LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County’s chief sustainability office and local nonprofit intermediary Community Partners today announced a second tranche of $10 million in community grants to alleviate food insecurity and build a more resilient food system across the region.
Augmenting the initial set of grants awarded in 2024, this latest round of funding brings total grantmaking from the The LA Food Equity Fund to more than $20 million.
Tapping into federal American Rescue Plan Act or ARPA funding, the county and community partners are now supporting 78 organizations working to create more just access to affordable and nutritious food across the Southland. Nearly 1 in 4 county households experienced food insecurity in 2024, according to USC researchers.
“Nearly all of L.A. County’s food comes from beyond our foodshed and outside of our state, meaning that profits from our billions of dollars of food purchases are not benefiting our County. Increasing localization of our healthy food system by creating more farmer-led food hubs, expanding market match programs, sourcing locally for medically tailored meals, and creating more community gardens and urban agriculture opportunities, among other initiatives, could create many new jobs and bring significant revenue back into our economy,” said Paula Daniels, Executive Director of the LA County Office of Food Systems.
The first tranche of funds, awarded in March 2024, has already yielded significant benefits for more than 66,000 LA County residents. Grants have:
- supported local job creation
- underwritten community health fairs and nutrition education workshops
- boosted refrigeration and warehouse space for food banks
- established new markets in food deserts
- assisted residents with CalFresh benefits enrollment
The investments, guided by the ambitious recommendations of the Los Angeles County Food Equity Roundtable Action Plan, range in size from $100,000 to just over $400,000. The new grants will fund a wide array of local community groups striving to improve food access and affordability as well as greater resilience and sustainability within food supply chains.
Food production organizations supported by the fund reflect a wide range of diversity, from Crop Swap LA’s and Grow2Zero’s microfarms feeding local residents in South L.A. and Long Beach, to the WOW Flower Project’s farm that feeds communities and hosts camps for children with mental health challenges in the Antelope Valley.
Supply-chain resilience groups receiving funds include Food Forward and FoodCycle, which recover surplus fresh fruits, vegetables, and other foods to redistribute to partner organizations across the County. The Japanese American Cultural and Community Center is recruiting Japanese-American farmers with small- and mid-sized farms to participate in providing culturally relevant produce for low-income shoppers via a Little Tokyo Farmers Market.
Food access grants range from the Watts Labor Community Action Committee’s food pantry and distribution program to the Thai Community Development Center’s East Hollywood Farmers Market, as well as supporting homeless services organizations The Midnight Mission, Union Station Homeless Services, Hope the Mission, and LA Family Housing to expand their food production and storage capacity to serve tens of thousands of meals daily.
Nutrition education awardees include Pico Union Project, which hires local community members to provide nutrition and wellness services at weekly community farmers markets, and Pools of Hope, which provides culturally appropriate nutritious food preparation classes and safe food handling education in North Long Beach, Compton, and Paramount.
Food as medicine awardees include the Health Consortium of Greater San Gabriel Valley, which works with five area hospitals to expand access to medically tailored meals for MediCal patients living with or at risk of chronic diseases, and South Los Angeles Health Projects, which advocates for postpartum birth parents who are no longer able to participate in WIC and are experiencing diabetes or high blood pressure, or whose infants were born preterm or with congenital issues.
Other grants awarded provide a wide range of support services, from distributing food to local food pantries to incubating small food businesses in underserved communities to training healthcare providers to increase access to and utilization of medically tailored meals.
Details: Read the full list of awarded grantees.