Small farms and food businesses face persistent challenges—from climate change to financing. But across our home state of Michigan, resilience is growing across local food systems.
When the recent federal government shutdown disrupted SNAP disbursements, our communities were left with uncertainty, fear, and a critical gap. We didn’t wait, we activated. In Michigan, we infused $2 million into communities through Double Up Bonus Bucks, an added offering for Double Up participants that delivered immediate support.
As the federal government shutdown continues, most states — including our home state of Michigan — will not be able to distribute SNAP. Learn how our Double Up Food Bucks program is meeting the moment and helping Michiganders who rely on SNAP continue to access the fruits and vegetables they need and want.
What happens when food access isn’t just about nutrition, but about connection: to history, to healing, and to home? From Minnesota to New Mexico, partners across the country are showing that when communities lead, food becomes a source of belonging and resilience.
The Resilience Fund provides rapid-response funding to support our partners and projects in times of uncertainty—especially when federal funding for food and agriculture programs is in flux.
This year, Double Up Food Bucks in Michigan is expanding to 21 new sites across the state—joining 237 existing locations at farmers markets, corner stores, and grocery retailers.
Alontae Pittman of Detroit saw owning a grocery store on Detroit's east side as an opportunity to leave a legacy for his family while fulfilling a local need for healthy food access. He is set to open Whittier Bodega, located at 11009 Whittier, on Detroit’s east side in 2025.
For more than a decade, Damian's Craft Meats has been working to launch a new meat processing facility that will provide vital resources to local farmers and jobs for the surrounding communities.
Grocery cashiers serve as frontline ambassadors helping customers access healthy food options through Double Up Food Bucks, Fair Food Network’s nutrition incentive program that is available in 230+ locations across Michigan.
Dan Jere of Jere Farms in the Upper Peninsula has worked tirelessly to bring high-quality meat and produce to his community, often driving hours to vend at neighboring farmers markets. Today, Jere Farms is a statewide distributor known for its commitment to sustainable and ethical farming practices.
O’ahu is redefining what it means to live in paradise. The island’s local food movement is growing stronger, prioritizing local sourcing, food sovereignty, and greater access to healthy, affordable food in their communities. From cultivating indigenous crops, supporting local farms, to running fruit and vegetable incentive programs, O’ahu’s communities are leading by example and paving the way for a sustainable future through food.
Detroit businesses owners graduate from BUILD Institute's course, gaining access to financing from the Michigan Good Food Fund.
Learn how a neighborhood produce market in Detroit, Michigan weathered the Great Recession, the COVID-19 pandemic, and periods of high inflation thanks to its innovative grocery store model.
Food insecurity presents a growing problem in the U.S. With the help of nutrition incentive programs like Double Up Food Bucks, families using SNAP can bring home the fresh fruits and vegetables they need and want. In turn, local farmers and food retailers have more economic opportunities, and more dollars keep circulating in our communities.
Since its launch over a decade ago in Flint, the Double Up Food Bucks program has been so popular that the city has become a centerpiece for program innovations. But despite this historic impact, Double Up usage in Flint has declined in recent years. Explore how our community engagement strategy in Flint increased Double Up usage by 49% in 2023.
Food insecurity is a serious problem across the nation. Read how our Double Up Food Bucks program is helping Michigan families with low income increase their purchasing power to bring home more of the Michigan-grown fruits and vegetables they need and want.
With a calling to bring flavorful, low-sodium products to the community, Antoine Williams founded MFER Seasoning and Sauces in Detroit. Within three years, his products were on the shelves of more than 100 stores in Metro Detroit. And then adversity struck.
Together with food, farm and health leaders across the nation, Fair Food Network is calling on Congress to improve and expand the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) in the 2023 Farm Bill.
This summer, we joined 630+ GusNIP practitioners and partners to learn about innovations in the field, discuss food as medicine, and hear from GusNIP champions. Dive into our recap of the Nutrition Incentive Hub National Convening.
See how our work with the Nutrition Incentive Hub helps nutrition incentive programs start, strengthen, and scale their work, driving big benefits for communities across the country.
As we approach the 2023 Farm Bill, Fair Food Network and our partners in the Alliance for National Nutrition Incentives (ANNI) are advocating to grow support for GusNIP and realize its full potential for supporting families, farmers, and local economies.
At Argus Farm Stop, farmers own the produce and keep 70% of every sale and families with low income can access more locally grown fruits and vegetables thanks to Double Up Food Bucks. Learn more about what’s next for this innovative partner, thanks to an investment from the Fair Food Fund.
Global Village Foods has turned their traditional African restaurant menu into allergy-friendly, vegan ready-to-eat-meals. Learn how an investment from the Fair Food Fund and Flexible Capital Fund is helping the Vermont company bring more culturally relevant, locally sourced food options into the marketplace.
