The America’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative Food Access and Retail Expansion Fund (HFFI FARE Fund) is a funding opportunity managed by the Reinvestment Fund, acting as the National Fund Manager for the USDA Rural Business-Cooperative Service. The initiative aims to improve food supply chain resiliency and access to healthy foods in underserved areas, while also creating and preserving quality jobs and revitalizing low-income communities. Over the next five years, the HFFI FARE Fund will allocate $60 million in loans, grants, and technical assistance to food retail and food retail supply chain projects. For the 2024-2025 funding cycle, at least $9 million is available for implementation grants, $1.5 million for technical assistance, and $16 million for loans.

The fund is designed to support a wide array of projects that enhance food access through retail outlets and food enterprises. Eligible applicants include for-profit, nonprofit, and cooperatively owned businesses, institutions of higher education, state and local governments, and tribal governments. While grants and technical assistance are available to all these entities, loans are restricted to for-profit, nonprofit, and cooperatively owned businesses, and institutions of higher education. Projects must aim to expand or preserve the availability of staple and perishable foods in underserved areas, defined as communities with limited access to affordable healthy foods and high rates of hunger or poverty.

Applicants must propose projects located in eligible underserved areas, which are defined using criteria from the USDA's Food Access Research Atlas and other governmental or philanthropic healthy food initiatives. The fund prioritizes projects that will be located in very low-income communities, create or retain quality jobs, support regional food systems, and involve women-owned or BIPOC-owned businesses. Projects must also demonstrate sustainability, community involvement, innovation, replicability, readiness for implementation, and the ability to unlock additional capital access.

The application process consists of two phases: a Funding Inquiry Form and a full application. The Funding Inquiry Form, which is mandatory for all applicants, must be submitted through Reinvestment Fund’s online grants portal, SmartSimple. This form includes applicant information, project location, a brief eligibility questionnaire, and a project summary. Eligible applicants will be invited to submit a full application, which requires additional project details, narratives, and budget information. Multiple submissions are restricted to one Funding Inquiry per entity within a 12-month period.

Informational webinars are available for potential applicants, providing an overview of the RFA, application processes, and guidance on navigating the online submission process. These webinars do not require registration and recordings will be posted online. The contact for the HFFI program is Anne Misak, Program Director of Equitable Food Systems, reachable via email at help@investinginfood.com or by phone at 215-574-5862.

Key dates include the submission deadlines for the Funding Inquiry Form, which are October 14, 2024, March 3, 2025, and August 4, 2025, for the respective rounds. Full applications are due 45 days after invitations are sent. The initiative encourages partnerships with various entities, although only the applicant must meet the eligibility requirements. Projects primarily focused on agriculture, charitable food, nutrition education, restaurants, consumer packaged goods, research, and operating capital are not eligible for funding.