Walmart Foundation and LISC launch $1.5M Equitable Food Access Grant Program to Address Food Inequity in Under-Resourced Communities

The Walmart Foundation has partnered with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) to launch a $1.5 million grant program aimed at expanding access to healthy, affordable food in under-resourced communities. The program, known as the Equitable Food Access grant program, is focused on the Southeast region and will fund eight community-based nonprofits led by people of color. The program supports a range of efforts, including farmer-led urban agriculture, mobile food markets, and the establishment of community food policy councils.

The grant program is a part of larger efforts by the Walmart Foundation and LISC to promote economic opportunity and racial equity. The Walmart.org Center for Racial Equity is committed to addressing disparities in health outcomes and recognizes that access to nutritional foods is closely connected to health. The Equitable Food Access grant program promotes food justice as part of larger strategies to improve community health.

The eight local nonprofits receiving funding range from $102,000 to $111,000 each and include Beauty’s Community Garden in Houston, Kokua Kalihi Valley in Honolulu, and Louisville Association for Community Economics in Louisville. The program aims to empower local residents with food and nutrition education, access to garden-to-table produce, and skills to grow and prepare healthy food at home.

The Equitable Food Access funding for the eight local nonprofits include:

• Beauty’s Community Garden, Houston – Works to close the food inequity gap by empowering local residents with food and nutrition education, access to garden-to-table produce, and skills to grow and prepare healthy food at home.
• Diana Gregory Outreach Services, Phoenix – Aims to enrich lives through healthy eating, with a focus on increasing access to fresh produce, nutrition education, and caring social interactions among seniors and veterans.
• New Town Success Zone, Jacksonville, Fla. – Connects neighborhood children and their families to opportunities for success through health, education, employment, social well-being and community capacity programming.
• Historic District Development Corporation, Atlanta – Collaborates with local farmers, business owners and residents to increase access to fresh, affordable foods through a growing urban agricultural movement.
• Kokua Kalihi Valley, Honolulu – Addresses the social drivers of health among medically underserved individuals, including a cultural food program that operates a café, food hub, food prescription program, and teaching gardens.
• Landmark Training Development Company, Memphis – Creates sustainable agricultural environments in food deserts through urban farming, a year-round farmers market, a client-choice food pantry, gardening programs, and nutrition education.
• Louisville Association for Community Economics, Louisville – Addresses healthy food access through a produce distribution program, a prepared-food program and establishing cooperatively owned enterprises, such as a grocery run by and for local residents.
• RobinHood Group, Union, S.C. – Increases the availability and knowledge of locally and regionally grown produce through community and school gardens, produce boxes, nutrition education and agriculture-based enterprises.

The grant program also addresses the philanthropic gap facing organizations led by people of color. Research from The Bridgespan Group and Echoing Green found that Black-led nonprofits, like those included among the grantees, had unrestricted net assets that were 76 percent less than their counterparts, making it more difficult to operate their organizations and grow their impact.

The Equitable Food Access grant program is part of Walmart Foundation and LISC’s larger efforts focused on economic opportunity and racial equity. LISC is one of the country’s largest community development organizations, helping forge vibrant, resilient communities across America. The organization works with residents and partners to close systemic gaps in health, wealth, and opportunity and advance racial equity so that people and places can thrive.

The Equitable Food Access grant program’s focus on community-based nonprofits led by people of color and the recognition of the philanthropic gap facing these organizations is a positive sign towards promoting racial equity and economic development.

Press Release: https://www.lisc.org/our-stories/story/walmart-foundation-teams-lisc-expand-equitable-food-access-and-fuel-community-based-nonprofits/

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About the Equitable Food Access grant program

The Equitable Food Access grant program is part of larger efforts at Walmart Foundation and LISC focused on economic opportunity and racial equity.  Through the Walmart Foundation, the Walmart.org Center for Racial Equity is supporting solutions for healthy food while also driving economic development and building capacity in predominately Black communities that do not have adequate food access. This work also connects to LISC’s $1 billion Project 10X initiative to break down systemic racial barriers to health, wealth and opportunity.