USDA GRANTS ARE AVAILABLE FOR RI FARMERS CREATING OR DEVELOPING VALUE-ADDED BUSINESSES!
SPRING APPLICATION WORKSHOPS

Presented by the RI Agricultural Partnership

The Rhode Island Agricultural Partnership will host three workshops this spring for producers and producer groups interested in applying for the USDA Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) Program. The workshops will be held as follows:

 Eastern District, Saturday April 20, 2 – 4 pm at the Portsmouth Public Library

 Southern District, Tuesday April 30, 6 – 8 pm at the Richmond Grange

 Northern District, Saturday May 4, 2 – 4 pm at the North Scituate Public Library

These workshops are for producers and producer groups with a value-added idea they are ready to capitalize on. The workshops will provide an introduction to the VAPG program, examples of exciting projects the program has funded recently, and details on how to complete an application. The goal is to help RI producers and producers groups to gain the skills they need to put together and successfully submit complete applications.

There is no charge to attend, but registration is requested. Both independent producers and producer groups are eligible. If you want to check your eligibility, you can visit the following website: http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/coops/vapgea/step1.htm

Please contact Nessa Richman at 240-838-1020 or nessa@brightseedstrategies.com to reserve your seat at this workshop and/or to verify your eligibility.

There is a $5 million pot. Grants will range from $20-100K, and there is a 25% match requirement. Deadline is April 24, 2013 at midnight EST.

Make sure your are registered with grants.gov and have your DUNS and SAM numbers (these things are simple to do, and are outlined in the RFP pg. 33/72 BUT you do have to do them early to avoid problems at submission time.

There are three types of grants, oulined below:

“Applicants may apply for a Planning grant, Implementation grant or Support Service grant. Planning grants are expected to range from $20,000 – $45,000 and implementation grants and support service grants are expected to range from $65,000 – $100,000.”

Here is a link to the RFP: http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/f2s/pdf/F2S_Grant_RFA_2014.pdf

Did you know that a nine-month extension was tacked onto the Fiscal Cliff vote in Congress on New Year’s Day? Unfortunately, it is bad news for those of us who care about building local food systems.

According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, this extension effectively robs $486.95 million in 2013 funding from the federal grant programs that support development of local and regional food systems. This includes programs that support farmers’ markets, value-added agriculture, rural micro-entrepreneur assistance, beginning and minority farmers, and much more.

In fact, little USDA funding is left for the many innovative organizations across the country working to build healthy food systems programs and enterprises until a new Farm Bill is passed.

Here are four takeaways:

• Private, family, and corporate foundations: Your investments in healthy food systems projects and enterprises are now more important that ever. The farm and food organizations in your target area have just had much of their go-to funding pulled out from beneath their feet. Ensure that you are maximizing the impact of your grant-making through sound decision-making strategies and comprehensive evaluation.

• CDFIs: If you have been thinking about starting a Healthy Food Finance Initiative, now is a great time. The CDFI Fund announced on December 21, 2012 that it will provide awards totaling $23 million for Healthy Food Finance investment in 2013. Investing in good food enterprises through development and provision of appropriate products and technical assistance services for healthy food entrepreneurs is a key to building healthy food systems. See this posting for more: http://www.brightseedstrategies.com/2013-funding-round-for-cdfi-program-now-open

• Nonprofits and government agencies: We need to make the most of the federal programs that do still have funding. Most importantly, make sure that funds allotted for the state Specialty Crop Block Grant programs and the federal Value-Added Producer Grant Program go to organizations that build socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable food systems and enterprises.

• All of us: Policy advocates for a good Farm Bill will continue their efforts in 2013. They will call on us to help with letters and calls, and we should make a point of responding to their requests in the coming months. http://sustainableagriculture.net/

The 2013 round of funding for the CDFI Program, including $23 million for the Healthy Food Finance Initiative (HFFI) Program, was announced by the CDFI Fund on December 21, 2012.

The deadline for applications is February 28, 2013.

The CDFI Fund also announced that, for this round of funding, the HFFI will serve as a supplemental funding opportunity under the CDFI Program for CDFIs which have also received Financial Assistance awards under the FY 2013 round of the CDFI Program.

Although the funds for these programs are not yet appropriated, the CDFI Fund said that it is posting application materials on the Grants.gov website today. The NOFA was published in the Federal Register during the week of December 24, 2012.

Read all about it here: http://www.cdfifund.gov/news_events/CDFI-2012-47-CDFI_Fund_Opens_FY_2013_Funding_Round_for_CDFI_NACA_Programs.asp

This small CDFI located in Bangor, Maine provides credit, financial services and other services to underserved populations living in Penobscot, Piscataquis and Knox counties.

This new program is targeted to growers, producers and small retailers of local, healthy foods and provides business loans of up to $50,000 for coolers, storage, equipment, retail displays and expansion costs as well as technical assistance with creating a business plan for the healthy foods market.

