News Release For Immediate Release
Indy Food Fund Hopes to Improve Access to Healthy Food
Request for Proposals sought for innovative food projects
INDIANAPOLIS (Nov. 6, 2012) – The Indy Food Fund is offering grants ranging from $500 to $10,000 and loans ranging from $25,000 to $2 million to nonprofits and businesses involved in healthy food-related initiatives in Indianapolis. Projects can include, but are not limited to, community gardens with market stands, value chain projects, nutrition programs, food hubs, farmers’ markets, farm-to-institutions projects, urban farms, healthy corner store initiatives, and marketing and consumer cooperatives. Applicants must demonstrate that their project impacts health, ecology, social justice, community development, and/or economic development of Indianapolis neighborhoods. Applications may be found here: Indy Food Fund Application.
The Indy Food Fund is a critical component in the development of an Indianapolis food system that improves access to healthy foods and nutrition, enhances the city’s environment, and alleviates food-based inequality. This type of system will improve the quality of life for all Indianapolis residents by increasing food access, decreasing obesity rates, and improving economic growth.
The Indy Food Fund is a collaborative effort of the Marion County Public Health Department, Butler University’s Center for Urban Ecology, Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County, City of Indianapolis—Office of Sustainability, IUPUI, Growing Places Indy, the Indy Hunger Network, Indy Grown, the Efroymson Family Fund, and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). Bill Taft, Executive Director of LISC, described the Indy Food Fund as “part of LISC’s overall goal to make our neighborhoods great places to live, work, play and raise a family.”
Submissions are due electronically by December 14, 2012 to [email protected]. An advisory committee consisting of diverse representatives from the Indianapolis food system will review applications and make a recommendation for final approval by January 15th, 2013.
“We are excited to be part of this collaborative effort to improve our community’s access to food, their overall health, the local environment and the Indianapolis economy. The partnerships developed through the Indy Food Fund will be truly innovative and the projects that it supports will create models for other community projects in the future,” said Tim Carter, Director of Butler University’s Center for Urban Ecology.
Questions and inquiries are welcome. Please contact Tedd Grain at 317-454-8492 or [email protected].