The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) announced May 9 that its Food Security Planning Grant Program awarded nine grants totaling more than $1 million to seven counties and municipalities.

The initiative, established under the New Jersey Economic Recovery Act of 2020, provides grants of up to $125,000 to local and county governments and/or redevelopment agencies to fund development of plans to decrease food insecurity in designated Food Desert Communities (FDCs) by leveraging and repurposing distressed assets.

Grants awarded through the program include:

• Atlantic City (two grants): A $125,000 award to pay costs associated with planning the development of Midtown Co-op Market. Additionally, an $89,000 grant will go toward the development of Mighty Uptown Food Pantry.
• Camden: A $125,000 grant to support preliminary building plans and a market feasibility study to develop a state-of-the-art multipurpose food market, eatery, and indoor farm facility.
• Newark (two grants): A nearly $125,000 grant to pay for the development of a business plan for a new food co-op in the city. Additionally, the city plans to use roughly $112,000 to complete a feasibility study and identify the best use of ground floor retail space in an existing parking deck to increase food security.
• Passaic: A $125,000 grant to develop the Passaic City Food Access and Security Action Plan, which will provide a framework for the transformation of the selected distressed property into a thriving supermarket center of the Eastside Neighborhood.
• Penns Grove: A $100,000 grant for a feasibility study for a full-service grocery store.
• Salem: A $125,000 grant to conduct a feasibility study to bring food from local producers to Salem residents to boost the local supply chain.

The NJEDA says the program is one tool it is deploying to empower local governments to develop and submit plans to improve food access while transforming distressed assets into ones that can spur economic growth.

Officials also point out that all of the grants awarded so far have gone to entities serving seven of the top 20 FDCs, including three of the highest-ranked FDCs (Camden, Atlantic City, and Newark), which have the greatest need.

“Through the Food Security Planning Grant Program, we are providing funding to help local government leaders design creative and sustainable reuses that transform their distressed assets into resources that will aid in the fight against hunger and support local economic development,” said NJEDA Chief Executive Officer Tim Sullivan in a press release.

Tara Colton, NJEDA executive vice president of economic security, added that the findings and outcomes from these projects will be used to help deploy future food security and economic development across the state while offering municipalities more tools and ideas of how to repurpose distressed assets.

“Thanks to Gov. [Phil] Murphy and the New Jersey Legislature, we have $300 million in resources that enable us to take a comprehensive approach to addressing food insecurity,” said Colton. “This robust toolkit to combat hunger includes innovative community-driven initiatives like this planning grant and our Sustain & Serve NJ Program, which gives grants to local organizations to buy meals from local restaurants and distribute them for free into the community. It also includes tax credits to build new supermarkets in food deserts and our innovative Food Retail Innovation in Delivery program to broaden access to a booming grocery e-commerce industry.”