The Schenectady Foundation is offering the Equitable Access to Healthy Food grant program for 2025. The Foundation anticipates allocating up to $700,000 in this funding round. The primary aim of this initiative is to enhance food security within Schenectady County, ensuring that all residents have consistent access to fresh and healthy food to nourish themselves and their families. This is one of three competitive grant processes offered by the Foundation, with the other two being Neighborhoods and Emergent Needs. The Foundation has outlined a long-term impact statement for each of these processes, with the Equitable Access to Healthy Food program focusing on improving food access for the community.

The grant program follows a two-step application process. The first stage requires applicants to submit a Letter of Inquiry (LOI), which provides an overview of the proposed project and its expected outcomes. Once the LOI is approved, the applicants will be invited to submit a full grant application. The program is designed to fund transformative efforts addressing systemic barriers within the food system, as well as ensuring the continuity of food-related services and programs.

The grant program offers two distinct funding streams. The first is Food Systems Change, which focuses on transformative efforts to address systemic barriers and challenges within the food system. This stream includes areas such as policy and advocacy, innovative approaches, and community engagement. The second funding stream is Ongoing Operations Support, which is designed to ensure the continuity of food-related services. This includes funding for efficiency, capacity building, and continuity planning, among other organizational needs.

Applicants should keep several important dates in mind. The LOI process opens on February 7th, 2025, and a general orientation session will be held via Zoom on February 18th, 2025. A separate LOI orientation session will take place on February 20th, 2025. The final submission date for Letters of Inquiry is March 5th, 2025, with applicants being notified of their eligibility for the full grant application stage by March 14th, 2025. Grant application orientations will be held on March 19th, 2025, with the final grant application due on April 2nd, 2025. The Foundation will hold grant applicant meetings from April 21st to 25th, 2025, and grant decisions will be shared with applicants by May 2nd, 2025.

Applicants may find the list of grant application questions available by February 14th, 2025. These questions will assist applicants in preparing for the grant application stage should they be selected following the LOI stage. The application process also includes optional questions, such as providing a mental model of the issue being addressed or uploading a Theory of Change or Logic Model to strengthen the proposal.

For further information or any queries, applicants are encouraged to contact Sofia Pawlusik at the Schenectady Foundation via email at spawlusik@schenectadyfoundation.org or by phone at 518-393-9500.