Philadelphia Food Justice Initiative Grant

Overview

Philadelphia Food Justice Initiative Grant

Philadelphia has tremendous food assets and opportunities for individual and collective action. We know that food justice is health justice.

The Philadelphia Food Justice Initiative (PFJI) empowers communities to exercise their right to grow, sell and eat healthy food. PFJI is a partnership of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention (CDIP) and Reinvestment Fund.

Historically, the food system has displaced, enslaved, and undervalued the labor, land rights, and self-determination of Black and Brown individuals, women, immigrants, and indigenous people. In Philadelphia today, low income communities and communities of color still have fewer fresh food choices.

PFJI supports community-driven solutions in areas where access to healthier food is needed the most. PFJI is informed by health justice, the collective movement to heal society and remove barriers that prevent individual and community well-being.

Philadelphia has tremendous food assets and opportunities for individual and collective action. PFJI strengthens these assets by providing funding for innovative, community-led projects that work to further food justice. PFJI prioritizes projects led by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, immigrants and people living with disabilities, and those with lived experience with health injustice. PFJI supports projects that offer fair compensation to staff and partners.

Available Funding

Approximately $550,000 is currently available for grants. With this current funding amount, grants will have a maximum award of $50,000. There is no minimum grant award.

Eligibility

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Application Details

The Philadelphia Food Justice Initiative (PFJI)
PDPH Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention | Reinvestment Fund
Information Sheet – Round 5 2024-2025
In partnership with Reinvestment Fund, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s Division of
Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention (CDIP) seeks innovative proposals for community-led projects that
grow food justice for all Philadelphians.
Funding: Approximately $550,000 is currently available for grants. With this current funding amount,
grants will have a maximum award of $50,000. There is no minimum grant award.
Project Period: Grant project activities must take place between January 1, 2025 – December 2, 2025.
Application and Grant Timeline
1. November 15, 2024 – Virtual information session at 1:00 pm Eastern Time
2. December 3, 2024 – Applications due by end of day (11:59 pm Eastern Time).
3. December 20, 2024 – Grantees selected and all applicants notified.
4. Early January 2025 – Agreements finalized with selected grantees and grant funding disbursements
begin.
5. December 2, 2025 – PFJI grant period ends.
How to Apply
Application submissions will be accepted electronically through Reinvestment Fund’s online grants
management platform, SmartSimple.
• To submit an application, new applicants should register their organization with SmartSimple
here. Returning applicants can log in to their SmartSimple profile to begin a new application.
• There will be a virtual info session (webinar) on Friday, November 15, 2024 at 1:00 pm Eastern
Time, on how to apply to the program, including how to use SmartSimple. Register for the
webinar at this link to get login information. The webinar will be recorded for later viewing. The
info session will be translated.
• You can submit questions at any time by emailing phillyfoodjustice@reinvestment.com.
For more information and resources, visit: https://www.reinvestment.com/grants/phl-food-justice-
initiative/. Applications in additional languages will be made available upon request. If you would like an
application, please email phillyfoodjustice@reinvestment.com.
Arabic:
ﻰﻟإ ﻲﻧوﺮﺘﻜﻟإ ﺪﯾﺮﺑ لﺎﺳرإ ﻰﺟﺮﯿﻓ ،ﺐﻠط ﻢﯾﺪﻘﺗ ﻲﻓ ﺐﻏﺮﺗ ﺖﻨﻛ اذإ .ﺐﻠﻄﻟا ﺪﻨﻋ ﺔﺣﺎﺘﻣ ﺔﯿﻓﺎﺿإ تﺎﻐﻠﺑ تﺎﺒﻠﻄﻟا نﻮﻜﺘﺳ
phillyfoodjustice@reinvestment.com.
Chinese:
如果用户提出请求，我们将提供其他语言版本的申请表。如果您想要申请，请发送电子邮件至
phillyfoodjustice@reinvestment.com。

