TEFAP Reach and Resiliency: Round Two Projects

Project Description

The Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) will partner with Feeding Alabama (FAL), formerly known as the Alabama Food Bank Association, on its TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 project. FAL currently serves as the project manager for ALSDE’s round 1 grant and will continue in this role in round 2. Also as in round 1, FAL will oversee four sub grantee projects that will be carried out by FAL’s partner food banks: Food Bank of North Alabama, Community Food Bank of Central Alabama, Montgomery Area Food Bank, and Feeding the Gulf Coast. Each food bank’s round 2 project is distinct but common activities include strengthening and sustaining work that began with round 1 projects, recruitment efforts to establish new food pantries in rural and underserved areas, capacity building projects with local partner agencies in rural and poverty-stricken communities, and expansion of TEFAP client-based supports such as educational materials, cooking classes, recipe cards, etc.

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The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development will use TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 funds to improve capacity at nine current eligible recipient agencies and to extend TEFAP services to an estimated nine new TEFAP sites in rural Alaska. Improving capacity at existing agencies may look different from site to site but will primarily focus on supporting infrastructure needs such as freezing and shelving which will improve the sites’ ability to maintain inventory for distribution. The work with new partner agencies will be focused on outreach efforts, training, and technical assistance.

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The Arizona Department of Economic Security will work with four Arizona food banks (Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, United Food Bank, St. Mary’s Food Bank, and Yuma Community Food Bank) to carry out the TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 activities. Each food bank will carry out a distinct project intended to expand TEFAP reach into remote, rural, tribal, and/or low-income areas within their service area, with specific project activities and goals varying by food bank. Project activities include the purchase of equipment for a rural distribution center, capacity-building workshops for rural and tribal partners, leadership development for local agency partners, and continued outreach to tribal partners to establish new TEFAP sites on or near Native lands. This work will bolster and expand ongoing round 1 activities.

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The Arkansas Department of Human Services will continue its work with seven main food bank partners in the state to carry out TEFAP – Reach and Resiliency Round 2 activities. Much of Arkansas is considered to be remote and rural, and food banks will use round 2 funds to expand round 1 projects and to deploy new, tailored strategies for reaching underserved populations. The state agency’s food bank partners include Arkansas Food Bank, Arkansas River Valley Area Council, Community Services Office, Inc., Crawford-Sebastian County Development Council, Food Bank of North Central Arkansas, Harvest Texarkana Regional Food Bank, and Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. Grant funds will allow these partners to further analyze and research underserved areas, to purchase materials, supplies, and equipment that will allow them and their partners to more efficiently distribute TEFAP foods, to expand mobile pantry distributions, and to establish new TEFAP sites.

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The California Department of Social Services will partner with 30 TEFAP eligible recipient agencies (ERAs) to administer its TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 grant. ERA projects are each distinct and unique, but all have a common theme of better understanding unmet needs in their service areas and making critical investments and/or changes to program operations to meet these needs. Project funds will support everything from professional studies and assessments of TEFAP reach, to strategic outreach activities to new partners and purchases of much-needed equipment and infrastructure upgrades. Taken together, the projects will strengthen and expand TEFAP services in remote, rural, tribal, and/or low-income areas through California.

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The Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) will use TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 funds to implement a three-pronged approach for expanding TEFAP reach into underserved areas. This approach focuses on (1) supporting two food banks in Colorado that distribute the majority of TEFAP foods, (2) expanding stakeholder diversity in the program by partnering with two small food banks that serve rural communities, and (3) implementing a TEFAP recipient agency training conference to improve TEFAP distribution efficiencies. Food Bank of the Rockies (FBR) and Care & Share (C&S) Food Bank for Southern Colorado will be involved with the first of these initiatives and partnered with CDHS on a Reach and Resiliency – Round 1 project. In round 2 of the grant, FBR and C&S will continue work started in round 1 by conducting an assessment of unmet needs in two additional counties with a large low-income population. Community Food Share and the Food Bank for Larimer County will partner with the state on the second initiative and will work to expand mobile pantry operations into rural, mountain communities in their service areas.

