New Funding Opportunity: Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Local Foods, Local Places Application Request

Local Foods, Local Places helps communities revitalize neighborhoods through development of local food systems. In 2018, the program was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Northern Border Regional Commission.

Local Foods, Local Places aims to support projects that do all of the following:

• Create livable, walkable, economically vibrant main streets and mixed-use neighborhoods.
• Boost economic opportunities for local farmers and main street businesses.
• Improve access to healthy, local food, especially among disadvantaged populations.

The Local Foods, Local Places program will provide selected communities planning assistance that centers around a two-day community workshop. At the workshop, a team of experts will help community members develop an implementable action plan that promotes local food and neighborhood revitalization. This assistance is not a grant, and the program does not provide money directly to communities.

Eligible applicants include local governments, Indian tribes, and nonprofit institutions and organizations proposing to work in a neighborhood, town, or city of any size anywhere in the United States. Larger cities are encouraged to focus on a particular neighborhood rather than a city-wide project. We expect that many of the communities we select will be economically challenged and in the early phases of their efforts to promote local foods and community revitalization.

Communities with projects located in federally designated Opportunity Zones will receive special consideration this round. Highest consideration will be given to those communities who can identify how Local Foods, Local Places assistance will leverage the Opportunity Zone designation to support implementation of the resulting action plan.

Request for Applications

Closing Date: Monday, September 30, 2019. Click here for more information