Community organizations awarded $317,732 through Food Equity Fund Capacity Building Grants in 2023

Last year, the City of Seattle awarded $317,732 to 16 community organizations through the Food Equity Fund (FEF) Capacity Building Grants. This funding has supported community-led projects that contribute to an equitable and sustainable local food system and help advance food justice our communities.

The Food Equity Fund is supported by revenue from Seattle's Sweetened Beverage Tax and distributes funding in two grant cycles. The Capacity Building Grant (now known as the Starter Fund) provides awards ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 on a rolling basis throughout the year. The Food Equity Fund Grant awards recipients with grants ranging from $25,000 to $100,000. In 2024, The Food Equity Fund Grants invested $1.9 million in 20 community-led initiatives. See award winners for the 2024 Food Equity Fund grants.

Since its inception, the Food Equity Fund has been guided by community and continues to be a cornerstone of Seattle's efforts to address food insecurity by investing in the communities most impacted by food injustice. 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

2023 Capacity Building Grant winners:

$17,892 to Freeway Park Association to purchase and distribute food and water to people experiencing homelessness or food insecurity around Freeway Park. This includes 30 sack lunches per week, nutritional snacks, and sustainable canned waters.

$19,875 to Alimantando Al Pueblo to expand outreach and coalition building in South and West Seattle over the next year. Our food program feeds and heals Latinx Community through the distribution of culturally relevant foods - promoting connection, resilience, and cultural stewardship through events that amplify joy and heritage preservation. Our project will develop a list of up to 30 Seattle business partners and culturally relevant food purveyors and vendors to potentially become part of our growing coalition and food distribution network.

$19,965 to Duwamish Valley Sustainability Association (DVSA) to monitor the use and application of the probiotic plant food at five (5) local farms for a period of 4 months to determine its advantages and disadvantages and host a community event sharing this learning experience and knowledge. In addition, DVSA will engage community by conducting three (3) bi-lingual virtual community workshops focusing on education around recycling, reusing, and reducing organic waste, and organizing and training five (5) Duwamish Valley youth to learn and practice on how to reduce, reuse, and recycle their own organic waste at home.

$20,000 to Serve Ethiopians Washington (SEW) to distribute monthly culturally appropriate food bags and provide culturally relevant food and food waste related information to about 23 East African seniors in Seattle - for a total of 6 months. SEW will also develop a system to collect feedback, assess and evaluate the satisfaction levels of project recipients on a regular basis.

$20,000 to Marvin Thomas Memorial Fund for project Dinner Dash is a food pantry on wheels that will provide non-perishable dinner menu items to 20 BIPOC families once a month for six months.

$20,000to American Polynesian Organization to increase access to culturally relevant meals and grocery bags on a weekly basis for up to 100 low-income Polynesian seniors and seniors of color living in South Seattle.

$20,000 to Roni LifeWorks to organize 15 interactive face-to-face workshops and 5 online zoom educational sessions in partnership with Compass Housing Alliance, Plymouth Housing, and Mary's Place focused on food education, nutrition, shopping for nutritious food and health education.
These events will bring up to 150 community members together, foster a sense of belonging, and provide opportunities for shared learning. In addition, Roni Lifeworks will host a health and wellness fair in downtown Seattle for up to 70 community members.

$20,000 toChoose to Win to promote food equity in underserved and under resourced marginalized and BIPOC communities in Seattle. Their youth mentorship participants will learn the significance of food equity through monthly community service initiatives and engaging activities focused on food systems, sustainability, gardening, and giving back to their community. Their fund will allow their program to serve up to 160 healthy and nutritious sack lunches a month in Downtown Seattle and at Brighton Community and mentees will volunteer with an urban farm to learn about sustainable and equitable farming practices.

$20,000 to Hand and Hand Community Development to engage in culturally specific outreach to unhoused South Seattle residents, distribute meals to 5 different sites - 3 times a week serving up to 200 people and offer connections to wraparound resources for low-income children and families.

$20,000 to Kandelia to support a Community Resource Coordinator to implement a Food Access Program for newly arrived immigrants and refugees. Components of the program include Weekly Food Bags and Food Bank Pop-up incorporating foods that are healthy, culturally relevant and chosen by students and families.

$20,000 to City Fruit to support our Harvest Program in 2024. Each year, we harvest 30,000-40,000 lbs. of organic fruit from residential fruit trees and public orchards across the city and share this fruit directly with our 30 food bank and meal program partners. Funding supports the salary of our Education & Volunteer Programs Manager, whose work recruiting, organizing, and training volunteers to help with the harvest and creating fruit-based food products (like jams and pies) and leading outdoor educational programs centered on our food system and its care, furthers our ability to provide fresh, local and organic fruit to youth and adults, ultimately reducing food insecurity in our community.,

$20,000 to Tongan Community Resource Center of Washington for the launch of Pasifika Food Harvest Program focused on mitigating food insecurity experienced in Tongan and other Pasifika communities and will host three Umu Day Celebrations to promote the health and wellness connected to traditional foods from the Pasifika through intergenerational learning between elders and our Pasifika youth. We plan to launch two food distributions and we will follow up with three Umu Day celebrations to promote traditional foods, health and wellness and intergenerational learning. ,

$20,000 to Friends of Francois - dba For All to For All's ongoing programs including the Saturday Really (Really) Free Market, a weekly outdoor grocery distribution held in the Yesler Terrace Neighborhood serving the community including seniors and low-income residents in the neighborhood, and For All's Grocery Surplus Recovery program that picks up and delivers grocery surplus to a variety of locations in Seattle including Seattle Community Fridge locations, and partner food banks, meal programs, and community groups.

$20,000 to Friendly Island of Tongan Seniors to expand their feeding program to Tongans, Fijians, Samoans, and many other Pacific Islanders who had recently migrated to various Seattle neighborhoods by providing culturally relevant hot lunches and groceries. For this five-month project, they are expecting to serve about 30-50 Pacific Islanders families every month.

$20,000 to Bridging Wisdom to recruit and facilitate a weekly intergenerational program for low-income seniors and South Seattle high school students. Participants will share a healthy meal and build relationships through student-led activities. Joy, compassion, community, connection, belonging and cultural knowledge will grow.

$20,000 to Restaurant 2 Garden for their community composting program where they engage and collect food scraps from local businesses/restaurant in the Chinatown International District and turn it into a safe, reliable and clean composting materials for the Danny Woo Community Garden. The Danny Woo Community Garden gardeners are made up of immigrant and low-income elders and use their garden plot to grow culturally appropriate and staple produce. The fund will also help support a volunteer appreciation event and effort in expanding project site, and increase restaurants and gardeners served.

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