active Federal Grant

America's Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) — Food Access and Retail Expansion (FARE) Fund

USDA Rural Development (America's Healthy Food Financing Initiative), administered by Reinvestment Fund

$20,000–$250,000

Visit official program ↗ See if you qualify — free

The short version

Healthy-food access grants

The HFFI Food Access and Retail Expansion (FARE) Fund provides grants and technical assistance to food retailers and food-supply-chain enterprises that improve access to healthy, staple, and perishable foods in underserved communities. It is a program of USDA Rural Development's America's Healthy Food Financing Initiative, administered on USDA's behalf by Reinvestment Fund, a CDFI. The 2026 round makes at least $5.25 million available for planning and implementation grants of $20,000–$250,000, plus at least $1 million in separate technical-assistance awards (up to $75,000 each). Eligible projects must maintain or expand access to healthy food in USDA-defined low-income/low-access areas and, for retail, accept SNAP benefits. Congress expanded eligibility beyond grocery retailers to include 'food enterprises' along the supply chain — aggregation, processing, distribution, and manufacturing businesses that serve SNAP-authorized retailers.

Funding type: Grant
Level: Federal
Amount range: $20,000 – $250,000
Realistic amount: Most FARE Fund awards land within the published $20,000–$250,000 grant band, with smaller pl…
Deadline: 2026 cycle: Funding Inquiry due July 31, 2026; full application due October 30, 2026; awards announced no earlier than January 2027.
Status: active
States: Nationwide
Payment model: reimbursement

Who qualifies

Applicant must be a business or organization (individuals are NOT eligible)
Eligible types include SNAP-authorized food retailers selling staple and perishable foods in underserved areas, and food enterprises along the supply chain (aggregation, processing, distribution, manufacturing) that serve SNAP-authorized retailers
Project must maintain or expand access to staple and perishable foods in a USDA-defined underserved area (e.g., USDA Low-Income Low-Access census tracts or comparable methodologies shown on the program's eligibility map)
Retail projects must accept (or commit to accept) SNAP benefits
Specific additional requirements are defined in each cycle's Request for Applications (RFA)

What it covers

Eligible expenses

Refrigeration, freezers, and cold-storage equipment
Store build-out, retail expansion, and renovation to stock healthy/perishable food
Aggregation, processing, and distribution infrastructure serving SNAP retailers
Planning, feasibility, and market-development activities for healthy-food projects
Technology and point-of-sale systems supporting SNAP/healthy-food access (per RFA)

Ineligible expenses

Projects outside qualifying underserved/low-access areas
General operating costs unrelated to expanding healthy-food access
Activities by individuals (not eligible applicants)
Costs disallowed under the cycle RFA

How to apply

1

Confirm location eligibility on the HFFI map

Use the program's interactive eligibility map to verify the project site is in a qualifying underserved/low-access area before investing time in an application.

~2 hrs
2

Submit a Funding Inquiry

Complete the screening Funding Inquiry in Reinvestment Fund's SmartSimple portal by the cycle deadline. Inquiries are screened for eligibility; only eligible applicants are invited to apply in full.

~4 hrs
3

Complete the full application

If invited, prepare the full application: project description, budget, food-access impact, SNAP acceptance (for retail), business/financial information, and supporting documents per the RFA.

~20 hrs
4

Review and award

Reinvestment Fund reviews full applications and makes award decisions; 2026-cycle notifications are expected no earlier than January 2027. Awarded grantees execute agreements and begin reporting.

~3 hrs

Insider tip

Run your exact address through the HFFI eligibility map BEFORE writing anything — eligibility is geographically hard-gated to USDA low-income/low-access tracts, and the most common reason strong food businesses get screened out at the Funding Inquiry stage is a site that's just outside a qualifying tract. If you're a corner store or co-op, lock in your SNAP authorization early; it's effectively required for retail projects.

Deadline & timing

Two-stage process: a screening Funding Inquiry (deadline July 31, 2026, 11:59 PM ET) determines eligibility by Sept. 4, 2026; eligible applicants are invited to submit a full application by Oct. 30, 2026. Cycle dates and exact funding are set in each year's RFA published at investinginfood.com.

Programs that stack well

Related programs

Explore more funding

Last reviewed 2026. GrantCompass is an independent funding-discovery tool and is not affiliated with any government agency. Always confirm details on the official program page.