grow partnerships between organizations that are working at the local, state, or regional level to provide financing and technical assistance to food retail and food supply chain businesses in underserved communities. These investments help businesses across the food supply chain thrive and deliver fresh, healthy, and affordable products to low-income communities and communities of color. This historic public-private HFFI Partnerships Program will support more than 750 loans and grants over the next five years to support over 1400 food retail and supply chain projects sustaining over 2,500 local jobs.
The complete list of funded HFFI Partnerships Programs is available here. Two of the funded food financing programs include the New Mexico Healthy Food Financing Fund Partnership and the Delta Healthy Food Financing Partnership.
The New Mexico Healthy Food Financing Fund Partnership, comprised of Vida Mejor Capital, New Mexico Economic Development Department, New Mexico State University, the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute, and the New Mexico Community Development Loan Fund, will conduct new market studies to evaluate the needs of New Mexico’s food ecosystem and design loan, grant, and technical assistance programs that improve sustainability and resiliency for local healthy food retail and food retail supply chain projects.
The Delta Healthy Food Financing Partnership, comprised of Hunger Solutions Institute, Hope Enterprises Corporation, and Wright Food Solutions, will establish the Delta Healthy Food Financing Initiative (Delta-HFFI). Delta-HFFI’s mission is to build a stronger, more equitable and resilient food system in the Delta region of the U.S. Delta-HFFI will support the vitality of food retailers, food enterprises, and underserved communities in the Delta region through increased access to capital in the following five states: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.
Beginning with the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative in 2004, Reinvestment Fund has developed a comprehensive and evidence-based approach to improving the food landscape for low-income people. Since that time, Reinvestment Fund has provided nearly $400 million in grants and loans to healthy food projects.
Since 2010, federal and local HFFI programs have helped leverage more than $320 million in grants and about $1 billion in additional financing because of private-public partnerships with entities including the departments of the Treasury and Health and Human Services. Because of the dedication to revitalizing economies, creating jobs, and improving health the HFFI program brought grocery and other healthy food retail projects to nearly all 50 states. Learn more at www.investinginfood.com.
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.