The Summit Food Coalition is currently accepting grant applications for its NeighborFood program until April 9, 2022. NeighborFood provides grants up to $500 to neighborhoods, organizations and individuals to launch or improve community gardens in Summit County. The program has provided $40,000 to more than 100 community gardens since 2014, serving an estimated 520 families in Summit County.
Priority for funding goes to neighborhoods designated as a food desert, meaning residents do not live in an area that has a full-service grocery store within one mile, while simultaneously experiencing financial barriers that prevent them from traveling to more distant stores or from purchasing nutritious foods.
Establishing community gardens in neighborhoods that lack nutritious food access is an incredibly effective, low-cost way to reduce food insecurity for the families that live there.
The biggest barrier to starting a community garden is funds to purchase hand tools, seeds, materials to build raised beds, and other necessary supplies. For established gardens, the funds are often used to expand the number of plots, erect fencing, invest in fruit trees, or provide soil amendments.
Apply for a NeighborFood grant
In 2021, the Summit Food Coalition officially became a strategic focus of the Foodbank. The Coalition is an alliance of people and organizations committed to building a just, sustainable and vibrant local food system. As long-time members of the Coalition, the Foodbank recognizes the value of this network’s commitment to change how the food system serves community members.
The Coalition focuses on food access, policy advocacy, support of local food entrepreneurs and community education. While the Foodbank provides food to food programs within its network, the Coalition examines the inequities within the food system at all the points along the way, from the farm to the plate, and works with partners and advocates to address those challenges at their various root causes. This work includes supporting community gardens, expanding nutrition incentives at both grocery stores and farmers’ markets, and coordinating direct deliveries of locally grown produce to low-resource community members.
To learn more about Summit Food Coalition, please visit summitfoodcoalition.org or contact Beth Knorr at 330.535.6900.