The City of Phoenix (“City”) Office of Environmental Programs (“OEP”) Food System Transformation Grant (“Grant”) is part of the American Rescue Plan Act (“ARPA”) Phoenix Resilient Food System Initiative.  

This Grant is intended to provide financial assistance to small business, business cooperatives and nonprofits within the City’s food system that have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 public health emergency or its negative economic impacts.

The term food system describes the interconnected systems and processes that influence nutrition, food, health, community development, and agriculture in the City.  The City’s food system includes all processes and infrastructure involved in feeding Phoenicians: growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing, consumption, distribution, and disposal of food and food-related items.

Organizations within the food system have been negatively impacted by COVID-19 because the pandemic has reinforced systemic barriers limiting their ability to obtain credit.  To ensure a resilient food system, the City, through the OEP, invites small business, business cooperatives and nonprofits within the City’s food system to submit applications seeking funding to implement projects designed to transform the City’s food system into a more just, resilient, sustainable, equitable, healthy, and thriving system.

The City will award Food System Transformation Grants to small business, business cooperatives and nonprofits for projects that help transform the local food system as indicated below:

• Advance justice, equity, and fairness within the local food system.
• Promote efforts to reduce the impact of the local food system on our changing climate (mitigation).
• Strengthen the resiliency of the local food system in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, various shocks and disruptions (adaptation).
• Enhance food security, accessibility, affordability, and healthy eating.
• Adopt new and/or expand existing sustainable and innovative urban food production, distribution, aggregation, processing, and recycling practices.
• Develop product prototypes.
• Create new, high-quality jobs to implement grant funded projects.
• Improve local market options.

Funding for the Food System Transformation Grant comes from the American Rescue Plan Act.  This Grant is one of fourteen programs under the Phoenix Resilient Food System Initiative, designed to:

• Continue and expand the programs that have provided food for COVID-19 impacted individuals, families, businesses, and non-profits, while creating jobs, economic opportunities, and strengthening the local food network.
• Achieve the goals established in the 2025 Phoenix Food Action Plan and the Local Food System goals within the City of Phoenix 2021 Climate Action Plan.
• Create a resilient food system.

Applicants are encouraged to review the 2025 Phoenix Food Action Plan and the local food system goals within the City’s 2021 Climate Action Plan.

Eligibility Requirements:

• Prior Food System Transformation Grant Recipients are not eligible for grant funding in Round Two.
• Have no more than 50 employees.
• Be located within the City’s boundaries.
• Small businesses, business cooperatives, and nonprofits outside the City’s boundaries are not eligible unless they work in partnership with a stakeholder within the City’s boundaries, i.e., producers, distributor, aggregator, processor, and/or recycler located in the City and benefits City residents.
• Joint proposals are encouraged to create a larger impact to transform the City food system.
• If submitting a joint proposal to collaborate across the food system, an applicant may also submit a separate application, provided that the project is not duplicative of the joint proposal.
• Ability to complete the proposed project and spend the grant award no later than November 30, 2024.

Benefits:

• Support entities across the food system impacted by the pandemic to transform how we produce, distribute, aggregate, process, and circularize food.

Funding and Duration:

• Total available Grant funding for 2024 is $350,000.
• The maximum Grant request is $50,000.  The minimum Grant request is $5,000.
• Grant funds MUST be expended no later than November 30, 2024.
• Funds will be paid on a monthly reimbursement basis only. 
• All funds awarded through this grant opportunity must be spent by November 30, 2024.  Any funds that remain after November 30, 2024, must be returned to the City.
• Prior ARPA Phoenix Resilient Food System Initiative grant awardees are eligible to apply for a project that is different from their previous or current award. See the Criteria and Proposal Instruction sections for further details.

Commitment: 

• All work for this grant must be completed by November 30, 2024 after executing the official Grant Agreement with the City.
• Grant recipients must agree to the terms required by the federal government and sign a Grant Agreement. Grant applicants are encouraged to review the Sample Grant Agreement available here.
• Grant recipients are required to register as a City vendor at Finance procurePHX Registration (phoenix.gov) and must obtain a federal SAM Unique Identity number at SAM.gov | Home prior to execution of the Agreement.

Deadline:

• Completed applications and proposals are due no later than 5 P.M. Friday, April 5, 2024.

Desired Project

This Section outlines the “Desired Project” that will result from a successful grant application.  Grant applicants should review all referenced materials such as the City of Phoenix 2025 Phoenix Food Action Plan and 2021 Phoenix Climate Action Plan.

