Advancing Healthy Food Equity

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Background

Our food system produces an ample supply of food, yet many people in North Carolina struggle to secure the necessary healthy food for themselves or their family. American Indian, Black, Latino, other People of Color, and members of immigrant communities are disproportionately impacted by food insecurity due to systemic barriers resulting from generations of public policies, institutional practices, and social norms creating and reinforcing inequities among racial and ethnic groups. Many organizations led by, serving, and accountable to these communities have significant experience with, and insights about, the systemic barriers to equitable access to healthy food, along with potential solutions. However, they need additional resources to engage in advocacy to inform and drive policy and practice change at the institutional, municipal, county, state, or federal levels.

Available Funding

As part of an overall commitment to increase equitable access to healthy food, the Blue Cross NC Foundation is issuing a three-year, $300,000 ($100,000 per year, per organization) grant opportunity to support up to 10 organizations that are led by, serving, and accountable to American Indian, Black, Latino, other People of Color, and members of immigrant communities to expand their ability to engage in advocacy for transformational changes that advance equitable access to healthy food.

Eligibility

Organization Size

• Organizations of all sizes are eligible to apply.

Organization Type

• Nonprofit organization that is exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is classified as “not a private foundation” under Section 509(a).

- OR-

• Fiscally sponsored program – A group or project with a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization acting as a fiscal sponsor. Please note that the fiscal sponsor is responsible for all legal aspects of the organization or project. The fiscal sponsor is considered the grantee and agrees to be accountable to the Foundation for the programmatic and financial outcomes of the grant.

- OR-

• Coalitions – Applications involving more than one group or organization are welcome; however, one organization will be the recipient of the grant and must be an established 501(c)(3) nonprofit or fiscally sponsored organization. Organizations and coalitions of any size are eligible to apply if the other eligibility criteria have been met.

Organization Characteristics

The following are required to be considered for funding.

• Led by, serving, and accountable to American Indian, Black, Latino, other People of Color, and members of immigrant communities that have been impacted by inequities in access to healthy food. The following criteria must be met:
  • The executive director or CEO is American Indian, Black, Latino, other Person of Color, or from an immigrant community.
  • The community served is primarily American Indian, Black, Latino, other People of Color, or members of immigrant communities as demonstrated by the demographics of those directly impacted by an organization’s programming.
  • The staff and board (or coalition leadership) reflect the community served.

Please Note:

This funding opportunity is specifically designed for organizations led by, serving, and accountable to American Indian, Black, Latino, other People of Color, and members of immigrant communities because race plays a significant role in the inequities we see in our communities, and therefore it must also have a significant place in our organization’s strategies to increase equitable access to healthy food. We regularly release funding opportunities targeted toward different types of organizations based on the goals of the work and, in this case, American Indian, Black, Latino, other leaders of color, and members of immigrant communities have significant experience with, and insights about, the systemic barriers to equitable access to healthy food - including race-based disinvestment and discrimination - along with potential solutions. Additionally, nonprofits led by people of color have historically faced, and still face, significant disparities in funding by philanthropic organizations, which has deprived them of needed resources. We are working to address this through explicit investment in organizations with leaders of color - a central tenet of our formal racial equity commitment.

Current and past Blue Cross NC Foundation grantees that meet the eligibility criteria are welcome to apply.

Timeline

Informational Webinar

We will host a webinar on Tuesday, January 31^st at 10:00 a.m., during which Blue Cross NC Foundation staff will provide background information about this funding opportunity, outline the work the Foundation is interested in supporting, and provide detailed information on the application and review process.

If needed, requests for simultaneous interpretation should be submitted by January 26, 2023, to Cindy Alvarado at Cindy.Alvarado@bcbsncfoundation.org (multiple languages available upon request).

Register to attend the webinar.

Frequently Asked Questions

Prospective applicants can submit questions about the funding opportunity by January 26^th to Merry Davis at merry.davis@bcbsncfoundation.org. Answers will be posted here by February 7^th.

Learn More and Apply

Download the full funding opportunity.

Language Preference

If you would prefer to receive information about this funding opportunity in a language other than English or Spanish, please complete this form.

Contact

For questions about this funding opportunity, please contact Merry Davis at merry.davis@bcbsncfoundation.org.