Community Food Projects (CFP)

Type: Grants

Max award: Projects range from $10,000-$300,000 and require a match in resources

Big idea: Community Food Projects are designed to increase food security in communities by bringing the whole food system together to assess strengths, establish linkages, and create systems that improve the self-reliance of community members over their food needs.

Who can apply: Non-profit organizations

Possibilities: Examples of previously funded projects include:

• A community kitchen making value-added products in the Appalachian mountains of Tennessee;
• A revitalization of Native American dryland farming practices in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona;
• A teen-run juice and muffin bar on the Lower East Side of New York City;
• A pork producers cooperative in rural Missouri marketing sustainably-raised meat;
• An urban agricultural center and farming enterprise among immigrants in Massachusetts.

Real example: The National Center for Appropriate Technology is utilizing a $298,000, three-year grant from Community Food Projects to develop farm to school programs in Montana's food deserts. In partnership with AmeriCorps, the organization has hired 11 service members to address rising obesity rates in children by connecting schools with nearby farms and ranches to serve healthy meals, building and tending school gardens, and educating students about how and why to eat nutritious foods. This Montana FoodCorps program has also inspired a national FoodCorps program.

Get more information: For more program information click here or visit WHYHunger.