The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (the “Department” or “DCEO”) is issuing this Notice of Funding Opportunity (“NOFO”) to improve access to fresh food within food deserts by providing incentives to establish grocery stores.
Donor Name: Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
State: Illinois
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant | Reimbursement
Deadline: 12/02/2024
Size of the Grant: More than $1 million
Grant Duration: 2 Years
Details:
The Illinois Grocery Initiative New Stores in Food Deserts program, authorized by Public Act 103-0561, is intended to address the challenge of food deserts. Food deserts are census tracts meeting specific criteria related to poverty standards, population density, and limited fresh food accessibility. This program aims to combat food insecurity by offering competitive grants to support the establishment of new grocery stores in these areas by reimbursing successful applicants for eligible capital and non-capital costs.
Funding Information
Total amount of funding expected to be awarded through this NOFO is $11 million. Awards will range from $150,000 to $2,400,000.
Grant Period
Anticipated start date for awards is early calendar year 2025. The period of performance is expected to be April 1, 2025 through December 31, 2026.
Eligible Expenditures
The following expenditures will be eligible for reimbursement under this program:
- Land acquisition and related expenses
- Site development
- Construction of a new facility
- Renovations of an existing facility
- Furniture, fixtures, and equipment
- Working capital for first-year operating expenses, including:
- Employee wages
- Utility costs
- Initial inventory of food
- Other operating expenses that support the retail sale of food. This will not include expenditures on items unrelated to provision of fresh foods (e.g., video poker machines, inventory of cleaning supplies for sale).
Eligibility Criteria
Eligibility for this program will be constrained by geographic location, characteristics of prospective store ownership, and the intended offerings of the store.
- Grants will be limited to projects that will result in a new grocery store establishment in a food desert census tract.
- Additional locations may be eligible if applicant can demonstrate that the census tract where the proposed grocery store will be located meets the definition of a food desert using data more recent than that reflected in the map at the above link.
- This grant opportunity will be limited to the following types of entities:
- Units of local government
- Independent grocers or cooperatives with fewer than 500 employees and no more than four grocery locations. This includes for-profit and nonprofit entities.
- Grocery locations must be consistent with the following to be eligible:
- The store is or will be best classified as a supermarket or other grocery retailer in the 2022 North American Industry Classification System under code 445110, a meat retailer under code 44524, a fruit and vegetable retailer under code 44523, or a fish and seafood retailer under 44525.
- The store cannot derive more than 30% of its revenue from alcohol and tobacco sales.
- The store must contribute to diversity of fresh foods available in the community by selling fresh foods such as meats, fruits and vegetables that have not been processed in any manner.
- The store will be required to take appropriate steps in preparation of accepting both SNAP and WIC benefits when operational.
For more information, visit DCEO.
