Farms to Families earns Feeding America grant

Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization, recently named “Farms to Families,” the collaborative fund by Roots4Change and REAP Food Group, one of the recipients of its Food Security Equity Impact Fund grant. Second Harvest Food Bank of Southern Wisconsin, a member of Feeding America and partner in Farms to Families, applied for the grant. 

Farms2Families was co-created by Roots4Change and REAP during the height of the pandemic in 2020. It began as a way to directly support Latino/indigenous families with access to healthy, sustainable food, health and housing assistance, and through employment opportunities. The program has persisted while expanding its scope. Since Fall 2022, Farms to Families has provided Latino/Indigenous families in their postnatal journeys with nutritious food plus co-learning spaces for culturally relevant food preparation, breastfeeding, and more. Ingredients sourced from BIPOC and women-owned local food farmers and businesses are packed for families and distributed from Second Harvest Food Bank of Southern Wisconsin.

The Feeding America grant, the second release of its kind, released more than $4 million to 10 food banks working with 15 community-based organizations to address the root causes of hunger and food insecurity. A total of 85% of the grant goes to Roots4Change and REAP Food Group, while Second Harvest receives 15%. The Feeding America grant will allow Roots4Change and REAP to continue funding Farms to Families for two more years. 

“Together, and as a collective, we can work in partnership with neighbors, community partner organizations, and network members to elevate and to center the importance of equity as we move forward in making a deeper impact across this nation,” said Mya Price, Food Security Equity Impact Fund director at Feeding America. “With the Food Security Equity Impact Fund, Feeding America is investing in innovative solutions created by community-led organizations that will remove the barriers and increase equitable access to food while centering their neighbor’s voices in the work they do.”

The Food Security Equity Impact Fund is part of Feeding America’s broader grantmaking strategy to intentionally support communities of color and rural communities known to be disproportionately impacted by food insecurity. It was created in March 2021 and was seeded with a $20 million donation from MacKenzie Scott. 

For more information about Feeding America and the Food Security Equity Impact Fund, please visit feedingamerica.org/equityimpact.