City of Seattle’s Food Equity Fund invests $1.9 million in 2024 to support community-led initiatives

The City of Seattle is proud to announce the recipients of the 2024 Food Equity Fund, a critical investment aimed at advancing food justice and equity in our communities. This year, a total of $1,900,000 will be distributed among 20 diverse community organizations dedicated to improving access to nutritious, culturally relevant food.

The Food Equity Fund, administered by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods (DON), supports projects that address food insecurity and promote health and wellbeing across Seattle's neighborhoods. From enhancing community gardens to supporting youth food justice programs, the funded projects reflect a commitment to empowering communities who experience the most food and health inequities.

"We are thrilled to partner with these dedicated organizations working tirelessly to ensure equitable access to healthy food options," said Mayor Bruce Harrell. "The 2024 Food Equity Fund underscores our commitment to supporting grassroots efforts that address the unique needs of our diverse communities."

A total of 20 community organizations have been selected to receive grants ranging from $49,490.68 to $100,000.00. These grants will fund a wide range of initiatives, including culturally relevant food distribution, community farming, senior nutrition programs, and youth-led food justice initiatives.

"The projects funded through the Food Equity Fund exemplify the creativity and resilience of our community leaders," said Jenifer Chao, Director of the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. "These initiatives not only provide essential resources but also strengthen community connections and promote sustainable food practices."

Since its inception, the Food Equity Fund has been a cornerstone of Seattle's efforts to address food insecurity, guided by recommendations from the community and supported by the Sweetened Beverage Tax. The fund continues to expand opportunities for collaboration and innovation in the realm of food justice.

To learn more about the Food Equity Fund and its impact, visit https://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/community-grants/food-equity-fund

What Grantees are Saying

"We are incredibly grateful to be selected for the Food Equity Fund Grant. This support will enable us to create BIPOC community-owned spaces in North Seattle to share nutritious food and build community. We are committed to advancing food equity and amplifying the voices of BIPOC communities and people with lived experiences who are often left out of food justice conversations. This grant will be instrumental in helping us achieve our goals."
- Srijan Chakraborty, Co-Executive Director of Hunger Intervention Program.

"Clean Greens is incredibly excited to be selected for the Food Equity Fund Grant. Having this grant support will enable us to expand our programs and reach more individuals in need, continuing our mission of feeding our community fresh organic produce straight from our farm. The FEF grant also will ensure we continue with our youth program, making sure our youth knows the value of farm to table and helping their community. We are committed to advancing food equity and this grant will be instrumental in helping us achieve our goals."
- Brione Scott, Program Director of Clean Greens.

"The Food Equity Fund will support SIHB as we expand food education, access to traditional foods, and direct services. Increasing access to traditional foods is essential for our community, both because it increases positive healthcare outcomes and because it addresses the violent history of disrupting our traditional ways of being. This is an investment in the health and wellness of Native People."
- Abigail Echo-Hawk (Pawnee), Executive Vice President of the Seattle Indian Health Board.

2024 Food Equity Fund Grantees

$100,000toAkin for North Seattle Family Resource Center to support a community-led series of activities celebrating cultural food traditions within the Lake City neighborhood and Northeast Seattle region. The series will feature 12 cooking demonstrations and workshops for 20-30 participants per session and four large cultural celebration events serving more than 80 community members each event. All events will include free food distributions for participants sourced from BIPOC farmers and local minority-owned cultural markets.

$100,000 to Black Dollar Days Task Force to Clean Greens Farm and Market, a program owned and operated by Seattle's Central District. Clean Greens Farm and Market is primarily run by volunteers with a passion for bringing "Produce to the People!" Through its Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscribers, the project seeks to provide up to 50 free, weekly food boxes to families for 16 weeks. The Clean Greens Rainbow Youth Farm is our hands-on youth farming program. It is a 16-week program in Summer and Fall with 25- 30 youth ages 5- 18yrs.

$100,000 to Byrd Barr Place (BBP) to expand their Farm to Table program which increases access to fresh local grown healthy food for low-income households and people of color while also investing in the success of small farms, especially those owned and operated by BIPOC farmers and families. Additionally, the funds will support replacing a pitted driveway at the Byrd Barr Place Food Band to provide improved pickup and delivery access for the many vehicles that serve the food bank.

