Community Food Projects
Competitive Grants
The Community
Food Projects Competitive Grant Program
(CFPCGP) has existed since 1996 as
a program to fight food insecurity through
developing community food projects that
help promote the self-sufficiency of low-income
communities.
Community Food Projects are designed to
increase food security in communities by
bringing the whole food system together to
assess strengths, establish linkages, and
create systems that improve the self-reliance
of community members over their food needs.
The 1996 Federal Agriculture Improvement
and Reform Act (FAIR) established new authority
for federal grants to support the development
of Community Food Projects, and the Farm
Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002
re-authorized the program. The program is
designed to:
- Meet the needs of low-income people by
increasing their access to fresher, more
nutritious food supplies.
- Increase the self-reliance of communities
in providing for their own food needs.
- Promote comprehensive responses to local
food, farm, and nutrition issues.
Additionally, projects should:
- Meet specific state, local, or neighborhood
food and agricultural needs for infrastructure
improvement and development.
- Plan for long-term solutions.
- Create innovative marketing activities
that mutually benefit agricultural producers
and low-income consumers.
Preferred projects also develop linkages
between two or more sectors of the food system,
support the development of entrepreneurial
projects, develop innovative linkages between
the for-profit and nonprofit food sectors,
encourage long-term planning activities and
multisystem, intera
July 23, 2007
linkages build long-term capacity of communities to address the food and agricultural
problems of communities, such as food policy councils and food planning associations.
These grants are intended to help eligible private nonprofit entities that
need a one-time infusion of federal assistance to establish and carry out multipurpose
community food projects. Projects are funded from $10,000-$300,000 and from
1 to 3 years. They are one-time grants that require a dollar-for-dollar match
in resources. Approximately 18 percent of the submitted proposals have received
awards during the history of this program. Funds have been authorized through
the year, 2007 at $5 million per year.
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