After 10 years in business, Jetta’s Popcorn & Fun Foods decided to hit the road. “The biggest ah-ha I have had is realizing that I wanted to be able to go where the people are,” said owner Magita Barbee. See how this Detroit fun food business is innovating, thanks in-part to a recent investment from Fair Food Fund and business training from Michigan Good Food Fund.
Fair Food Network is the administrator of Michigan Good Food Fund, a lending network that invests in small businesses that improve access to culturally relevant food, create jobs, and strengthen local economies. Read more about this work in our latest impact report and be sure to follow the stories of these food and farm entrepreneurs.
The work of our policy team is designed to broaden access to healthy foods by expanding nutrition incentive programs to more people in more places. The team’s recent working partnership in Texas with Sustainable Food Center and the American Heart Association ushered in the most significant geographic expansion of SNAP nutrition incentive program funding in the South to date.
As Detroit's "EggRollDiva" Belinda Beard sets her sights on a new food trailer and an expanded ability to bring flavor to the metro Detroit community, we’re happy to support her continued growth through financing.
The Farm Bill is the most important tool we have for addressing food security in our country. See what’s at stake as we advocate for policy updates to this important piece of legislation that governs an array of agricultural and food programs.
In 2022, Fair Food Network’s Double Up Food Bucks program partnered with Taste the Local Difference to take a closer look at ways of improving local sourcing for grocery stores in Detroit.
Senior Policy Director Mark Nicholson shares the win-win-win potential of nutrition incentives to add significant profits for fruit and vegetable producers, while also improving nutrition security for Americans.
Despite good intentions by impact investors, capital is still not reaching everyone equally, especially in communities of color. Dig in to learn why we’re shifting from capital-first to community-first investing and explore how this shift can accelerate our collective journey towards justice.
We teamed up with Nourish Colorado to explore the impact of Denver's explosive growth & gentrification on neighborhood grocers and identify policy & partnership solutions to help these grocers retool and adapt.
New research shows that people who participate in nutrition incentive programs eat MORE fruits & veggies. Dig in for a recap of these exciting results plus our reflections on this year's Nutrition Incentive Hub annual convening.
Daily Table is on a mission to make healthy food affordable for families across Massachusetts and beyond. We were thrilled to expand our partnership with Daily Table, which launched Double Up Food Bucks in 2018, to now include financing through the Fair Food Fund.
Since 2010, Detroit Soul's Jerome Brown & Samuel Van Buren have grown their healthful, homestyle cooking business from catering to carryout. See how we teamed up with Michigan Good Food Fund partner Detroit Development Fund to de-risk this investment and help this business grow.
After six years and many hurdles, the North Flint Food Market broke ground this August. Dig into our latest story from the field to see how Pastor Reginald Flynn’s tenacity and grit brought this store to life, to not only feed the people of Flint, but to serve as a blueprint for food sovereignty across the country.
Dig into two new impact reports highlighting sparks of innovation and resilience across our impact investing and nutrition incentives work in 2020.
Our Fair Food Network team is growing! We asked our newest staff members about a topic near and dear to our hearts (fruits and veggies) and picked their brains on what they’ve been reading, listening to, and watching.
In this quarterly report, we’re excited to announce our first Collateral Initiative with Maine Harvest Federal Credit Union (MHFCU) in support of a woman-owned farm in Freedom, Maine. Plus: Our team is growing!
Hear from Policy Director Mark Nicholson on the ways SNAP and nutrition incentives help us address nutrition insecurity.
We launched two new websites for Double Up Food Bucks this winter, helping shoppers learn about the program nationally and in Michigan more easily than ever before.
People across our food system from farm to fork have been working tirelessly this past year. We talked with Joe Gappy, a Detroit grocery store owner, about his experience during a time defined by uncertainty.
In this quarterly report, we’re excited to announce a NEW investment in Chelsea Business Foundation, a nonprofit supporting Latino-led and small businesses in Chelsea, MA, a partnership with portfolio company Five Acre Farms bringing fresh milk and eggs from Northeast farmers to area food banks, and our new role stepping up to lead the statewide Michigan Good Food Fund initiative.
Dig into a new study that models the economic return of SNAP incentives as they scale.
Join us on a journey as we lift up signs of resilience that show what’s possible when we harness the power of food to transform our communities for good.
In this quarterly report, we’re excited to announce a new investment in Forty Acres Soul Kitchen, the only full-service, sit-down, 100% African American-owned restaurant in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Hear Genevia Harvey's unique perspective on Double Up Food Bucks as both a shopper and a farm vendor.
We partnered with StoryCorps and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to lift up the voices behind SNAP in America. Working with an independent artist, we’ve brought some of the stories to life in a new animated series that provide an intimate look at what food insecurity looks like in our country.
