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What We Do
We create immediate community impact and long-term systems change.
Fair Food Network is a national nonprofit and investor that grows community health and wealth through food. We know that entrenched inequities limit many people’s access to money, political momentum, and supportive networks. Our work transforms how those essential resources flow through the food economy, building equity in communities across the country.
It all starts with food.
We focus on three interconnected impact areas, each of which starts with food:
1. We believe that affordable, healthy food is a fundamental right, so we work to make it a choice that’s accessible to all.
2. We know that farmers and local food businesses are engines for positive change, so we support and invest in their success.
3. We know that ecological resilience is an integral part of community health and wealth, so we champion food-based approaches to environmental stewardship.
Our Approach
Our approach is designed to create immediate community impact and long-term systems change. Three key strategies inform everything we do:
Financial Investing
We invest in local food organizations and businesses that provide their communities with nourishment, culture, economic opportunity, and environmental stewardship.
Capacity-Building
We build collaborative relationships that strengthen our collective capacity and impact.
Policy Advocacy
We champion policies that bring proven, restorative solutions to scale across the United States.
Our Work
We transform how resources flow through the food economy for a more fair and resilient future. Our efforts are currently focused in two core programs: nutrition incentives and impact investing.
Nutrition Incentives
We build and support nutrition incentives that expand healthy food choices and spark economic opportunity.
SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) is the largest federal investment in our food and farming systems; the program distributes more than $80 billion dollars a year. We work to ensure that those dollars provide fresh, locally grown food options for communities across the country.
Impact Investing
We fuel the success of food entrepreneurs through catalytic capital, wrap-around business services, and a commitment to place-based impact investing collectives.
We focus our investments on people who are most often overlooked by traditional investors, particularly people who have been marginalized due to their race, ethnicity, and/or gender. Together, we’re building a more inclusive economy.
