Establishing an online Web portal to support communities implementing projects to improve access to healthy foods

This grant supports PolicyLink, the Food Trust, and the Reinvestment Fund in developing the Healthy Food Access Information Portal, a web portal and accompanying support services to help translate an increasingly complex financing process (comprising multiple grantmaking and financing strategies) into easy-to-navigate procedures and steps for stakeholders involved in creating access to healthy foods. Both the Institute of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended increasing the number of supermarkets in underserved areas to help reduce the rate of obesity in the United States. In response, federal, state and local governments have created financing-incentive programs to attract healthy-food retailers to underserved neighborhoods. Although such programs are a first step in improving access to healthy foods, resource and information gaps remain; they need to be filled to help all stakeholders understand how to access these financial resources. In this project, the grantee will align disbursement of funds with completion of specific benchmarks, including: a demand analysis; a content strategy; and a communications plan. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will approve the web contractor. This portal will capitalize on the increasing momentum related to food-access issues; maximize the impact of new pools of funding; leverage existing knowledge, research and practice; and efficiently direct food-access stakeholders to resources.

Grant Details

Amount Awarded $1,150,000.00

Awarded on: 3/19/2012

Time frame: 3/15/2012 - 9/14/2013

Grant Number: 69575