‘Ending food insecurity’ in underserved communities funded by VFAIF grants

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) will provide $120,000 in grant funding to four projects.

Funded by the Virginia Food Access Investment Fund, the four projects will improve retail fresh food access in underserved communities across the Commonwealth. The grants were awarded to businesses and non-profits.

“Ending food insecurity is a major priority of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration,” VDACS Commissioner Joseph Guthrie said in a press release. “Through the VFAIF grant program, we are partnering with innovative, dedicated businesses and organizations to help build strong, resilient food supply chains and improve access to nutritious, safe, affordable foods for all Virginians.”

The grant program was established in 2020 and awards up to $50,000 per project to support the development or expansion of grocery stories, small food retailers and innovative food retail projects, the press release stated. All projects provide greater access to fresh foods to low-income, low-access communities.

The following projects will have grant funding:

Richmond’s Broad Rock Farmers Market will receive funding through the non-profit Caring and Sharing Foundation to expand an existing farmers market, which launched in May 2021 with two local produce farmers averaging 100 weekly visitors. Expansion will allow the market to accommodate 15 vendors and more than 1,000 weekly visitors. Grant funding will also support a part-time market manager and provide vendors with minimum sales guarantees.

Hampton Roads Urban Agriculture (HRUA) operates an urban farm at the Zion Baptist Church in Newport News and offers a weekly SNAP-enabled farmers market. HRUA also offers multiple programs to engage youth and adult community members in efforts to increase access to fresh food. Grant funding will purchase a cooler for produce storage and aggregation so that fresh foods from the farm can be sold to community members throughout the week.

The Norfolk Food Ecosystem was established by the St. Paul’s Community Development Corporation in 2021 to bring fresh food to a Norfolk food desert through the Park Avenue Market. The current grant funding will enable the innovative retail model to further implement plans to supply fresh products to a number of stores in the city via a small urban warehouse, which was supported by a 2021 VFAIF grant.

Food retailer Slade Naturals in Surry County was established by a member of Slade Family Farms. Grant funding will support improvements to the retail store and outreach efforts to better connect the locally grown food sold at the market to Surry’s underserved community. The business will be able to add cold storage capacity, expand produce aggregation, purchase a new point-of-sale system to handle the increased SNAP and Virginia Fresh Match transactions, and extend store operating hours.

The next round of businesses and non-profit entities seeking to expand sales of access to fresh food in low-income, low-access communities are encouraged to apply for the next VFAIF grant round beginning November 1, 2022.