The Connection, Health, & Equity through Food (CHEF) Grant Program is a collaborative network of organizations and volunteer initiatives across Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Eastern Massachusetts, and Upstate New York that are focused on increasing older adults’ equitable access to healthy food and social connection.
Donor Name: Tri-State Learning Collaborative on Aging
State: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont
County: Selected Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 02/16/2024
Size of the Grant: $1000 to $10,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
The focus of the CHEF (Connection, Health, and Equity through Food) grant program, funded by Hannaford Supermarkets Eat Well. Be Well initiative, is to increase older adults‘ equitable access to food and social connections in their communities. Grants will allow awardees to make investments in programmatic infrastructure, sustainably expand current programming and/or launch innovative new programming that supports the food and social connection needs of older people. Priority will be given to projects and programs that serve diverse older people, veterans, and older people living with disabilities or in rural communities. Funds can also be used to help find solutions to the root causes of food insecurity and social isolation, including but not limited to poverty, transportation, rurality, and language barriers.
Purpose
The focus of this grant program is to increase older adults’ equitable access to healthy food and social connection, with a particular focus on rural communities and underserved and marginalized older people including:
- BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color)
- LGBTQ+- (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender or Queer or Questioning)
- Women
- Veterans
- People Living with Disabilities
- People Living in Rural Communities.
The grant is intended to support innovative and new programming as well as additions to current programs that support older people in your community. They will be looking for programs that intentionally support the oldest people among us, programs that are intentionally inclusive of diverse older people, and programs that specifically accommodate people with disabilities. The funding can be used for equipment, staff training, food to enhance another program, farming, social programs, transportation, technology and other ideas that relate to the specific focus of food insecurity and social connection. The grant activities must be for a sustaining/sustainable purpose. Applications for money to pay for food alone or general operation will not be granted.
Regional Learning Collaborative
Through monthly webinars and virtual cross-border collaborative conversations, the CHEF Program will focus on equity while sharing best practices and creative solutions to:
- Increase older people’s access to quality and culturally appropriate food and nutrition, particularly in rural areas of the region
- Promote healthy eating later in life, especially if cooking is a challenge
- Keep older people connected to others and to their communities, especially when they’re experiencing challenges with transportation, dementia, caregiving, or poverty
- Use technology to increase access to food, socialization, and services
- Address the root causes of food insecurity and social isolation
CHEF Program partners will learn how to replicate and sustain these practices in their communities through this programming.
- Funding Information
- The minimum amount that can be requested is $500. Although no maximum has been set, they would anticipate that most grants would be in the $2,000 – $10,000 range.
- It is expected that funding should be expended within one year of receipt.
Eligible Organizations
- Public and non-profit organizations
- Municipalities
- Faith Groups
- Tribal Governments
- Educational Institutions.
For more information, visit TSLCOA.
