Those in Madison hoping to make an impact on food access will have an opportunity to finance their projects after the city’s food policy council announced its fourth cycle of SEED Grants Monday and reopened the application for 2018.
SEED Grants are small allotments of money given to projects in Madison that address the issue of healthy food accessibility. The city spends $50,000 in total each year on the grants.
The program emphasizes building neighborhoods, racial equality and social justice through food accessibility. Previous years’ winning projects include urban gardens, portable neighborhood-based lunch delivery and cooking classes for community centers.
George Reistad, Madison’s food policy coordinator, said the city hopes to award an assortment of projects.
“There’s a lot of different way these organizations take on food access,” he said. “We don’t just fund community garden projects, we try to mix it up and work with organizations that have a pretty solid plan and feedback from the groups or constituents they’re serving.”
Variety is partly evaluated using the Food Access Improvement Map, where applicants identify the specific regions their project will impact.
Additionally, Reistad hopes to get the word out to a wider audience, including university students. The student organization Campus Kitchens Project was previously awarded a SEED Grant to expand food recovery efforts and offer free meals on campus.
“We love having the university right there in our backyard,” Reistad said. “UW-Madison backs right up to downtown and interacts with the city.”
The Food Policy Council asks applicants to include a cover letter as well as fill out an application, which lays out detailed plans for their project, potential community impact, how goals will be measured and an explanation of financial need.
There will be a meeting for potential applicants on Wednesday, Jan. 31 at 6 p.m. in the Meadowridge Library. The deadline for applications is Monday, Feb. 26, by 4:30 p.m.
