Healthy Food Financing Initiative

America's Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) is a USDA-supported program, administered by Reinvestment Fund, that provides grants, loans, and technical assistance to improve access to fresh, healthy, affordable food in underserved urban and rural communities. For the 2026 cycle, HFFI offers three funding opportunities: the 2026 FARE Fund Grants & TA (grants of $20,000-$250,000 for planning and implementation projects, plus technical assistance of up to $75,000 per project for early-stage planning, predevelopment, and business assistance soft costs); the 2026-2028 FARE Fund Loans (loans of $500,000-$3,000,000, with loans over $3 million up to $5 million considered case-by-case); and the 2026 Partnerships Program (the HFFI Local and Regional Healthy Food Financing Partnerships Program), which makes $20 million available in grants to public-private partnerships implementing Food Financing Programs in underserved communities. Visit www.investinginfood.com for details, eligibility, and deadlines for each opportunity.

For-profit businesses, cooperative businesses, nonprofit organizations, and state, local, and tribal governments and governmental agencies will be eligible to apply.

The program will support projects aiming to strengthen, expand, and innovate within the food retail supply chain. The program could assist a variety of organizations, business models, and capital needs of ventures that process, distribute, aggregate, market, and sell healthy, fresh, and affordable foods to underserved communities and markets. Projects must demonstrate how their proposed project will contribute to food access through the availability of staple and perishable foods for retail sale.

To be eligible for assistance, applicants must propose a project that:

1. Plans to expand or preserve the availability of staple and perishable foods in underserved areas with low and moderate-income populations; and

2. If the project involves retail sales, accepts benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) established under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 USC 2011 et. Seq.)

To be eligible for financial or technical assistance through America’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative, applicants must propose a project in an underserved area. Use the interactive map on this page to determine if your project’s proposed location qualifies as underserved.

HFFI is running three separate opportunities with different money, different instruments and different deadlines — work out which one you fit before spending time on an inquiry.

TRACK A — 2026 FARE Fund Grants & Technical Assistance

• "Grants from $20,000 - $250,000 for planning and implementation projects"

• "Technical Assistance up to $75,000 per project for early-stage planning, predevelopment, and business assistance contractual soft costs"

• Pool: "at least $5,250,000 is available for planning and implementation Grants and at least $1,000,000 is available for Technical Assistance"

• Two-stage: a Funding Inquiry was due July 31, 2026; "If invited to submit, full applications are due no later than 11:59 PM ET, October 30, 2026. Award notifications will be made no earlier than January 2027."

TRACK B — 2026-2028 FARE Fund Loans

• "Loans funded will be between $500,000 - $3,000,000, with loans over $3 million and up to $5 million in size considered on a case-by-case basis"

• Pool: "at least $22M is available for loans"

• Loan types include acquisition, bridge, construction, mini-permanent and permanent, NMTC source leverage, equipment, and working capital

• No interest rate is published — pricing arrives as a Reinvestment Fund term sheet, and "The term sheet will be valid for 90 days"

• Rolling: full applications "are due 45 days after the application is sent"

• Loans are for shovel-ready projects with site control; "Individuals are not eligible to apply to this opportunity"

TRACK C — 2026 Partnerships Program (Local and Regional Healthy Food Financing Partnerships)

• "$20 million is available in grants to eligible public-private partnerships"

• "Capacity Building grants between $200,000 and $1,000,000"

• "Credit Enhancement grants between $500,000 and $3,000,000"

• "Total grant award amounts (Capacity Building and Credit Enhancement activities combined) may be up to $3,000,000 total per award"

• "Applications are due are due no later than 11:59 PM ET, September 18, 2026"

Common to all three: the project must sit in an eligible underserved area and must have a food retail or food-access component — applicants "must demonstrate how their proposed project will contribute to food access through the availability of an assortment of both Staple and Perishable Foods for retail sale at SNAP authorized retailers in eligible underserved areas." Agriculture-only projects with no retail or access component are not funded.

Because the three tracks differ this much, no single award range represents "HFFI" — use the range for the track you are applying to.

See the most recent Request For Applications for instructions on how to apply.

• RFA Info Session Webinar- Recording

• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• Online Grants Portal Registration and Application Guide