• A Desired Project:
  • Advance justice, equity, and fairness within the local food system.
  • Promote efforts to reduce the impact of the local food system on our changing climate (mitigation).
  • Strengthen the resiliency of the local food system in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, various shocks and disruptions (adaptation).
  • Enhance food security, accessibility, and affordability.
  • Adopt new and/or expand existing sustainable and innovative urban food production, distribution, aggregation, processing, and circularity of food practices.
  • Develop product prototypes.
  • Create new, quality jobs to implement grant funded projects.
  • Improve local market options.
  • Strengthen the economic viability of the food system entity by increasing the ability to grow, process, distribute, aggregate, recycle, and sell products locally.
  • Applicants should outline how partnering with the City on food system transformation measures will help the entity produce, process, distribute, aggregate, and recycle food in a rapidly growing urban environment subject to extreme heat, drought, and other social, environmental, and economic challenges.
  • Contribute to greater capacity to distribute healthy food to people in need.
  • In Phoenix, there are 43 total food deserts, which account for over 75% of food deserts within Maricopa County.

Criteria:

• Proposals will be evaluated through the following:
• Project plan
  • Project plan must include one or more of the desired project characteristics detailed in the previous section.
  • Project plan must clearly demonstrate how project works toward transforming the food system.
  • Project plan must outline how project will be completed by November 30, 2024.
• Project Budget 
  • Budget is clear and presented as requested.
  • Refer to below project budget details under Proposal Instructions section.
• Qualifications and experience of applicant(s)
  • Please outline qualifications and prior experiences of each food system entity and team members.
  • Please outline any prior work done in partnership with the City.
• Prior ARPA Phoenix Resilient Food System Initiative grant award
  • Applicants receiving prior City ARPA grant funds can only apply for a project that is different from their current award.
  • Prior awardees must demonstrate the following:
    • Capacity to accomplish the proposed project.
    • Report on progress of the previously funded project (percentage completed, milestones achieved, etc.)
    • Adherence to Grant Agreement requirements, including required monthly report and invoice submissions. Entities that are delinquent in reporting, invoicing, have received written notification of any other deficiencies identified in the Grant Agreement are deemed ineligible for funding.
• Administrative Requirements:
  • Provide your City of Phoenix vendor number or indicate the date that you registered to receive a vendor number.
  • Provide your federal SAM Unique Entity ID (UEI) number or indicate the date that you registered to receive an UEI

Proposal Instructions:

Grant applicants must attach a project proposal as part of this application process.

• At a minimum, applicant proposals must include the following categories:
• Project plan
  • Project summary
  • Project timeline
  • Include information on how the funds will be spent prior to November 30, 2024.
• Eligible Costs and Project budget. Provide detailed budget information in the categories as indicated below
  • Personnel (salary and wages)
  • Fringe Benefits
  • Equipment
  • Supplies
  • Contractual Services
  • Consultant (professional services)
  • Occupancy (rent and utilities)
  • Training and Education
  • Administrative costs
  • Miscellaneous costs
  • Other costs
• Qualifications and experience of applicant(s)
  • Outline prior experience/projects of individual and/or project team.
• Prior Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture Grant and AgriFood Tech Innovation Grant Awards
  • Applicants who received the above two grant funds can only apply for a project that is different from their previous or current award.
  • Prior awardees must demonstrate the following:
    • Capacity to accomplish the proposed project prior to November 30, 2024.
  • Report on progress of the previously funded project (percentage completed, milestones achieved, etc.)
  • Adherence to Grant Agreement requirements, including required monthly report and invoice submissions. Entities that are delinquent in reporting, invoicing, have received written notification of any other deficiencies identified in the Grant Agreement are deemed ineligible for funding.
  • Food System Transformation Grant Awardees are NOT Eligible for Round Two funding. 
• Attachments
  • Photos
  • Maps
  • Design specs
  • Other
  • Proposals cannot exceed five pages excluding attachments and must be submitted as a PDF or WORD document. Canva, PowerPoint or similar presentation formats will not be accepted. 

Examples of Food System Transformation Projects: 

• Examples include but are not limited to:
  • Water management and efficiency measures
  • Renewable energy adoption (agrivoltaics, photovoltaics, etc.)
  • GHG emissions reduction efforts within food system
  • Indoor farming/vertical farming
  • Regenerative agriculture practices 
  • Greenhouse with sustainability features
  • Shade structures and cloth 
  • Soil health improvement projects
  • Agroforestry
  • Urban agroecology
  • Establishing/promoting community food sovereignty
  • Increasing healthy food access
  • Improving local food economy
  • Planting native and ancestral crops
  • Creating or enhancing food hub
  • Hydroponics and aquaponics production
  • Climate smart farming
  • Food loss and waste mitigation efforts
  • Building circular economy of food
  • Food justice
  • Collaboration across food system
• List of Prior Food System Transformation Grant Recipients and Projects

To begin the process, please fill out the application on the following page.