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The Connecticut Department of Social Services will utilize TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 grant funds to make key investments in the technological infrastructure needs of one of its key food bank partners, Connecticut Foodshare, and to provide capacity building funds to the food bank’s TEFAP partner agencies. Connecticut Foodshare, a member of the national Feeding America network, provides healthy and nutritious food to people in need through a network of more than 500 partner agencies. The food bank will utilize grant funds to compile, examine, map, and disseminate new datasets relevant to TEFAP access and distribution which will be used to inform future strategies to disburse TEFAP product more effectively to high need communities. Funds will also be used to hire a consultant to design and establish a data warehouse to automate the ingestion and standardization of relevant datasets outside of Connecticut Foodshare’s internal systems. Additionally, the food bank will provide competitive, capacity building grants to TEFAP partner agencies in all eight regions of Connecticut to help the organizations overcome organizational barriers and maximize TEFAP distribution capabilities.

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The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) will utilize TEFAP Reach and Resiliency - Round 2 grant funds to expand its round 1 efforts which are currently focused on two main activities. The first is allocating sub grant funding to currently participating TEFAP eligible recipient agencies (ERAs). These sub-grants are intended to meet critical infrastructure needs of the ERAs and to improve their capacity to procure, receive, store, distribute, track, and deliver time-sensitive or perishable food products. The second focus is allocating sub grant funding to non-profit food distribution agencies that are not currently participating in TEFAP and that are located in remote, rural, tribal, and/or low-income areas in Florida. The purpose of this second sub grant initiative is to create a collective of potential TEFAP partner organizations who may be able to join the state agency’s TEFAP network in the future.

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With TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 funds, the Georgia Department of Human Services (GDHS) will work with Feeding America food banks across the state to expand access to TEFAP. GDHS will provide funding directly to America’s Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia, Atlanta Community Food Bank (in partnership with Georgia Mountain Food Bank and the Chattanooga Area Food Bank), Feeding the Valley, Food Bank of Northeast Georgia, Golden Harvest Food Bank, Middle Georgia Community Food Bank, and Second Harvest of South Georgia to implement effective solutions to increase TEFAP access for low-income, food insecure individuals. The majority of grant activities undertaken by the food banks will center on purchasing cold storage and material handling equipment for existing or prospective TEFAP partner agencies, which will allow them to distribute greater quantities of perishable foods. Funding will also be directed towards the purchase of vehicles, repair of existing equipment, the addition of new staff members, and execution of outreach/training programs – with each activity tied to a tailored strategy to increase TEFAP awareness and distribution within the food banks’ service areas.

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The Hawaii Office of Community Services (OCS) will partner with two food banks on its TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 project: Hawaii Food Bank and The Food Basket, Inc. Both of these food banks also received round 1 funds and will use the additional round 2 funds to complement ongoing grant project work. The round 2 project undertaken by the Hawaii Food Bank will focus on (1) expanding/deepening their round 1 analysis to identify additional underserved areas, (2) identifying partners in those areas to conduct regular TEFAP distributions, and (3) expanding pop-up distributions in areas where partners cannot be identified. The Food Basket, Inc. will focus on purchasing additional equipment necessary to spread the reach of their current TEFAP operations.

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The Illinois Department of Human Services’ TEFAP Reach and Resiliency - Round 2 project is focused on building partner capacity and funding targeted interventions to address unmet needs in underserved areas. The state agency will partner with eight food banks in the state to carry out planned activities. These food banks (Central Illinois Food Bank, Eastern Illinois Food Bank, Greater Chicago Food Depository, Northern Illinois Food Bank, Peoria Area Food Bank, River Bend Food Bank, St. Louis Area Food Bank, and Tri-State Food Bank) also received round 1 funds and the activities that they will undertake with round 2 funds will build off momentum from round 1. Project activities include sub grants to partner agencies for facility upgrades and labor assistance (in areas where volunteer help is scarce), purchases of equipment, translation services and other activities.

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The Indiana Department of Health, in collaboration with five Indiana food banks, will utilize round 2 grant funds to continue increasing the reach of TEFAP in remote, rural, and other underserved areas. Project activities will focus on expanding cooling/freezing infrastructure and mobile distribution infrastructure, engaging new partners in the distribution of TEFAP foods, facilitating home delivery of TEFAP foods to homebound participants, and making critical building and warehouse renovations that will ensure both the safe distribution of TEFAP foods and access to TEFAP for those with disabilities. This work builds off of round 1 activities that are ongoing. Round 2 project partners include FreeStore Food Bank, Food Bank of Northwest Indiana, Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana, Food Finders Food Bank, and Tri-State Food Bank.

