PHILADELPHIA, April 18, 2024 —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.