$100,000 toHip Hop is Green to complete the build out of their commissary kitchen for Cherry Street Farm. The funding will help build raised garden beds, growing towers, and an outdoor classroom, hire a grower to support the opening the Greenery, a 320 square foot hydroponic growing chamber, and continue the Youth Excellence Program (YEP), a paid internship program for BIPOC youth to gain hands-on experience in sustainable career paths that focus on STEM and climate change solutions.

$100,000to Hunger Intervention Program (HIP) to launch a Community Kitchen program in Northeast Seattle, specifically in Lake City and Northgate neighborhoods. HIP's Community Kitchen events are BIPOC community-led spaces for these communities to gather over a communal meal, celebrate their unique cultures, and build community power. The events also include Community Food Education and space for food justice conversations led by community leaders.

$100,000toInternational Migrants Alliance (Washington Chapter) to provide up to 200 culturally relevant weekly meals for newly arrived migrants and distribute important resources to asylum seekers through partnerships with local organizations to. The program will also support leadership development to address food inequities in the community.

$100,000toMother Africa to support their Environmental Justice Program which engages and educates local immigrant and refugee communities about nutrition, food sovereignty and its corresponding strategies such as gardening, composting, food waste prevention and reduction. In addition to offering monthly educational sessions and access to a composting and gardening site, the project will coordinate and distribute quarterly culturally relevant healthy food boxes to increase food equity. For this program, the team will provide in-language services in Arabic, French, English, Amharic, as well as several Southern and Western African regional languages.

$100,000 to Rainier Beach Action Coalition for The Rainier Beach Food Hub, a community anchor that brings together local Black and Brown farmers, youth, small businesses, and residents from the neighborhood to support the plans of a future Food Innovation District. The grant will further support and help increase BIPOC farmers' access to market through the Food Hub's multiple outlets (Farm Stand, CSA, wholesale), commit to weekly distribution of free fresh, healthy, and culturally relevant produce to those who can't afford to pay for it, and continue to employ young people of color from various communities within the neighborhood to educate and reinforce the leadership pipeline integrating them into the multifaceted work of food justice at Rainier Beach Action Coalition. In addition, the fund will support opportunity for farmers to wash, pack, store, and aggregate produce in the cold and dry storage facilities at the Food Hub, as well as to build relationship with the community, and to share knowledge and resources.

$100,000toSeattle Good Business Network Seattle Good Business Network's Good Kitchens program provides funds to 15+ restaurant and catering partners to prepare nourishing and culturally relevant meals to community members facing food insecurity through partnership with 15+ community organizations, while sourcing from local farms and producers where possible. restaurant and catering partners include That Brown Girl Cooks!, Spice Waala, Chef Jalissa Culinary Co., Theary Cambodian Foods, Mojito, ChuMinh Tofu, Plant Based FoodShare, Bad Albert's Tap & Grill, and Wasat, a community organization that is supporting 10+ small, BIPOC-owned restaurants and catering businesses and providing direct distribution of meals. We will support the provision of over 9,000+ meals with these grant funds.

$100,000toSeattle Indian Health Board (SIHB) to support the vibrant Indigenous food sovereignty movement by providing space in their new commercial kitchen located at our Leschi Clinic in the International District for Indigenous chefs to share traditional foods knowledge through cooking demonstrations. Additionally, funding will support meals for the Elders Program, Family Pantry, Family Saturdays, and prenatal groups. SIHB will continue to support collective reconnection to traditional knowledge and ways of being to deepen historical healing for urban dwelling American Indian and Alaska Native people.

$100,000 to Tilth Alliance to support the Community Resources for Food Equity project in Rainier Beach through three components: 1) provide free culturally relevant produce at the farm stand; 2) expand no-cost community U-pick areas by including more fruits and berries and creating new multi-lingual signage that widens access and support harvesting; and 3) host 10 senior farm field trips at Rainier Beach Urban Farm & Wetlands, reaching an estimated 500 low-income, BIPOC, immigrant and refugee elders. The senior farm field trips will connect elders to food resources with culturally relevant produce and facilitate memorable cross-generational experiences, supported by interpretation services. Through the Rainier Beach Youth Steward teen employment program, local youth will be engaged in supporting the senior field trips and farm stand.