Meet Quiana (Que) Broden, an entrepreneur on a mission to deliver locally sourced, healthy food to Detroiters before, during, and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today and every day, Fair Food Network is committed to standing together to build a more equitable and just tomorrow. Read our full statement.
The world is changing with COVID-19 and so are we. See how we’re pivoting work in incentives and impacting investing to support communities at this time. Read more.
A letter from our founder and CEO, Oran B. Hesterman.
The Senate farm bill was passed with bipartisan support and includes victories for American farmers and families. Watch our NEW VIDEO and see why we're behind this bill.
Take a trip with us to see how we reimagined the Double Up marketing campaign with the goal to grab the attention of SNAP shoppers online and off.
From the east coast to the west and deep in America's heartland, there's one thing that unites us all: the belief that good food changes everything.
Heard of business boot camps and want to know more? Follow the journey of a good food entrepreneur through these photos.
Meet the growers, grocers, and community leaders that are bringing Double Up to America's heartland.
Farm Bill conversations happened in communities across the country in 2017. One common theme that cut across geographies? The power of SNAP incentives.
We're helping grow stronger farm to grocer ties in New Hampshire with partner Red Tomato.
Grocers across the nation are bringing Double Up Food Bucks to their stores. Learn what’s behind this next frontier of SNAP incentives.
Double Up is in groceries in small towns and big cities nationwide. See photos in action.
Hear from entrepreneurs who are reimagining our food system from field to fork.
How a craft oil company is transforming our food system from the ground up.
Five Acre Farms takes the “buy local” and meets customers where they are—the grocery store—with farm fresh, sustainably produced food.
WorldPEAS Food Hub realized it needed to re-think its business plan to get back on its feet and become financially self-sustaining. Follow its journey through Fair Food Fund's intensive Business Boot Camp for good food entrepreneurs.
What happens when you’ve got a brilliant idea, put it into action, and then realize you need to pivot? That’s what happened with the young food entrepreneurs behind Fresh Food Generation.
How a consultant’s streamlining helped an organic farm tidy up its business (and its barn).
A grass-fed dairy in upstate New York gets ready to grow with consulting support from Fair Food Fund.
When the Pickup, a local food grocery delivery and wholesale distribution business in Skowhegan, Maine launched, it looked a little different than it does today.
A strange intersection of events led to the success of Urban Farm Fermentory, a Portland, Maine, business that’s been producing and selling kombucha, hard cider, mead, and gruit-style beer made from Maine-sourced ingredients since 2010.
We sat down with some of the families, farmers, market managers, store owners, and others that make Double Up Food Bucks a success in Michigan and now in communities across America. Hear their stories in this series: Voices of Double Up in America.
Hear from one Double Up shopper on how this healthy food incentive program helped her family during a time of need, and in the process, changed the way they eat forever.
Double Up is not only getting more healthy food to those in need, but helping a family farm makes ends meet. Hear from one Amish farmer from a small town in western Michigan.
SNAP incentives can support the financial viability of farmers markets by bringing in new customers and boosting vendor sales. Hear from one market manager on the difference this program has had for her market.
Helping more Americans buy more fresh produce is great from a business perspective and it benefits the community. Hear from a grocery leader on why they brought Double Up to their stores.
For some low-income Americans, their food budget is determined by the SNAP benefits they receive. Double Up is helping one shopper in Oklahoma double her food dollars for fresh food.
A local group incubated by area business leaders launched Double Up to boost the health and economic vitality of the state. Hear from a community leader about this work.
Double Up is not only meeting critical hunger and nutrition needs, but also increasing farmer income, helping beginning farmers be financially viable, and stimulating rural economies. Hear one farmers' story.
Healthy food incentives are helping level the playing field, while producing long-term health dividends. Hear from a healthcare funder on why she's behind Double Up.
Your product is delicious, the market for it is exploding, and your business is thriving. You are ready for expansion, but you need capital. Enter Fair Food Fund.
With a 4,000 year history and the nickname “Food of the Gods,” lassi comes well recommended.
On April 1, 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced $31 million in funding to support healthy food incentive projects in communities nationwide. Published with Altarum Institute.
Most people don’t think about the revolutionary potential of salad. But Radicle Farm Company is taking a fresh approach.
A Q&A with Fair Food Business Bootcamp instructor and professor Jay Friedlander with his tips for good food entrepreneurs and other thoughts on growing the good food economy.
How Maine’s Northern Girl is reinvigorating the local food economy one beet at a time.
A conversation with SpartanNash leadership on why they're excited to bring Double Up Food Bucks to their stores.
125+ farmers markets, 6 grocery stores, a network of other sites, and our five year anniversary. See highlights.
An overview of the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) grants program established in the 2014 Farm Bill.
A Q&A with our partner at Field & Fork Network on launching Double Up in Western New York.
Help us support healthier families, stronger local economies, and a more resilient food system for us all.
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