Healthy Food Financing Initiative Updates: A Pipeline to Food Equity in Rural Missouri

With the holidays quickly approaching, many turn their attention to the joys of sharing meals with those closest to them. Often, preparation for holiday meals begins with the creation of a menu, possibly dividing up who is preparing what and where the holiday feast will take place. Some culinary artists may have a signature dish that all who gather for the holiday look forward to indulging in. Holiday dishes can often be labeled with titles that include the preparer’s name, and no substitute will suffice as the expectations of that dish have been set for many years. In many circles, recipes have been passed down through generations and can even be closely guarded. Food is a worldwide unifier. Gatherings of all kinds involve the sharing of food, and this tradition can be traced back to before there was even written language.

While there is much joy in the tradition of preparing and sharing meals, I ask that everyone maintain awareness that these traditions are much easier to maintain for some than others. Access and affordability are two of the biggest limiting factors in the creation of a holiday meal plan. As a Food Security Policy Manager at Empower Missouri, I work diligently to promote food equity and would like to share some updates on the work we have been doing to promote more equitable access to food throughout our state.

Governor Parson signed House Bill 432 into law in July 2021. This Bill created the Missouri Food Security Task Force. The task force set out to “evaluate potential impacts and strategies to improve food insecurity within the State of Missouri as specified in Section 261.450 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri (RSMo)”. The Task Force consisted of 25 individuals with expertise in the area of food security as well as bipartisan representation from both chambers of the General Assembly. They spent two years studying the context of food insecurity throughout all areas of Missouri. The summation of their research and recommendations were published in a Final Report. 

Published in the findings of the Report, the Task Force determined that many Missourians live in areas considered to be “low access”. This term is defined by USDA as someone living more than one mile in urban areas and more than ten miles in rural areas from a grocery store. The Food Access Research Atlas is an excellent resource for further understanding food access throughout Missouri. In response to this data, the Task Force advised that increasing access to food in low-access areas could be achieved by developing a Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) throughout the state.

In response to this finding, Empower Missouri partnered with the University of Missouri Extension, IFF, and Missouri Coalition for the Environment and applied for a three-year $1 million capacity-building grant to create a Healthy Food Financing Initiative throughout the state. Selected as one of the 2024 grant recipients, the partners formed the Missouri Rural Food Access Partnership (MRFAP) and have been working since July on the creation of a HFFI.

The  Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative launched in 2004, was the first-ever Healthy Food Financing Initiative within the United States. The success of that program spurred the creation of America’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative and since then, they have taken many shapes and forms throughout the years. Some have been completely state-funded, others completely privately funded but most frequently, a combination of state, public, and private funds combine to finance food retail and food enterprise projects that exist to increase access to healthy food in areas previously considered to be “low access.” Food retail examples include brick-and-mortar structures such as grocery stores while food enterprise project examples include mobile markets or food hubs. Many of these projects were considered ineligible for conventional funding and without the creation of Healthy Food Financing Initiatives would have never been launched. Varying markers such as square feet of retail space, job creation, and financial sustainability have been used to determine the success of funded projects.  

To develop a pipeline of fundable food retail and food enterprise projects in rural areas of low food access throughout Missouri, the University of Missouri Extension opened applications for communities to apply for the Missouri EATs program. Since the concept of HFFI is rather new in our state we were unsure of the level of interest to expect. We knew we needed two communities to apply for the program and were astonished when we received 16 applications. Missouri Extension interviewed each applicant and selected Mississippi and Nodaway counties as the first round of Missouri EATs program participants. Mississippi County had two applicants, Bootheel Babies and the IHOPE Foundation. They have chosen to partner and participate in the Missouri EATs program collectively. Nodaway County is being represented by members from the Nodaway County Economic Development Committee. The University of Missouri Extension team will work with these communities to help identify gaps in food access, explore potential solutions, and develop plans for fundable projects that could be eligible for participation in the Healthy Food Financing Initiative.

Having had such a robust pool of applicants and not wanting to miss the opportunity to facilitate the efforts of each community to increase fundable food access projects, the University of Missouri Extension team created a Community Roundtable of Missouri EATs applicants that were not selected for the first cycle of program participation. The monthly roundtable meetings will “foster a community of practice for those dedicated to promoting healthy food access. They will serve as a shared learning space for best practices and innovative ideas across Missouri.” Included in the creation of the Community Roundtable is the expectation that participation will better position the communities to participate in future Missouri EATs programs and limit obstructions to participation in the statewide HFFI.

Meanwhile, the grant partners opened a statewide call for participation in the Missouri Rural Food Access Partnership (MRFAP). To date, fourteen participants representing 9 organizations have agreed to join the partnership and several upcoming meetings with interested parties are scheduled in the upcoming weeks. It will be the privilege of the partnership members to establish the framework in which Missouri HFFIs will exist and to create the financing network that will support future HFFI projects. Throughout our conversations with MRFAP participants, notes have been taken on the areas of work each organization is currently providing with special interest being paid to gaps and overlaps. To create a strategy for success, we have been studying in detail the successes and failures of other states’ HFFIs. The identification of challenges and best practices of those who went before us will be used to advise our program structure. It’s not always a bad thing to not be first.

In a continued effort to best understand rural food access throughout Missouri, the University of Missouri Extension has created a survey. We encourage any and all to complete it as it is exceptionally useful in our work towards creating a statewide Healthy Food Financing Initiative. 

We will continue to strive towards achieving food security for all residents of Missouri so please check in regularly for updates on these endeavors. I will be thinking of you all throughout the holiday season and maintaining gratitude for your interest and efforts in the promotion of equity and justice throughout our beautiful state.