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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.