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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Obama Administration Details Healthy Food Financing Initiative
  • Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2010 09:39:06 -0700


Surprise ....

Obama Administration Details Healthy Food Financing Initiative
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg555.htm
February 19, 2010 TG-555


Philadelphia -- The Obama Administration today released details of an over
$400 million Healthy Food Financing Initiative, which will bring grocery
stores and other healthy food retailers to underserved urban and rural
communities across America. The initiative was announced today in
Philadelphia by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Agriculture Secretary Tom
Vilsack. The two cabinet members appeared with First Lady Michelle Obama, who
recently launched the Let's Move! campaign to solve the epidemic of childhood
obesity within a generation. The initiative is a partnership between the
Departments of Treasury, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services.

The Healthy Food Financing Initiative will promote a range of interventions
that expand access to nutritious foods, including developing and equipping
grocery stores and other small businesses and retailers selling healthy food
in communities that currently lack these options. Residents of these
communities, which are sometimes called "food deserts" and are often found in
economically distressed areas, are typically served by fast food restaurants
and convenience stores that offer little or no fresh produce. Lack of
healthy, affordable food options can lead to higher levels of obesity and
other diet-related diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

Through this new multi-year Healthy Food Financing Initiative and by engaging
with the private sector, the Obama Administration will work to eliminate food
deserts across the country within seven years. With the first year of
funding, the Administration's initiative will leverage enough investments to
begin expanding healthy foods options into as many as one-fifth of the
nation's food deserts and create thousands of jobs in urban and rural
communities across the nation.

To help community leaders identify the food deserts in their area, USDA
recently launched a Food Environment Atlas (www.ers.usda.gov/FoodAtlas/).
This new online tool allows for the identification of counties where, for
example, more than 40 percent of the residents have low incomes and live more
than one mile from a grocery store. Nationwide, USDA estimates that 23.5
million people, including 6.5 million children, live in low-income areas that
are more than a mile from a supermarket. Of the 23.5 million, 11.5 million
are low-income individuals in households with incomes at or below 200 percent
of the poverty line. Of the 2.3 million people living in low-income rural
areas that are more than 10 miles from a supermarket, 1.1 million are
low-income.

"Our effort to improve access to healthy and affordable food is a critically
important step toward First Lady Michelle Obama's goal to solve the challenge
of childhood obesity within a generation, said Agriculture Secretary Vilsack.
"The Healthy Food Financing Initiative will enhance access to healthy and
affordable choices in struggling urban and rural communities, create jobs and
economic development, and establish market opportunities for farmers and
ranchers."

Effective local programs, such as those in Pennsylvania, have shown that
well-targeted financial and technical assistance can create viable businesses
that provide healthier options in communities that lack access to healthy
foods. These investments not only improve food options, but also create
jobs, help revitalize distressed communities, and, importantly, open up new
markets for farmers to sell their products, which can provide an economic
boost to rural America. By better connecting producers and consumers, we can
build a stronger connection between cities and rural parts of the country and
help create new opportunities for farmers and ranchers. This initiative is
part of a broader Obama Administration commitment to promoting economic
recovery, including support for small businesses and job creation. It is also
part of the Administration's efforts to revitalize neighborhoods and
communities by employing place-based approaches--strategies that target the
prosperity, equity, sustainability and livability of places.

"It's been a tough year for America, but for our middle class and distressed
communities it's been a tough decade," said Secretary Geithner. "We're here
to make sure that in America, where a child grows up doesn't determine
whether they have access to a better--healthier--future. By introducing
powerful incentives for private investors to take a chance on projects – like
a new, healthier grocery store – we can make that difference for America's
children, while creating new jobs and services in their communities."

Through the joint initiative, which was included in the President's Budget
for 2011, Treasury, USDA, and HHS would make available more than $400 million
in financial and technical assistance to community development financial
institutions, other nonprofits, and businesses with sound strategies for
addressing the healthy food needs of communities. The initiative will make
available a mix of federal tax credits, below-market rate loans, loan
guarantees, and grants to attract private sector capital that will more than
double the total investment. Federal funds will support projects ranging from
the construction or expansion of a grocery store to smaller-scale
interventions such as placing refrigerated units stocked with fresh produce
in convenience stores.

"Encouraging people to choose fresh, nutritious food is important," said
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "But to achieve that
goal that kind of food must be available, and in far too many parts of our
country -- both urban and rural communities -- that's not the case. This
collaborative initiative is a creative way to help solve that problem, while
at the same time working to strengthen the economy of low-income communities
through business development and job creation."

Each of the three agencies brings a particular expertise and set of resources
to the Healthy Food Financing Initiative. Specifically:

* The Treasury Department will support private sector financing of
healthy foods options in distressed urban and rural communities. Through the
New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) and financial assistance to Treasury-certified
community development financial institutions (CDFIs), Treasury has a proven
track record in expanding access to nutritious foods by catalyzing private
sector investment. The Healthy Foods Financing Initiative builds on that
track record, with $250 million in authority for the NMTC and $25 million for
financial assistance to CDFIs devoted to helping finance healthy food
options. Treasury's CDFI Fund has a long history of supporting these kinds of
investments, including: providing funding for the landmark Pennsylvania Fresh
Food Financing Initiative that has brought 68 grocery stores to underserved
communities; the Roberts Fresh Market, a full-service supermarket in an
underserved area of New Orleans that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina; and
a new Super Giant in Washington, D.C., the only grocery store in the
Anacostia neighborhood and now one of Giant's most successful stores.
* The Department of Agriculture specializes in improving access to
healthy foods through nutrition assistance programs, creating business
opportunities for America's farmers, and promoting economic development in
rural areas. USDA's proposed funding level of $50 million will support more
than $150 million in public and private investments in the form of loans,
grants, promotion, and other programs that can provide financial and
technical assistance to enhance access to healthy foods in under-served
communities, expand demand and retail outlets for farm products, and increase
the availability of locally and regionally produced foods. USDA has a solid
track record of supporting successful farmers markets, and has also invested
in grocery stores and creating agricultural supply chains for them, such as
in the People's Grocery project in Oakland, CA.
* The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) specializes in
community-based efforts to improve the economic and physical health of people
in distressed areas. HHS will dedicate up to $20 million in Community
Economic Development program funds to the Healthy Food Financing Initiative.
Through the CED program, HHS will award competitive grants to Community
Development Corporations to support projects that finance grocery stores,
farmers markets, and other sources of fresh nutritious food. These projects
will serve the dual purposes of facilitating access to healthy food options
while creating job and business development opportunities in low-income
communities, particularly since grocery stores often serve as anchor
institutions in commercial centers. HHS has supported fresh food projects in
the past, such as the Plaza del Valle in Panorama City, CA.





  • [Livingontheland] Obama Administration Details Healthy Food Financing Initiative, Tradingpost, 02/23/2010

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