Information Sheet
French:
Les candidatures dans d’autres langues seront disponibles sur demande. Si vous souhaitez obtenir un
dossier de candidature, veuillez envoyer un courriel à l’adresse suivante :
phillyfoodjustice@reinvestment.com.
Haitian Creole:
Aplikasyon nan land siplemantè ap disponib sou demann. Si ou ta renmen yon aplikasyon, tanpri voye
imèl bay phillyfoodjustice@reinvestment.com.
Portuguese:
Mediante pedido, serão disponibilizadas candidaturas em outros idiomas. Se pretender uma
candidatura, envie um e-mail para phillyfoodjustice@reinvestment.com.
Russian:
Заявки на дополнительных языках будут предоставлены по запросу. Если вы хотите получить
заявку, пожалуйста, напишите по адресу phillyfoodjustice@reinvestment.com.
Spanish:
Las solicitudes en otros idiomas están disponibles bajo pedido. Si desea obtener una, pídala por correo
electrónico a phillyfoodjustice@reinvestment.com.
Vietnamese:
Các đơn nộp cho những ngôn ngữ bổ sung sẽ có sẵn theo yêu cầu. Nếu quý vị muốn có đơn này, vui lòng
gửi email đến phillyfoodjustice@reinvestment.com.
Please contact us if you have any issues with the online submission process. We encourage you to
submit your application early, in advance of the application deadline, to avoid technical issues. If you
have questions, please email phillyfoodjustice@reinvestment.com. Someone will respond to your email
as soon as possible.
Definitions
1. Health Justice: the collective movement to heal society and eliminate barriers that prevent
individual and community well-being. We advance health justice by challenging the systems that
have created disparities in health outcomes based on racial, social, and economic constructs.
The result of these efforts is a society in which every individual and community has equitable
access to resources and opportunities for living long, happy and healthy lives. See more
information here: http://foodfitphilly.org/health-justice-phl/
2. Food Justice: Food justice aims to address disparities in nutritious, affordable and culturally-
appropriate food access, particularly for communities of color and low-income communities, by
addressing land ownership, agricultural practices, distribution of technology and resources,
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Information Sheet
workers’ rights, and the historical injustices communities of color have faced. Food Justice is
closely intertwined with environmental justice (from What Is Food Justice? | Community Service
Center (bu.edu).
3. Equity: fairness or justice in the way people are treated, specifically: freedom from disparities in
the way people of different races, genders, etc. are treated.
4. Healthy Food: foods that build and sustain human health such as: Fresh fruits and vegetables;
Whole grains; Beans, peas, lentils, and other legumes; Nuts and seeds; and Proteins such as fish,
tofu, and lower fat dairy products. In general, healthy foods are fresh or frozen and don’t
contain added sugars, fats, or high levels of salt. Preference will be given to healthy food that is
also grown, prepared and distributed in ways that support worker, environmental, and animal
health, and/or that preserve and celebrate cultural traditions and foodways.
5. Healthy Food Business: retail or restaurant businesses like produce markets, cafes or stores that
preference sales of healthy prepared and packaged foods that meet the definition of “healthy
food” above. Also see the broad “good food businesses” described in the Good Eats report1.
Why Is This Needed?
We know that food justice is health justice (see definitions). Historically the food system has displaced,
enslaved, and undervalued the labor, land rights, and self-determination of Black and brown individuals,
women, immigrants, and indigenous people.2 In Philadelphia today, neighborhoods with higher
concentrations of lower-income households and/or Black and Latinx/Hispanic Philadelphians still have
fewer fresh food choices.3 Poverty and high food costs continue to impact families’ ability to afford
healthy foods and contribute to food insecurity in Philadelphia. In addition, neighborhood conditions,
such as access to food retailers, transportation, and safety concerns may further contribute to food
insecurity4. Lastly, climate change concerns continue to rise globally and can exacerbate current
environmental and population health conditions5.
Supporting community efforts to ensure access to healthy affordable foods and build a more equitable
food system will keep us moving toward creating a healthy, just, safe, livable community for all
Philadelphia residents.
We also know that Philadelphia has tremendous food assets and opportunities for individual and
collective action. See the PFJI 2019-2020 Impact Report6, Good Eats report recommendations1, or
Growing from the Root: Philadelphia’s Urban Agriculture Plan7 for examples.
1 Good Eats: http://economyleague.org/uploads/files/4171470634539374-goodeats-finalreport.pdf
2 Framing from the Castanea Fellowship:
3 Neighborhood Food Retail Report: http://foodfitphilly.org/neighborhoodfoodretail/
4 Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food: Measuring and Understanding Food Deserts and Their Consequences:
https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/42711/12716_ap036_1_.pdf?v=4477.4
5Climate Change Global Food Security and the U.S. Food System https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/FullAssessment.pdf
6 Philadelphia Food Justice Initiative Impact Report: https://www.reinvestment.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Impact-Report-Philadelphia-
