Frontera Foundation Opens Grant Apps
Also, applications for Illinois Stewardship Alliance's Resilience Fund Are Due 2/15
The Sun Goes Down on 2022 Week 3
Have a beautiful weekend.
Frontera Farmer Foundation Grant Application
This year’s application for Frontera Farmer Foundation grants is now open, with a March 13 deadline to file.
The Foundation is the nonprofit created in 2003 by Chef Rick Bayless, who has been a champion of local farmers since he opened Chicago’s Frontera Grill in 1987 and was a founding Board member of Green City Market. Over the past 18 years, the Foundation has provided a total of more than $2 million in outright grants for capital improvement projects — in increments of up to $12,000 per farm — to small farmers in Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana who produce using sustainable practices and sell into the Chicago market.
The following is the verbiage from Frontera Farmer Foundation about this year’s program. Click the button below for eligibility requirements and to apply.
________________
The Frontera Farmer Foundation is committed to promoting small, sustainable Midwestern farms serving the Chicago area, by providing them with capital development grants. Small local farms, which often struggle financially, are more likely to promote biodiversity by planting a wide range of produce and operate using organic practices. By their artisanal approach to agriculture, the freshness of their product and the variety of their offerings, these farmers insure the highest quality food while they add immeasurably to the fabric of their local rural community.
Eligibility requirements:
Frontera Farmer Foundation will award grants for capital improvements of up to $12,000 to small and mid-size farmers in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin that sell their food products to customers in the Chicago area at farmers markets and otherwise. Farmers must have been in business for at least three years and must demonstrate how the grant will improve both their farm’s viability and the availability of locally grown food products in the Chicago area. Farms that have been awarded grants will be eligible every other year.
Nonprofit farms & farms connected to nonprofit organizations are not eligible for grants.
Grant applicants will be judged on the basis of demonstrated need, long-term dedication to sustainable farming, creative and business acumen, and commitment to sustainability. Applicants will also be judged on their past history with the foundation. Additional grants will be approved only after a farm has demonstrated the initial grant had a measurable impact on the farms infrastructure and ability to provide locally grown food to the Chicago area.
Alliance’s Resilience Fund Apps Due Soon
A reminder that another generous farmer grant program — Illinois Stewardship Alliance’s Resilience Fund — has an application deadline coming up on February 15.
The program, similar to that of Frontera Farmer Foundation, provides grants of up to $10,000 per farm for infrastructure improvements. They following is a release from Illinois Stewardship Alliance; click the button below for info and application.
_______________
Are you or do you know a local food producer who could use up to $10,000 to make improvements to infrastructure on their Illinois farm?
The Alliance’s Resilience Fund provides local food farmers with grant funding for investment in critical infrastructure to scale and adapt their businesses to improve the capacity and resilience of the local food system.
Last year, the Resilience Fund awarded grants to 27 local farms to invest in on-farm infrastructure, including cold storage, hoop houses, irrigation systems, and more.
For Kacey Nelson of Two Million Blooms in Urbana, converting an old garage into a honey house was always a far-flung goal.
Thanks to the Resilience Fund, she told us, "We now have a dedicated, on-farm structure in which to house and grow the sticky business of providing quality honey to the local community."
With financial support from the Chicago Region Food System Fund, $175,000 will be awarded to local food producers for investment in critical infrastructure to increase the capacity and resilience in the local food system.
Applications to the Resilience Fund are due on February 15, 2022.
The application and information regarding eligibility, funding priorities, and previously awarded projects can be found at www.ilstewards.org/resilience
Liz M. Stelk
Executive Director