America’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative: Food Access and Retail Expansion Fund 2024-2025 Request for Applications

FUNDING PROGRAM: America’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) Food Access and Retail Expansion Fund (FARE Fund), 2024-2025 Request for Applications.

FUNDING AGENCIES: USDA.

OPPORTUNITY:

Over the next 5 years, the HFFI FARE Fund will provide $60 million in loans, grants, and technical assistance for the predevelopment, planning, and implementation of eligible food retail and food retail supply chain projects

DESCRIPTION:

Competitive grants and technical assistance are available for eligible food retail and food retail supply chain projects in the predevelopment and implementation stages.

Applicants must demonstrate how their proposed project will contribute to food access through the availability of an assortment of staple and perishable foods for retail sale, either directly or as part of the retail supply chain. Funding should build programmatic capacity, unlock additional sources of capital, catalyze project sustainability, meet financing gaps, and/or enable the next phase of project implementation for deeper impact or reach.

Funding is designed to support catalytic projects that can’t access traditional financing and may be used for predevelopment activities, equipment, hard construction costs, acquisition of land or buildings, and other one-time soft costs such as community engagement and environmental assessment.

Applicants must propose a project that is anticipated to create a food retail or food retail supply chain business model that will be in an eligible underserved area to be eligible for funding.

ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS: 

• For-profit business enterprises (including a corporation, limited liability company, sole proprietor, public benefit corporation)
• Cooperatively owned businesses
• Tax-exempt nonprofit corporations
• Institutions of higher education
• State and local governments and governmental agencies, authorities, commissions and food policy councils
• Tribal governments and tribal governmental agencies, authorities, and food policy councils

Note:  State, local, and tribal governments are eligible for grants and technical assistance, but currently not for loans.

FUNDING AVAILABLE (ANTICIPATED): 

• FUNDING AVAILABILITY: In the 2024-2025 funding cycle, at least $9 Million is available for implementation grants, at least $1.5 Million is available for technical assistance, and at least $16 Million is available for loans. Grant funds will be distributed through three rounds of funding. Technical assistance and loans will be distributed on a rolling basis.
• INDIVIDUAL AWARD AMOUNTS: Grant awards will be up to $250,000 for implementation and up to $100,000 for early-stage planning, predevelopment, and technical assistance. Loans to eligible projects may range between $500,000-$5,000,000. Loans may be paired with technical assistance or a grant to strengthen the viability of the project.

APPLICATION DEADLINE(S) / TIMELINE(S):