Food-Justice-Initative.pdf
7 Growing from the Root: Philadelphia’s Urban Agriculture Plan https://www.phila.gov/documents/philadelphias-urban-agriculture-plan/
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Information Sheet
Who Can Apply
This open call for ideas is for individuals, businesses, or organizations doing community-led work that
contributes to an equitable and sustainable local food system. The overall goal of this funding is to
support and increase equitable access to grow, learn about, and eat healthy, affordable, and culturally
relevant foods. Send us your ideas for food justice strategies that could grow or deepen with support.
Applicants must be located in the City of Philadelphia and may propose up to $50,000 for a project.
Nonprofit organizations, for-profit businesses, cooperatives or collectives working on food justice are
eligible to apply. Retail and non-retail food businesses are eligible. Applicants must make a commitment
that their businesses and other spaces will be tobacco-free.
We welcome ideas and projects from any applicant that wants to build food justice in Philadelphia and
embodies a health justice vision. If you have been working in food access for a long time and need some
support to scale up and take the next step, we want to hear from you. If you have been community
organizing and capacity building and see a clear way to include food justice in your work, we want to
hear from you. If you are a budding entrepreneur with a fresh idea, we want to hear from you. If you
make, grow, cook or sell food, we want to hear from you.
From 2019-2023 we have made grants to 27 recipients. Of those, 25 are Black, immigrant, and people of
color owned or led, and 18 are owned or led by women. Grant awards have ranged from $4,000 to
$100,000. Read more about previous grantees on the Philadelphia Food Justice Initiative website.
Applicants who have previously applied to this initiative but weren’t selected are encouraged to apply
again. Previously funded grantees cannot reapply for consecutive years of funding.
What Can Be funded?
Eligible projects include many kinds of community-driven solutions to create a more just food system
that supports communities to grow, sell, and eat healthy food. Projects could include growing or making
food (gardening, incubator or community kitchens, etc), moving/distributing food (group purchasing,
new delivery systems or solutions), selling food (retail or prepared), food waste recovery or food
marketing, improving wages and/or working conditions in the food system, improving systems for free
or emergency food or meals. Funds can also support collective work across organizations to grow, make,
store, move, cook, or sell food.
Funds can be for hard and soft costs for planning or implementation, including land, property, building
improvements, and equipment. Expenses related to land, property and building improvements will need
to be reviewed by the City for compliance with City regulations.
Sample project ideas (but feel free to propose a project unlike those listed here):
• Re-opening a restaurant space selling healthy meals as a worker-owned cooperative
• Coordinating on covering delivery costs for food/produce for a summer meal site(s)
• Covering initial start up costs for collective food buying across organizations or businesses
• Starting a new production or processing facility to make value-added products such as
fruit salad cups
• Creating a hyperlocal food hub for urban farmers and gardeners to sell produce
• Developing systems to distribute free surplus produce
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Information Sheet
• Food distribution delivery logistics solutions
• Cooperative purchasing to increase purchasing power for smaller businesses such as child
care centers
• Expanding existing healthy food businesses to serve more clients or starting a new healthy
food business in a neighborhood that lacks access to healthy foods. (Starting soft costs could
include feasibility studies, business consulting, predevelopment costs, or initial inventory.)
• Adding a delivery and online purchasing model to a healthy food business to increase
accessibility for disabled and/or homebound community members.
• Starting a produce distribution enterprise to help distribute produce more readily to smaller
retailers or community-based organizations.
• Safe routes to healthy food (transportation alternatives or strategies)
Selection Criteria and Process
Applicants should propose a project for the Philadelphia Food Justice Initiative (PFJI) that will focus on
community-driven solutions to strengthen the food system in neighborhoods or communities with a
history of health or food injustice. Projects must also be led by groups or organizations made up of those
same individuals or community members. Fair compensation of staff and partners is also required. The
City requires contractors to pay a minimum of $16.35/hour for living wages with limited exceptions.
Projects must include at least one of the following: 1) deep roots in a neighborhood or (defined)
community, 2) broad citywide reach, OR 3) potential for systems change or scaling up over time.
Preference will be given to proposals 1) led by Black, Indigenous and People of Color and/or people with
lived experience with health or food injustice, including immigrants and people living with disabilities,
and 2) with authentic community ownership.
Proposals will also be evaluated on impact, innovation, and feasibility.
• Impact – The proposed project demonstrates a clear connection to healthy food and the food
