Other Ag News: USDA Announces Recipients of New Health Food Financing Expansion Grant

Last week, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development (RD) announced that it will partner with Reinvestment Fund, a national mission-driven financial institution, to fund 16 public-private partnerships. As an expansion of the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI), the Local and Regional Healthy Food Financing Partnerships Program (the HFFI Partnerships Program) will provide technical or financial assistance (including loans). 

This is the inaugural round of the HFFI Partnerships Program, and they awarded over $40 million in grants to 75 partners in 20 states and Washington, DC. This new program is partly funded through the American Rescue Plan and will be used to expand or create new Healthy Food Financing Programs. 

The Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) is a public-private partnership administered by Reinvestment Fund. The initiative offers grants and technical assistance to grocery retailers, cooperative businesses, nonprofit organizations, and state, local, and tribal governments working to increase access to healthy food in underserved areas. HFFI was established by the 2014 Farm Bill and expanded in the 2018 Farm Bill. To be eligible, projects must maintain or expand access to staple and perishable food in underserved areas and accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Although the Healthy Food Finance Initiative was created in 2014, it lacked mandatory funding and was therefore not funded through an appropriations cycle until 2017. Even then, it was funded at much lower levels than it was authorized. As a result, Reinvestment Fund focused on implementing only a portion of the authorized activities – providing grants and technical assistance to eligible projects. This additional funding from the American Rescue Plan Act allows Reinvestment Fund to fully implement the initiative as intended, providing an opportunity to support regional partnerships to extend financing options.  

The Local and Regional Healthy Food Financing Partnerships Program, also known as the HFFI Partnerships Program, goes beyond direct financial assistance to food retailers and offers grant funds for two types of activity: capacity building and credit enhancement. 

Capacity building includes: providing technical assistance to projects; providing funds for operating expenses to create or expand an existing HFFI food financing program; and researching food access needs in communities. 

Example: NSAC member Missouri Coalition for the Environment will facilitate engagement with farmers and lend their expertise in local food supply chain development as a member of the Missouri Rural Food Access Partnership, a recipient of this round of HFFI Partnership Program grants. 

Credit enhancement includes issuing loans and other financial assistance to food retail and food supply chain projects. 

Example: NSAC member Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI) will assist the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry (DACF) in funding statewide food system infrastructure for value-added processing businesses, distributors, and retailers. The Maine Agriculture, Food, and Forest Products Investment Partnership received a grant through the HFFI Partnerships Program. 

Thirteen of the sixteen projects include both capacity building and credit enhancement activities. Three of the projects are exclusively dedicated to capacity building. Reinvestment Fund estimates that 766 total grants and loans totaling over $72 million will result from this program. Read about the projects that were funded in Reinvestment Fund’s Local and Regional Healthy Food Financing Partnerships Program Award Book. 

Self-Help Credit Union, an NSAC Member, is working with the Piedmont Triad Regional Council and Partner Community Capital as part of Growing Food Finance in the Triad HFFI Partnership. The project offers capacity building and credit enhancement throughout the 12-county Piedmont Triad region in North Carolina. The project will focus on creating an equitable food lending system and prioritize underserved and rural communities and women and BIPOC-owned businesses. 

“Self-Help is looking forward to working with the Piedmont Triad Regional Council (PTRC) and Partners for Community Capital (PCAP) on this exciting new USDA HFFI project.  While program details are still being finalized, this funding will allow PTRC to build on its already impressive work connecting institutional partners and food projects by expanding their partnership with two regional food system lenders. The grant will focus on capacity building activities and credit enhancements with an emphasis on affordable access to loans.  We are particularly appreciative to USDA and Reinvestment Fund for all their work creating and helping secure much-needed funding for the USDA HFFI program,” said Self-Help Policy Director, David Beck. 

“The Appalachian Foodways Project allows us to work with locally-owned grocers and other food businesses along the value-chain. The project will focus on sustainability and growth through relationship building with the WV Rural Grocers Network, providing targeted technical assistance, access to low-interest loans, and even grant funding! We are excited to work with Partners in Community Capital, the West Virginia University Center for Resilient Communities, and the West Virginia Department of Agriculture – Veterans and Heros to Agriculture program. All of these partners help us to reach across the food and agriculture sector to connect farmers and value-added product makers with grocers and other businesses along the value chain to impact food and nutrition security in rural Appalachian communities,” said West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition Executive Director, Spencer Moss.

In the upcoming farm bill, we must sustain funding so USDA Rural Development and Reinvestment Fund can continue to fund the full scope of these projects. 

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