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Related Programs:

Corner Store Campaign
The Food Trust’s Corner Store Campaign seeks to reduce the incidence of diet-related disease and obesity by improving the snack food choices made by adolescents in corner stores.

School Food and Beverage Reform
A reform effort that works to improve the policy on vending machine snacks.

Supermarket Campaign
Our multi-state effort to improve access to supermarkets in underserved communities.

 

 

 

Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative

Encouraging the development of food retail in underserved Pennsylvania communities

RECENT NEWS

Obama Admistration Praises Fresh Food Financing Initiative

The Obama Administration kicked off its "National Conversation on the Future of Urban and Metropolitan America" with a lively town hall discussion in Philadelphia. The topic of conversation among cabinet secretaries and other members of the administration: the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative (FFFI) and the connection between food access, healthy kids and healthy communities. 

FFFI is "a prime example of the type of collaborative partnership and innovating thinking needed in urban and metropolitan communities across the nation," the White House said.

Learn more: Philadelphia Inquirer: Obama officials come to applaud more Phila. supermarkets

The Issue

Just a decade ago, a national study showed that Philadelphia had the second lowest number of supermarkets per capita of major cities in the United States. Lack of food access was particularly severe in low-income neighborhoods and was linked to high rates of diet-related diseases such as obesity and diabetes.

The Food Trust Solution

The Food Trust advocated for and, in partnership with The Reinvestment Fund and the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition, manages the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative, an innovative state program that increases the number of supermarkets or other grocery stores in underserved communities across Pennsylvania. The initiative serves the financing needs of supermarket operators that plan to operate in these underserved communities where infrastructure costs and credit needs cannot be filled solely by conventional financial institutions. (These supermarket operators can also seek support from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s First Industries (PDF) program.)

Pennsylvania appropriated $30 million over three years to the program and The Reinvestment Fund leveraged the investment to create a $120 million initiative, which has become a model for communities nationwide committed to combating obesity and improving food access. It is being studied by the Institute of Medicine and the National Institute of Health as a national public health model. And in 2008, Harvard University named the initiative one of the nation’s most innovative government programs.

As of December 2009, FFFI has helped financing 83 supermarket projects in 27 Pennsylvania counties, ranging in size from 900 to 69,000 square feet. In total, these projects are expected to create or retain 5,000 jobs and more than 1.6 million square feet of food retail.

Learn more: Fresh Food Financing Guidelines and Application (PDF)

Creation of the Fresh Food Financing Initiative

The Fresh Food Financing Initiative’s Projects (PDF)

Contact The Food Trust’s Caroline Harries