system, who will benefit, how many people will be served, and the greater impact in the
community or to the food system. The proposed project will benefit an area or a community
that has experienced historic health or food injustices or disinvestment.
• Innovation – The proposed project aims to test, scale and/or demonstrate an innovative
approach to addressing food injustice or improving the food system. The proposed project
demonstrates the potential for systems change or scaling up over time.
• Feasibility – Application proposal identifies clear milestones that seem possible to accomplish in
the proposed time frame, and the budget is proportionate to the milestones. Application
demonstrates a thoughtful approach to sustaining the work beyond the grant period.
A selection committee will review applications and select grantees. The selection committee reserves
the right to select one applicant or multiple applicants, and fund one or more applicants in full or in part
depending on the nature of the proposals and available funding.
Applications not selected for a grant award may also be directed to future or other funding
opportunities that are more appropriate to their work. For example, applicants proposing a healthy food
business may be referred to the Commerce Department to see if they are eligible for any of their
existing financial or technical assistance programs.
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Information Sheet
Award Administration
Applications selected for a grant award will be notified with details concerning grant award terms and
conditions.
Reinvestment Fund seeks to collect impact metrics across all of its programs in order to assess the
success of its funding initiatives. Grantees will be expected to collect and share measures of success,
including both quantitative metrics and stories, from their PFJI funded projects. Grantees must collect
and report data for their proposed projects, as applicable, such as:
• Workshops and Trainings: Number of events and number of attendees
• Growing and Distributing Food: Pounds of food grown and pounds sold/distributed
• Physical and Financial Growth: Increase in annual revenue, new jobs created and increase in
square feet
Additionally, all grantees will be expected to share stories and describe how they have advanced equity,
developed partnerships, and included residents throughout the projects. Lastly, grantees will be invited
to host and participate in site visits with other grantees to learn and share about each other’s work.
Impact data and project stories garnered from grantees may be used in public-facing materials such as
reports, websites, social media, newsletters, and other communications as necessary.
The Philadelphia Food Justice Initiative (PFJI) is adminstered by Reinvestment Fund, a nonprofit
intermediary Community Development Financial Institution. PFJI is a partnership of Reinvestment Fund
and the Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention
(CDIP).
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Application Questions
HOW TO APPLY
Application submissions will be accepted electronically through Reinvestment Fund’s online grants
management platform, SmartSimple. Below is a copy of the questions in the application on
SmartSimple.
If you are unable to submit an electronic application, or would like to submit an application in Spanish,
please email phillyfoodjustice@reinvestment.com to receive a paper application.
Register for SmartSimple to Begin Your Application
When you create an account in SmartSimple, you will be asked to enter organization and primary
contact information to register your organization. Learn more about how to create an account in
SmartSimple by watching this video.
If you have already registered (for example, to submit an application in a prior round), you can log in and
skip ahead to Applicant Information.
If you are applying for a partnership or collective, one organization should register and apply on behalf
of the partnership.
APPLY HERE.
APPLICATION
Applicant Information
The following information will be uploaded into your application from your SmartSimple registration:
1. Primary Contact:
2. Primary Contact Email:
3. Legal Entity Name:
4. Organization Name:
The following information should be entered in the Applicant Information section of your SmartSimple
application:
1. What is the legal entity type of the applicant organization?
a. For-profit business
b. Nonprofit organization
c. Cooperatively owned business
d. Other, please describe:
2. What is your business employer identification number (EIN)?
3. Please upload your EIN tax letter or 501c3 letter:
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Application Questions
4. Organizational address (Applicant must be located in Philadelphia):
5. Organization website address (if available):
6. Project Title:
7. Address of the project site (If there are multiple sites, please list all addresses): If the project does
not have a site address, but serves a broader geography, applicants will be asked to identify the
areas served (i.e. neighborhood(s), region of the city, zip codes, etc.).
8. Amount of Funding Requested (Up to $50,000):
9. Describe the mission and vision of your group/organization/business (100 words)
10. How does your organization practice anti-racism? Explain how your leadership structure (executive
director, board, or other) embodies racial, ethnic, gender and age diversity or lived experience with
health injustice. (100 words)
11. Describe the management of the project you’re proposing for this grant. Who is leading the project
