Food Infrastructure Grant Program in Canada

Deadline: 15-Dec-21

The United Way British Columbia (UWBC) has announced Food Infrastructure Grant Program to address the unique food access and availability challenges of rural, remote and Indigenous communities.

• There will be two funding streams available. United Way British Columbia encourages each applicant to include projects that respond to their unique community need.
  • Food Access Grant Stream
    • Focus: To procure, recover, transport, and/or store fresh and other foods.
    • Examples of eligible capital expenses:
      • Transportation improvements (e.g. trucks, vans, cold containers, etc.)
      • Equipment to receive and store food (e.g. fridge, freezer, shelving, pallet jacks, carts, etc.)
    • Examples of eligible operational expenses:
      • Diversifying food procurement (e.g. supporting relationships with agriculture, wholesale, and retail) 
      • Recovering fresh food that would otherwise be wasted from retailers, businesses, farms, small producers 
  • Food Relocalization Grant Stream
    • Focus: To grow, harvest, forage, procure and/or process local and traditional food.
    • Examples of eligible capital expenses:
      • Solutions for sustainable growing (e.g. greenhouses, seed libraries, garden boxes, etc.)
      • Equipment to harvest, process and/or preserve food in traditional ways (e.g. smoking, canning, curing, etc.)
    • Examples of eligible capital expenses:
      • Sharing knowledge about growing, harvesting or processing food (e.g. workshops, skill sharing, etc.)
      • Revitalizing traditional foodways and/or procuring traditional food locally or in partnership with other communities

• This one-time funding grant is available to support year-round, long-term infrastructure to support sustainable food access solutions in remote, rural and Indigenous communities across BC.
  • $5,000-$20,000 can be applied for by a single applicant, OR  
  • $5,000- $30,000 can be applied for in a co-application between multiple groups.  
  • All funds must be expended – and activities completed – by March 31, 2022. 
  • Reporting will include a Midterm Report and Final Summary Report.

• Applicants:
  • Food Infrastructure Grants are available to any community food-based organization/group located in remote, rural and/or Indigenous communities providing food access programming and services.   
  • This includes:  
  • All charitable organizations as well as other non-profit and grassroots organizations, 
  • BC First Nations Band or Tribal Council. 
• Application details should include:
  • A new project or program 
  • An existing project or program that is expanding 
  • An existing project or program with funding expiring within the Food Infrastructure Grant timeframe which has clear deliverables, meets the criteria; and needs funding to continue. 

For more information, visit https://uwbc.ca/foodsecurity/