Funding Available for Food Access Programming at Affordable Housing Sites in Vermont

$15,000 in funds are available for new food access programming at affordable housing sites through the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board. The Vermont Housing & Conservation Board has funds available to encourage new food access programming at affordable housing sites in Vermont. This funding is intended for housing sites to be able to establish and implement new programming, including, but not limited to:

•        Gardening
•        Edible landscaping
•        Farm Shares/CSAs
•        Cooking & nutrition education

FUNDING APPLICATION: Food Access & Affordable Housing Initiative RFP (LINK)

DEADLINE: Friday, July 15, 2016

ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS: Affordable Housing Sites (Municipal and Nonprofit) & Food Access Programs in Vermont

In 2014/15, VHCB began to explore how some food access programs and affordable housing sites are already collaborating in Vermont to provide services that address residents’ access to fresh, nutritious and affordable food. Our report, Integrating Food Access & Affordable Housing (LINK) outlines a number of program types that have been successful or shown promise in addressing major hurdles, such as:

•    The cost of fresh, local foods,
•    A lack of adequate transportation, and/or
•    Unfamiliarity with healthy food options and how to prepare them.

The report could be useful in pulling together a successful application as it lists many statewide and local food access organizations that are interested in partnering with housing providers and highlights questions that should be considered to ensure that programming is appropriate at a given housing site.

For those pursuing gardening and/or edible landscaping projects, the Vermont Community Garden Network offers a detailed Edible Landscaping & Community Gardening Toolkit for Affordable Housing Communities (LINK) that is free to download and potentially very helpful.