in your organization? Who is the internal project team? Who are the project’s partners and what are
their roles? (250 words)
Project Information
1. What type of project is this? (Select all that apply)
a. Food Retail Business and/or Initiative (including grocery stores, farmers markets, farm
stands, prepared food businesses, etc.)
b. Non-Retail Food Business and/or Initiative (i.e. enterprises and/or initiative focused on
distribution, aggregation, processing, community kitchens, incubators etc.)
c. Urban Agriculture (including production farming, community gardening and/or farming
etc.)
d. Community Food Distribution (includes improving systems for the distribution of free
food/community meals)
e. Other (Please explain)
2. Select the activities that will be implemented through your project (Select all that apply)
a. Trainings/Workshops/Education
b. Land Stewardship and Cultivation
c. Community power-building, organizing, advocacy
d. Systems Change
e. Youth Leadership
f. Workforce Development
g. Cultural Preservation and Celebration
h. Other (Please explain)
3. If this is a food retail project: Do you currently sell tobacco products?
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Application Questions
4. If this is a food retail project: Can you commit to not selling tobacco products in your retail
store/business?
5. Project Description: What is the project you are seeking grant funding for and why is it needed?
What are the key goals or accomplishments for the year? In other words, what will a grant make
it possible for you to do? (750 words)
6. Food Access/Justice: how will your project increase the availability/consumption of healthy
food or improve/enhance the food system (see definition)? How many people will be affected?
(250 words)
7. Equity: How will your project address and advance equity? (250 words)
8. Collective Action: How will your project partner or collaborate with other food justice and
community organizations? (250 words)
9. Community Engagement: What communities or populations are engaged or served by this
project? How will your project include and engage residents in your community? (250 words)
10. Project Impacts: How is your project catalytic or changing systems? How is your project
innovative and/or uniquely serving your community? (250 words)
11. Impact Metrics: Propose 3-5 metrics of success for your proposed project. These metrics will be
included in what you will provide in reporting, if you are selected as a grantee. Metrics might
include number of participants in your programs, number of volunteers engaged, number of
customers at your business, annual revenue, pounds of food grown or distributed, etc. (250
words)
Milestones
We want to understand the specific activities that you hope to achieve through this project and the
timeline. Please complete the chart below to outline specific milestones, the timeline to complete each
milestone, and the expected deliverables. If awarded, the milestones detailed in your application will be
included in your grant agreement.
TIMELINE
REPORTABLE MILESTONE (Initiation to
DELIVERABLES
Completion between
(as many as needed)
January 2025 and
December 2, 2025)
Milestone 1:
Milestone 2:
Milestone 3:
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Application Questions
Milestone 4:
Milestone 5:
Milestone 6:
Milestone 7:
Milestone 8:
Milestone 9:
Milestone 10:
Budget
1. Budget
Please provide a complete budget for your grant request using the following template. It’s okay to make
estimates or projections for these costs. Feel free to leave categories blank if they are not applicable.
Please describe in detail the uses for each category. For example, under personnel, write: 2 full time
staff members at $16.35 an hour for one year.
Project Budget
Budget category Dollar ($) amount Description of funds
Personnel (Staffing)1
Fringe 2
Consultants or Subcontractors 3
Travel 4
Supplies 5
Furniture/Fixtures/Equipment 6
Overhead 7
Other
TOTAL
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Application Questions
Notes for Budget Categories:
1. Staffing
a. If staff positions will be supported, include for each person: salary (annual or hourly), percent effort
for this project, roles of person
b. Please note living wages and fair compensation is a critical piece of this project. The City requires
contractors to pay a minimum of $16.35/hour for living wages with limited exceptions.8
2. Fringe: the cost of employee benefits beyond salary, such as health insurance.
3. Consultants or subcontractors: If including, describe each subcontractor and include in the description
what their roles are/relevant milestones they will work on.
4. Travel: include if local travel, what it will be used for
5. Supplies: note in description what the items might be and general cost per item
6. FFE: include equipment or fixtures essential to the project
7. Overhead: also called indirect, note in description what this includes
2. Budget Narrative: Please describe briefly how you arrived at the budget figures (such as based on
existing expenses, quotes, estimates, or comparable figures) (100 words)
3. Additional Sources: Please describe any additional sources of funding you may have for this project
(other funding is not required) (100 words)
4. Sustainability: How will your project be sustainable beyond the grant period? What other resources
would you need to sustain this project and how would you go about getting those? (100 words)
8 https://www.phila.gov/ExecutiveOrders/Executive%20Orders/EO%203-14.pdf
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