Newly launched GFPI Community Fund announces 2023 grant recipients to pursue GFPP-aligned projects supporting Metro Chicago community meal sites and public institutions
Eight organizations and businesses to receive up to $80,000 and technical business support to supply and/or sell GFPP-aligned produce and food products to Metro Chicago community meal sites and institutions.
The Metro Chicago Good Food Purchasing Initiative (GFPI) Community Fund launched in the Fall of 2023 to increase access to Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP)-aligned produce and food products in the Metro Chicago region through financially supporting systemically marginalized, local farms and food businesses striving to meet GFPP standards (including local sourcing, sustainable practices, fair labor, animal welfare, and nutrition).
With support from The Rockefeller Foundation, Cook County Department of Public Health’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, and the Builder’s Initiative, the Good Food Purchasing Initiative (GFPI) Community Fund announces the inaugural GFPI Community Fund 2023 awardees. By providing unrestricted funding, streamlined reporting, and personalized technical assistance, this program was strategically tailored to overcome challenges for marginalized farmers and food entrepreneurs and enhance opportunities to engage in community meal sites and institutional procurement. Thanks to our funding partnerships, grants ranging from $40,000 to $80,000 are being awarded to these nine deserving organizations and businesses and will contribute to the development of a more resilient and vibrant local food ecosystem.
The 2023 GFPI Community Fund Awardees are:
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Founded in 2019, Adelante Center is a nonprofit organization serving Lake County and its surrounding communities. Its mission is to create wealth in distressed communities through entrepreneurship, living wage job creation, and community development. What started during the Covid-19 pandemic as a strategy to provide nutritious prepared food in cities where fast food was the predominant diet, evolved into a multi-faceted collective impact food ecosystem.
The GFPI Community Fund award will support their Post Pantry model, an online and delivery-based food pantry. This model aims to address needs to tailor client offerings in a more autonomous manner while also addressing persistent lack of reliable transportation and a contributing factor to food access. Adelante Center is committed to a self-reliant and resilient food ecosystem, underpinned by economic empowerment and the well-being of their communities.
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Chicago Urban Farm Solutions (CUFS) is a 20 acre farm growing specialty crops such as kale, collards, cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. CUFS sells to local organizations who serve the local communities as well as a wholesaler (through their local and sustainability program), and donates to mission-aligned organizations in under-served communities.
Deshawn Willingham started CUFS in 2021 with the guiding principle of increasing access to high quality, nutrient dense, sustainably grown produce to under-served communities. The GFPI Community Fund award will support the construction of 2,800 sq. ft. hoop house(s) to increase production capacity and extend their growing season. Deshawn plans to pass on the benefits of lower cost of production to the community through additional pantry donations that CUFS regularly serves throughout the year.
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Food Hero is a social enterprise culinary school, catering, grocery store, and food production business. They sell B2B & B2C medically tailored meals (MTM), meal kits, groceries, and catering to community organizations, churches, businesses, and direct to individuals. Their mission is to train individuals from low-income communities in the south and west sides of Chicago to build their culinary confidence by developing career paths in hospitality, starting a food business, and for cooking for better health. They also locally source ingredients to produce ready-to-eat meals and groceries for pickup or delivery.
This grant funding will help Food Hero provide career opportunities with a livable wage for Latino & African American culinary students seeking job opportunities, training in nutrition education & culinary medicine, procurement of fresh produce from local farmers, partnerships with local hospitals, clinics, and doctor offices, and wellness benefits for staff and access to good food in food desserts through their e-smart fridges and food delivery.
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The mission of the North Lawndale Greening Committee is to create a greener, healthier, and safer community where people of all ages have places to meet and play as they build a stronger sense of community. This is accomplished through promoting the growth and ingestion of healthy food while engaging in physical activity, creating community spaces, and providing educational opportunities related to greening and environmental issues (such as soil health).
Currently, NLGC grows produce at 19 community gardens and we are preparing 4 existing ornamental gardens for increased food production. They plan to build a greenhouse, a hoop house, and a forest garden on their new Garden 2 Table Farm and use their new AgPod to sell to local restaurants and provide locally prepared senior meals. “This grant funding will provide funds for maintenance, infrastructure, and material that will enable us to purchase essential nutrients and verify the compost (for beneficial microbes) that we produce.”
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PBL is the oldest tofu manufacturer in the Midwest. PBL tofu masters handcraft our product daily to ensure the freshness and authenticity demanded by an immigrant community longing for tastes of their homelands. The business/production space started at 3,000 square feet and has since grown to over 25,000 square feet of manufacturing, warehousing, and storefront space.
PBL supplies to various restaurants and grocery stores. President Jenny Yang believes that access to local and fresh products like her tofu is essential for Illinoisans. She has devoted her time to Good Food Catalyst and Inspiration Kitchens to reach out to underserved communities to eat healthy and offer her products at community food pantries.
The GFPI Community Fund award will help with various projects such as transportation costs for okara/soybean byproducts to animal farmers located in Cabery, Illinois in support of the regenerative farming movement, subsidizing wages for coordination of their okara program, school visits, kitchen demos, and training, and/or supporting nutritional and shelf-life studies for the commercialization of okara.
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Roots, Eggs, and Greens is a nonprofit organization providing healthy sustainable food resources, nutritional education, and employment to people in the Ford and Chicago Heights communities. They are restoring the CoGro Biodynamic farm to provide food donations to local eldercare facilities, schools, and community centers and to collaborate with other mission-aligned restaurants and farmers markets. This award will support a variety of projects including farm infrastructure like a roof repair where their wash station is located, hiring an assistant farm manager to coordinate farm work and deliveries, or farm equipment such as a tractor for tilling.
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Sunflower Soule Farm’s mission is to provide organically grown produce that is accessible to all members of the community in underserved areas regardless of ability to pay. They believe that “food is a right, not a privilege”, and are dedicated to advocating for food justice in BIPOC communities.
Sunflower Soule Farm is looking to expand their production space, produce a larger variety of food, and double their meals prepared. This funding will support the building of a wash pack station and hiring from the community. Sunflower Soule Farm aims to pay a living wage, and offer both agricultural training and business development, empowering hires to become sustainable business owners and future farming co-op members.
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Windy City Mushroom’s goal is to produce healthy gourmet mushrooms at affordable prices for all of Chicago-land’s people and beyond. Their CPG product, Fungitarian, is designed to expand mushroom consumption to those who are unfamiliar with gourmet mushrooms, or unskilled in the kitchen. These Fungitarian products are also intentionally designed to mimic foods that children are comfortable with, such as our Fungitarian Marinara over pasta.
Windy City Mushroom’s goal is to produce mushrooms at volume to increase their affordability throughout Chicago-land. This GFPI Community Fund grant will help Windy City Mushrooms expand production capability of two bottle necks: sterilization and grow rooms. This increase in production and growth in sales will allow WCM to meet the demand of contracted grocery stores and school districts, positioning them favorably for future USDA loans.
All 2023 Community Fundapplicants opted in to connecting their organization to resources or collaboration opportunities within the Metro Chicago food system. If you are a Technical Assistance provider or Business Service Organization interested in supporting or collaborating with values-based farmers and food businesses, please email Mabel Shiu, CFPAC Community Fund Program Manager (mabel@chicagofoodpolicy.com) or British Griffis, Equitable Supply Chain Manager (british@chicagofoodpolicy.com).
This project is being supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number ALN 21.027 awarded to Cook County by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.