MaineStream CDFI was able to initiate this program due to three main factors:

(1) they were awarded a technical assistance grant from Opportunity Finance Network, a national organization, which helped them design their program;

(2) they spoke with local foods businesses to learn more about their business needs; and

(3) their business counseling and lending staff completed specialized training on the foods industry.

MaineStream CDFI started this program in order to meet local community interests, which are in line with the national movement to eat more healthful foods and to buy locally produced food. They were seeing more food-related businesses coming through the door looking for assistance, and they decided to take the opportunity to start a new Healthy Foods Options program. Their focus is on providing food producers and growers with business planning guidance and financing assistance.

If you want to know more about this program you can visit these sites and/or call 207-973-3500.

http://www.wabi.tv/news/35356/healthy-foods-options

http://mainestreamfinance.org/

According to the USDA, this funding includes many business-focused, entrepreneurial initiatives, including:

• Twenty-five programs that create jobs by hiring new farm to school coordinators, with 43 projects supporting and maintaining existing staff.
• Thirty-one programs that use food hubs, or partner with mainline distributors.
• Forty-four projects that will result in development of new products and menu items.

This grant program, like all USDA grant programs, is very competitive. Having helped review federal grant programs like this one, I can tell you that it is more than likely there are highly rated farm-to-school projects in every state left unfunded.

Should the entrepreneurs behind these very highly rated, unfunded projects just wait until next year, apply again, and cross their fingers?

Have they considered affordable financing as an alternative to getting their work underway?

Do they have the skill set needed to retool their grant proposal into a business plan?

How can CDFI’s work with them to develop a mutual understanding about how community development finance can help their work move forward?

At Brightseed Strategies, we believe the first steps are to identify these entrepreneurs, get to know them, understand their ideas, and co-create a response to their technical assistance and financial product needs.

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2012/11/0343.xml&contentidonly=true

I wrote this guide with The Food Trust (http://www.thefoodtrust.org/) as a nuts and bolts handbook to identifying partners and convening stakeholders around the development of new healthy food finance initiatives. This material was developed for CDFIs, many of whom had little or no reference point for food systems. It is accessible to multiple audiences. Although focused topically on retail  and elimination of food deserts, the framework described starting on page 5 and  the list of partner categories starting on page 7 are useful for any forming HFFI. It was published in July 2012: http://www.cdfifund.gov/what_we_do/resources/Covening_Stakeholders_07032012.pdf

This chapter is part of a rich resource bank that was developed by the CDFI Fund HFFI Task Order, which is now complete and supplemented with a library of webinars. http://www.cdfifund.gov/what_we_do/FinancingHealthyFoodOptionsResourceBank.asp

This 2012 Rockefeller Foundation report is research based and insightful. Worth a close read if you are interested in strategic capital solutions to the development of sustainable food systems. If you don’t have time for that, read this sample grab from Pages 33-34 on the need for layering diverse types of investment capital and the importance of cultivating meaningful partnerships:

“Many of the investment opportunities come with a need for diverse types of capital to address the risks inherent in the food system. Syndication among funders allows investors with different risk profiles and appetites to layer their capital to increase the funding going to these social enterprises. Of those interviewed, when asked where money is flowing, over 57% noted examples that included the layering of capital.

An example of this type of syndication can be seen in a loan fund created to provide capital for food system infrastructure. Housed within a community organization, the loan fund is capitalized by a program related investment (PRI) from a local foundation and funds from a local CDFI. Several partner organizations are involved in running the fund, including another CDFI, a CDC, and a non-profit. The group of partner organizations acts as an investment or loan committee and decides which deals to pursue while the CDFI investor conducts all the due diligence. The loan fund connects businesses to technical assistance and business management resources. Additionally, because they are focused on lending within their region, relationships and trust have played a large role in their investment decisions. “Everybody knows somebody in this kind of model,” said one of the partners. On the flip side, he noted that in a local economy, everyone is also dependent on someone else in the region, so the success of the businesses requires that the whole system remain financially healthy and stable.”

“Syndication on investments is a natural occurrence when there is a platform for coordination. By understanding the risk profile of each investor, deals can be created that allow for layered capital, enabling grants, PRIs, debt and equity to work together to grow businesses. This layering of capital can also address different return expectations and liquidity needs, enabling the funding of businesses with slim margins and large up-front costs.”

Right on. You can read it all here:

http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/news/publications/bridging-gap

From the Rockefeller Foundation: “This August 2012 report from the Rockefeller Foundation examines the current state of funding for addressing the problems in the food system and promotes the goals and the vision for a healthier food system. It analyzes where capital is flowing and where it is not flowing, and what kinds of approaches are needed to increase the flow and effectiveness of capital where gaps currently exist.”

