The Johnson County Board of Supervisors voted to distribute funding to nine Community Food and Farm Grant awardees on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. All applicants have received notification of their selection status to the email address provided in their application.
The award recipients for the inaugural Community Food and Farm Grant Cycle are:
- Center for Worker Justice $5,000
- Echollective Farm $15,000
- El Azul $10,000
- IC Compassion $15,000
- Nam and Anna’s Garden $8,500
- Over the Moon Farm and Flowers $14,000
- Poimen Bosko Foods $15,000
- Simon Bwayo $2,500
- Williams Topsoil $15,000
In Nov. 2021, The Board of Supervisors invested $200,000 of Local Fiscal Recovery Funds received through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to support local food initiatives to increase food security. Of that investment, $100,000 funded the inaugural cycle of the Community Food and Farm Grant.
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated a need to increase access to fresh, nutritious food and support the small farms and food businesses who feed the community and faced significant disruptions from the pandemic. The Community Food and Farm Grant aims to address these needs by funding projects that increase community-based food production, processing, and distribution capacity to increase food security in Johnson County. The grant was available to small farm and food businesses, nonprofits, and individuals who produce, process, or distribute community-based food for consumption in Johnson County, or enable these activities. Applicants could request $1,000-$25,000 to fund costs such as purchase of equipment and supplies for growing, processing, or distributing food, business development opportunities, or creation of free food distribution sites.
The application opened Thursday, Sept. 28, and closed Friday, Oct. 28, 2022. Johnson County hosted three application clinics to offer assistance and answer questions. Johnson County received 126 applications. Applications deemed eligible were scored using a rubric developed by Local Foods staff and the Johnson County Food Policy Council. Council members and staff used scores to assist with the development of a funding recommendation that was presented to the Board of Supervisors on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. The recommended applicants all submitted projects that had high alignment with the program goals and have the potential to make both short-term and long-term impacts on Johnson County’s community-based food system. More information about the projects awarded funding is available at www.johnsoncountyiowa.gov/localfoods/grant.
Johnson County is committed to utilizing ARPA funds to enhance investments in public services and maximize the impacts of our local fiscal recovery allocation. The County's ARPA Team has been working since February 2021 to build a planning framework and administer funding to benefit Johnson County residents.
More information about the American Rescue Plan Act and how it impacts Johnson County is available at https://www.johnsoncountyiowa.gov/arpa.