2024-2025 Food Access and Retail Expansion Fund

The 2024-2025 HFFI FARE Fund, administered by Reinvestment Fund, is a key part of America’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative, designed to enhance food access in underserved communities. The program aims to provide financial support and technical assistance for food retail and supply chain projects that offer healthy, fresh, and affordable foods. Over the next five years, the fund will distribute $60 million through a mix of loans, grants, and technical assistance to support the development, planning, and implementation of eligible projects. For the 2024-2025 funding cycle, the HFFI FARE Fund has at least $9 million available for implementation grants, $1.5 million for technical assistance, and $16 million for loans. Grants are distributed in three funding rounds, while loans and technical assistance are offered on a rolling basis. Applicants may receive up to $250,000 in grant funding for implementation projects or up to $100,000 for early-stage planning and technical assistance. Loans for eligible projects range from $500,000 to $5 million and may be paired with grants or technical assistance to strengthen the viability of the project. Eligible projects include ventures that improve access to fresh and healthy foods in underserved areas, such as businesses involved in processing, distributing, aggregating, marketing, or selling these foods. Applicants must demonstrate how their project will increase the availability of staple and perishable foods, either directly through retail or within the food retail supply chain. Funding can be used for activities like predevelopment, equipment purchases, construction, acquisition of land or buildings, and community engagement efforts. Eligible applicants include for-profit businesses, cooperatively-owned businesses, tax-exempt nonprofits, institutions of higher education, and state, local, and tribal governments, among others. Individuals are not eligible to apply. Government entities can apply for grants and technical assistance but are currently ineligible for loans. The application process begins with the submission of a Funding Inquiry Form by October 14, 2024, for Round 1 consideration. Forms submitted after this date will be reviewed for Round 2. After review, eligible applicants will be invited to submit full applications. Inquiry forms must be submitted through the SmartSimple online portal, and technical assistance is available on a rolling basis. Reinvestment Fund will also host informational webinars to guide potential applicants through the process and answer questions. No registration is required for these webinars, and links will be provided according to the webinar schedule.