Title
Authorization to Apply, Accept, Disburse Funds and Enter into Agreements for an Urban and Innovative Agriculture Community-Based Organization Fund Grant (Ordinance S-49285)
Description
Request approval for the City Manager, or his designee, to submit a grant application in partnership with the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension of Maricopa County (UA) to increase supply chain resiliency by providing funding to underserved, small and urban farmers through outreach, education, research, technical assistance, and providing funds to assist farmers with implementing climate friendly practices to strengthen resilience. The Office of Environmental Programs will receive $250,000 of the total $1.5 million award. Further request the City Manager to execute all contracts and Memorandums of Agreement (MOA), if awarded. Additionally, request to authorize the City Treasurer to accept, and the City Controller to disburse, grant funds.
Report
Summary
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Farm Service Agency (FSA) is investing up to $40 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to increase services and outreach to urban producers to understand their needs and connect them to available programs and resources. USDA has identified Phoenix as a pilot location for this funding. These funds are available through the FSA Urban and Innovative Agriculture Community-Based Organization fund and are focused on urban, underserved farmers including beginning, socially disadvantaged, limited resource, and military veteran farmers. These awards will focus on assisting urban producers in areas where FSA historically has not had a presence.
The UA Cooperative Extension of Maricopa County as the lead applicant will be applying for a total of $1.5 million and will be the primary provider of outreach, technical assistance, education, and research and is allocated $1 million. The grant application will also include Local First Arizona Foundation who will provide two annual events specifically for urban farmers for $250,000. The remaining $250,000 is allocated for the Office of Environmental Programs (OEP) to provide Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture (RSA) grants directly to farmers and to provide two grant writing workshops. This work will enhance the existing grant program that OEP offers to help local growers navigate, build, and succeed in the ever-changing environment and ensure a resilient local food system. The program will be open to private and nonprofit growers and aggregators within our local food system with a goal of 60 percent of the funding awarded to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) to implement projects designed to accelerate the transition toward a more resilient, sustainable, equitable and thriving food system.
The RSA grant program will fund projects that:
1. Promote efforts to reduce the impact of local food production and distribution on our changing climate (mitigation).
2. Enhance the resiliency of the farm or aggregator and local food system in the face of various shocks and disruptions (adaptation).
3. Adopt new and/or expand existing sustainable food production and/or aggregator practices.
4. Adopt variety of urban agricultural innovations into operations.
5. Grow product line through the implementation of agri-food technologies/innovations.
6. Develop product prototypes.
7. Create new jobs to implement food production or aggregation related projects.
8. Strengthen the economic viability of the farm/aggregator by increasing the ability to grow and sell products locally.
9. Applicants should outline how partnering with the City on implementing resilience and sustainability measures will help the entity continue to grow and/or distribute food in an increasingly arid urban environment subject to extreme heat and drought.
10. Advance equity within the local food system.
The RSA grant program will also offer a Farmer Grant Writing Workshop that will provide an opportunity to understand the intricacies of writing a grant application.
The grant proposal deadline was Dec. 5, 2022. Award announcements will be made Spring 2023.
Contract Term
The grant term is for up to five years.
Financial Impact
The program is funded through USDA and there is no financial impact to the City.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Karen Peters and the Office of Environmental Programs.