$100,000to Tongan Community Food Pantry to provide up to 80 families with nutritious and culturally familiar food boxes once a month for 12 months. These meals will serve the Polynesian Community which includes but not limited to Samoan, Tongan, Fijian, Chamorro, Hawaiian and other ethnic groups.

$100,000 toUnited Indians of All Tribes Foundation (UIATF) to organize a holiday meal program to feed up to 100 Native American families a holiday dinner the week of Native American Heritage Day in 2024 and 2025; continue the Buffalo Harvest, which will allow Native Americans to participate in a buffalo harvest with the Yakima Tribe and distribute the meat to Native people in need in Seattle; and launch an Elder Food Delivery Program to deliver a bag of traditional and culturally relevant groceries from Native and locally owned businesses to up to fifty elders every month for 14 months.

$100,000toWhite Center Food Bank to locally source fruits and vegetables that are culturally familiar to families in White Center, West Seattle, South Park and surrounding areas for 12 months. White Center Food Bank's mission is to minimize hunger while nourishing community, nurturing self-reliance, and embracing our rich cultural diversity.

$99,982.87toEritrean Association in Greater Seattle Eritrean Association in Greater Seattle's Senior Nutrition Program provides 435 unduplicated low-income, limited-English speaking, isolated immigrant and refugee seniors facing food insecurity with free healthy East African meals three days a week and grocery items one day a week. Both the meals and grocery items are available either in person at our Community Center or via home delivery for those unable to attend in person. The elderly immigrants and refugees we serve do not typically receive services from mainstream service providers due to language and cultural barriers. Our long-term goals are to reduce hunger and food insecurity and promote health and well-being for participating seniors through improved food intake with the help of culturally appropriate foods, increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and improved nutritional status.

$99,920 toVilla Comunitaria for Salsa De La Vida, a Latina founded and operated farm in South Park, to help reduce food insecurity and host educational field trips with a focus on schools and programs serving Spanish language youth. The funding will support growing and donating up to 2,000 pounds of high quality and organically grown produce.

$99,808.50to African Community Housing & Development to expand and grow the offerings and the number of neighbors they serve by moving the Delridge Farmer's Market to a new, larger location for the market's fifth anniversary season in 2025. African Community Housing & Development runs the Delridge Farmers Market, a vibrant community resource providing culturally relevant food access for immigrant and refugee communities in Southwest Seattle, and economic development for BIPOC-owned farms and food-based small businesses.

$83,655 to Rainier Valley Food Bank for reducing food insecurity in South Seattle for children through youth-led and youth focused programming. Students who participate in the Backpack program during the school year will have access to culturally responsive and nutritional food throughout the summer months. Funding will help further enhance youth programs by extending summer internship opportunities into the school year and incorporating youth-focused programs such as pop-up events, community celebrations, outreach and educational activities provided for youth and led by youth so they enhance both their nutritional needs and skill and leadership development.

$67,142.95to South Park Senior Citizens (SPSC) to recruit Black, Indigenous, people of color, and immigrant seniors to serve as Senior Program Ambassadors. The Senior Program Ambassadors will provide leadership, feedback, and guidance regarding the cultural authenticity of SPSC's meal programs on a regular basis. The funding will help SPSC serve around 11,000 culturally authentic meals and participate in seven cultural, social and physical activities.

$49,490.68toImmanuel Community Services to update and renovate their kitchen to provide more nutritious meals, support community programs, and lift up those struggling with food insecurity. Immanuel Community Services serves neighbors experiencing hunger and homelessness through four programs: food bank, clean/sober homeless shelter for men in recovery, day/hygiene center for unsheltered neighbors, and neighborhood monthly meals. Each year, they serve over 30,000 meals across those programs and the kitchen is central to those efforts. The current state of the kitchen facilities poses significant challenges, ranging from outdated and unreliable equipment to structural deficiencies.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.