Members needed for new grant advisory committee distributing funding to improve healthy food access across Colorado

Broomfield, Colo. — The Colorado Department of Agriculture is recruiting members to form the Small Food Business Recovery and Resilience Grant Advisory Committee. The Grant Advisory Committee will help develop grant materials, qualifying criteria, and assist in the award process of approximately $6 million in non-competitive grants to improve availability of local, fresh food in areas of Colorado that lack access currently. 

The grants will help small food retailers and small family farms purchase equipment or reduce the cost of providing access to locally grown food, especially in low income, low access neighborhoods or rural areas. This opportunity is part of CDA’s new Community Food Access Program, supported in whole by federal award number SLFRF0126 awarded to the State of Colorado by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

“People across Colorado continue to lack access to fresh, healthy food, even if it is grown or raised in their communities. Through non-competitive grants for costly equipment and technical assistance, CDA will help retailers and small farmers expand their distribution of healthy, Colorado-grown food,” said Mickey Davis, Community Food Access program manager. “The Grant Advisory Committee members will help draft the grant application process and establish guidelines on how to distribute funding to small, local businesses that play a critical role in food access across Colorado communities.”

Small food retailers tend to have higher prices for fresh and perishable foods compared to large food retailers because they face pallet break fees and lack cold storage to store higher quantities of perishable foods. The Grant Advisory Committee will help establish the process for awarding grants, not to exceed $25,000, to help offset the costs of refrigeration or other resources necessary to improve food access, including costs associated with becoming authorized to accept SNAP or WIC.  

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