The purpose of the Washington State Local Food Purchase Assistance Pilot Program is to strengthen local food supply chains by facilitating and funding the purchase of Washington-grown and processed food for distribution to people in rural and/or underserved communities. Through this pilot, funding will be spent on purchasing food directly from local and regional farmers and producers, with 63% of the resources prioritized for procurement from socially disadvantaged producers. Of the 500 anticipated food distribution sites, 90% or more will serve otherwise underserved communities and reach over 1.78 million people struggling with food insecurity – a 39% increase from 2022 client data.
After recent experiences with procurement and expanding distribution networks in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to years developing the Farm to Food Pantry Initiative, WSDA is uniquely positioned to pilot two new pathways to achieve these results.
First, WSDA will expand Food Assistance activities by issuing subawards to existing hunger-relief agencies, tribes, and tribal organizations. This will empower hunger-relief agencies to build or strengthen relationships with producers and procure local food based on community needs and expand distribution networks to include organizations that don’t participate in TEFAP, particularly those that serve Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and socially disadvantaged communities.
Second, WSDA will issue a competitive grant solicitation seeking up to 15 additional subrecipients with the ability to provide technical assistance and/or procure local food predominantly from socially disadvantaged producers for community-informed, equity-centered household distribution to communities experiencing food insecurity.