USDA Community Food Project (CFP) grants go to nonprofit organizations to help them develop local solutions to food access and hunger problems. The RFP for the 2013 round of Community Food Projects grants was released on October 15^th. Applications are due on November 28^th. There is $5 million available, and there will likely be between 20-25 awards made.

To assess whether it makes sense for you to apply for a CFP, review the impressive set of organizations which were just awarded USDA Community Food Projects grants this month:

• Platicamos Salud,Mariposa     CommunityHealth     Center,Nogales,      Ariz., $300,000
• RootDown LA, A project of      Community Partners,Los Angeles,Calif.,      $226,708
• Plating Justice,Oakland,      Calif., $298,500
• The Center on Race, Poverty      & the Environment,San Francisco,Calif.,      $288,206
• Great Northern Corporation      (GNC), Weed,Calif., $25,000
• First Nations Development      Institute,Longmont,Colo.,      $335,301
• Rio     Culebra Growers Educational Corporation,San Luis,      Colo., $25,000
• Food Bank ofDelaware,     Newark,Del.,      $300,000
• Earth Learning,Miami,      Fla., $300,000
• Southwest Georgia Project for      Community Education, Inc.Albany,Ga.,      $298,900
• Franklin City Community      Development Corporation,Greenfield,Mass.,      $284,441
• Community Teamwork Inc.,Lowell,      Mass., $24,976
• Agriculture – New Lands Farm      Lutheran Social Service,West Springfield,      Mass., $281,453
• ECO     CityFarms, Riverdale, Md.,      $299,965
• Camden     CityGarden     Club,Camden,N.J.,      $292,421
• LaSemilla     FoodCenter,     Anthony,N.M.,      $299,690
• World Hunger Year, Inc.,New        York City,N.Y., $200,000
• Groundwork     HudsonValley,     Yonkers,N.Y.,      $190,000
• Tulsa     Economic Development Corporation,Tulsa,Okla.,      $25,000
• Ecumenical Ministries ofOregon,     Portland,Ore.,      $25,000
• Village Gardens, Janus Youth      Programs, INC.Portland,Ore.,      $299,970
• Equal Dollars Community      Currency,Philadelphia,Pa.,      $25,000
• Health Care Without Harm,Reston,      Va., $154,469

To get one of these grants, you should be “community based” not “community placed” and you should ideally be an organization that works closely with low-income people at all levels, including leadership and decisionmaking levels. Community Food Projects should be designed to (1): (A) meet the food needs of low-income people; (B) increase the self-reliance of communities in providing for their own food needs; and (C) promote comprehensive responses to local food, farm, and nutrition issues; and/or (2) meet specific state, local, or neighborhood food and agriculture needs for (A) infrastructure improvement and development; (B) planning for long-term solutions; or (C) the creation of innovative marketing activities that mutually benefit agricultural producers and low-income consumers.

Read more (including abstracts of funded projects) here: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/communityfoodprojects.cfm and access the 2013 RFP here: http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=hryHQ2LKSDVk1TQj0T5hnG13XpKRpJhpG1wGCQskTyLxNRSJ58Qk!1706022341?oppId=204114&mode=VIEW.

This post is for all of the CDFIs out there awaiting word on whether there will be a third round of HFFI funding.

As the CDFIs out there all know, the HFFI funding is a set aside within the larger FA (Financial Assistance) program. Although HFFI awards are specifically earmarked for healthy food projects, the ‘regular’ FA is also eligible for these projects.

In fact, the ‘regular’ FA has been accessed for these projects multiple times. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about from the August 2012 FA round:

Lowcountry Housing Trust

North Charleston, SC

FA Award: $703,806

Contact: Tammie Hoy – (843) 973-7285

Lowcountry Housing Trust (LHT) is a non-profit certified CDFI established in 2004. The organization serves low-income residents within five counties—North Charleston, Berkeley, Dorchester, Beaufort and Georgetown—in South Carolina, and provides financial products and development services to promote the creation of affordable housing. LHT will use its FY 2012 Financial Assistance award to offer flexible financing options that will increase production of affordable housing, improve access to healthy foods, and support local and regional community development lenders.

And then, even if a CDFI does not call out food-related business in particular, many CDFIs provide TA services (like financial consulting) and loan products to small businesses, and many food-related business fit squarely into this category.

The message here is that you don’t have to pin your hopes of developing programming that helps build healthy food systems to HFFI alone. As described above, the FA program can help, too. There are also myriad grant programs in the USDA and HHS that can be accessed by nonprofit organizations (including CDFIs and their partners) to the development of healthy food systems (click here for a great report on these programs: http://sustainableagriculture.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/6.18-FINAL-Food-System-Funding-Guide2.pdf.

Look here for the full list of FA awards.

http://www.cdfifund.gov/docs/2012/cdfi/AwardProfiles.pdf