NEWS RELEASE
Veneman Awards $4.6 Million in Grants for Community Food Projects
Contact:
Julie Quick (202) 720-4623
Terry Meisenbach (202) 720-2677
(For a printable version of this release, click here.)
Release No. 0475.04
CASA GRANDE, Ariz., Oct. 29, 2004--Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman announced today that 25 grants totaling $4.6 million have been awarded as part of USDA's Community Food Projects (CFP) Competitive Grants Program. The program helps low-income people meet their food needs.
"This Administration is committed to helping all Americans have access to a healthy and nutritious food supply," said Veneman. "These grants invest in innovative community-based projects that will also provide access to nutritious food for those in need."
The CFP awards will aid nonprofit organizations in 17 states in carrying out a variety of projects in helping low-income communities.
The grants are administered by USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES). The fiscal year 2004 grant awards are as follows:
ARIZONA
- Natwani Coalition, Hotevilla, $161,212. The project will provide food production, marketing, education, and assessment activities to help restore the local Hopi food system.
CALIFORNIA
- A New America Community Corporation, Berkeley, $240,000. This project will link low-income immigrant farmers with small immigrant food businesses to build new markets for sustainable foods.
- Community Food Security Coalition, Venice, $234,264. This training and technical assistance grant will help strengthen the Coalition's current evaluation program for CFP grantees.
- Community Food Security Coalition, Venice, $104,978. This project will provide technical assistance to conduct pilot tests.
- Downtown El Cajon Community Development Corporation, El Cajon, $237,534. This project will create a new farmer's market that will bring high quality food to area residents.
- Life Learning Academy/Delancy Street Foundation, San Francisco, $145,000. This project will improve the nutrition of Academy students and Treasure Island residents by bolstering the local food infrastructure through hands-on education and school activities.
- Occidental College, Los Angeles, $120,000. This training and technical assistance project will deliver assistance on farm-to-school projects for program applicants and grantees at regional and national workshops.
- Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, $225,000. This project will establish a teaching and retail kitchen supporting program that emphasizes fresh produce consumption, job training, and food and nutrition education targeted to low-income residents.
GEORGIA
- Rolling Hills Resource, Conservation, and Development Council, Dallas, $105,120. This project will increase sales of locally grown foods through greater use of WIC Farmer's market nutrition program, increased restaurant sales, expansion of the green market at Piedmont Park, supplying food to assisted living facilities in the area, and expanding access for community purchases.
MAINE
- Unity Barn Raisers, Unity, $260,906. This project offers a comprehensive response to farm and food problems in a region through the provision of local farm products to the food relief system.
MARYLAND07/25/2007rden Harvest, Glydon, $255,000. This project will help meet the food needs of low-income people by producing and selling goat's milk and eggs at discounted prices.
MASSACHUSETTS
- Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, South Deerfield, $125,000. This project will address low-income needs by developing stronger farmers markets through sales of locally grown produce and nutrition education classes.
- The Food Project, Lincoln, $140,000. This training and technical assistance project will significantly increase aid in youth training and development for current and potential program grantees through regional training hubs for mentoring and training for youth and adults in sustainable food activities.
MISSOURI
- Saint Louis University, St. Louis, $158,995. This project supports the University's involvement in the provision of food, nutrition education, physical activity, sustainable food systems, and food preparation and preservation for families of low-income students in two urban elementary schools.
NEW MEXICO
- Dixon Cooperative Market, Dixon, $34,681. This project will aid in the start-up of a cooperative market in a rural community without a grocery store to be supplied by approximately 50 local producers and include a small commercial kitchen to allow the production of value-added prepared foods to be sold locally.
NEW YORK
- Massachusetts Avenue Project, Buffalo, $268,848. This project will develop the food system in the local community and provide opportunities to generate income.
OHIO
- Ecological Design Center, Oberlin, $268,293. This project will build a stronger food system in northeast Ohio by addressing food access and economic opportunities through community-supported agriculture start-ups.
OKLAHOMA
- Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Poteau, $202,723. This project will establish sustainable local food systems for producers and consumers through a statewide food assessment, a food security educational campaign, and nutritional outreach.
RHODE ISLAND
- Southside Community Land Trust, Providence, $182,596. This project will increase urban agricultural production by fostering backyard and container gardens, youth gardens, community gardens, and market gardens, in addition to education, outreach, a garden supplies buying club, and a city-wide Urban Agriculture Policy Task Force.
TENNESSEE
- Rural Resources, Greenville, $128,160. This project will combine local farmers' marketing needs with the improvement of access to fresh produce in low-income neighborhoods through a Mobile Market.
TEXAS
- Sustainable Food Center, Austin, $270,000. This project will address food preparation and nutrition, marketing and microenterprise development, and public education and policy dialogue by expanding the scope of La Cocina Alegre (The Happy Kitchen), by increasing small business economic opportunities.
VERMONT
- Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, Richmond, $190,269. This project will increase consumption of locally-grown, fresh produce for low-income youth and seniors and help support small-scale producers through a community supported agriculture program.
VIRGINIA
- First Nations Development Institute, Fredericksburg, $115,000. Through national and regional training programs, this training and technical assistance project will help Native American groups identify funding opportunities, understand the CFP program, develop competitive proposals, adapt effective evaluation methods, and implement community food assessments.
- Mid-Atlantic Gleaning Network, Lorton, $270,000. This project will help low-income people through increased distribution of fresh produce that is gleaned from regional farms.
WISCONSIN
- Growing Power, Milwaukee, $269,685. This project will expand the Farm-City Market Basket Program to provide weekly and year-round distribution of produce to pilot elementary schools.
|
