Funding to build more grocery stores

For Jamaica resident Albert Pillay getting fresh fruits and vegetables for his wife and three children is not an easy task.
“The situation is very bad,” said the Guyanese native, who lives near Hillside Avenue and 182nd Street. “My family goes all the way to Richmond Hill to purchase fresh, good quality produce, because there is none here.”
To deal with the lack of access to healthy foods, Governor David A. Paterson recently announced that the New York Healthy Good & Healthy Communities (HFHC) Fund will make $30 million available to finance the building of food markets in underserved communities.
There are an estimated 750,000 residents of New York City who live in underserved areas like Jamaica, where food shopping is done mostly in grocery stores that sell products made mostly with sugar and fat, according to the city and the state.
The HFHC Fund aims to alleviate the problem. It will provide grants and loans to start new or expand currently existing businesses in order to create more access to fresh, healthy food. Grants will range from $5,000 to $500,000, and loans will range from $250,000 to $5 million and higher for New Markets Tax Credit transactions.
The money can be used for development or as credit. The Fund focuses on providing the type of financing that is not commonly offered by other financial institutions. It is expected that about 382 construction jobs and over 3,000 direct jobs will be created.
The Fund is administered by Empire State Development (ESD) and includes a $20 million commitment from the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and a $10 million from ESD. Partners include the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF), the Reinvestment Fund and the Food Trust.
“Funding like that is really necessary,” Pillay said. “Sure, there is a Key Food supermarket near my house and plenty of delis and small grocery stores as you go down Hillside Avenue, but the reality is that they sell very little variety, usually not high quality and at too high a price.”
For more information on how to apply for funding, visit LIIF at www.liifund.org/healthyfood or contact the fund administrator via e-mail at nyhealthyfood@liifund.org or call 212-509-5509 ext. 16.