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For its TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 project, the Iowa Department of Human Services will continue its partnership with six round 1 food banks in the state. These food banks include Food Bank for the Heartland, Food Bank of Siouxland, Northeast Iowa Food Bank, River Bend Food Bank, Hawkeye Area Community Action Program Food Reservoir, and Food Bank of Iowa. The state agency identified underserved communities in each food bank’s service areas where project activities will continue to be focused. Activities are targeted to specific needs within each service area but include the implementation of a new agency/client data collection system, the provision of equipment to partner agencies, and training and onboarding of new TEFAP partner agencies.

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With round 2 funds, the Kansas Department of Children and Families will expand their TEFAP Reach and Resiliency - Round 1 project, which is focused on outfitting and equipping a building in Garden City, Kansas to serve as a food distribution center for the western Kansas region. With round 2 funding, the Kansas Food Bank warehouse will be able to purchase large-scale refrigeration and freezing equipment, two refrigerated box trucks equipped with liftgates for local deliveries, a fork truck, ride-on fork trucks, and pallet jacks needed to move and handle material. Expanding TEFAP distribution capabilities at the warehouse will allow it to better service remote and rural regions of Kansas and reduce burden on local partner agencies.

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The Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s (KDA) Division of Food Distribution administers TEFAP within the state of Kentucky. With TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 grant funds, KDA will continue to pilot and expand activities supported by the round 1 grant. Project activities will focus on building and equipment upgrades at food banks and pantries, expanding the reach of mobile pantry initiatives, and expanding a client-based information system at additional sites. Project partners include Feeding America, Kentucky’s Heartland Food Bank, Tristate Food Bank, Northern Kentucky Area Development District, Purchase Area Development District, God’s Pantry Food Bank, and Dare to Care Food Bank.

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Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF), in partnership with five food bank partners (Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana, Food Bank of Northeast Louisiana, Second Harvest Food Bank, Food Bank of Central Louisiana, Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank) will use TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 funds to expand and bolster work that began with round 1 funding. This includes efforts to improve partner agency capacity and efficiency, to explore and expand food distribution models like mobile pantries, and to establish additional, new “brick and mortar” distribution sites in underserved areas. The project will also focus on mitigating language/disability barriers to accessing TEFAP, with funding applied to translation of outreach materials and signage and the implementation of electronic client intake processes that will better serve those with disabilities.

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The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) will continue its partnerships with the Good Shepherd Food Bank (GSFB) and Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness (WPHW) to carry out its TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 grant project. In round 2, GSFB will help the state agency to administer twelve eligible recipient agency (ERA) capacity building projects in rural, remote, and low-income communities in Northern Maine (Aroostook, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Washington, and Franklin counties). These projects will be focused on increasing the amount and variety of TEFAP foods that the ERAs can store, to accommodate recent increases in fresh TEFAP offerings and Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) offerings. Work with WPHW will focus on continuing to support a Food Sovereignty Planning Committee that was established with round 1 funds. The aim of the committee is to improve food security for the Wabanaki people and to improve collaboration between the state’s TEFAP program and five tribal food pantries in Maine.

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The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 project will involve both an expansion of its round 1 project activities and additional, new activities. Grant funds will be used to continue research led by the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) and Massachusetts General Hospital that is focused on better understanding, and subsequently addressing, the needs of those facing food insecurity in the state. Round 1 funds were utilized to fund the third round of this continued research, and round 2 funds will be applied to a planned fourth and fifth study. Grant funds will also be deployed to continue implementation of a shared data collection platform, "Community Insights", across GBFB’s network in Eastern Massachusetts. Enhancing the network's ability to gather robust and unduplicated data on clients will enable them to better target services and interventions to high-need populations. Funds will also be utilized to provide capacity-building grants to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts’ partner agencies in underserved areas of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire Counties, and GBFB’s partner agencies in Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Essex, Middlesex, Nantucket, Norfolk, Plymouth, and Suffolk counties. Lastly, the round 2 project will aim to provide unconscious bias trainings for TEFAP partner agencies across Massachusetts, which was a recommendation from GBFB’s "2022 Food Access and Equity Report".

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The Michigan Department of Education’s TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 project will focus on expanding TEFAP reach in the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan, which makes up 29% of the land area of the state and houses a predominantly rural population spread out among 15 counties. The state agency currently has TEFAP eligible recipient agency (ERA) agreements with six community action agencies in the UP; however, there is no existing food warehouse. Thus, TEFAP foods must be trucked long distances from Feeding America West Michigan (FAWM) warehouses in the lower peninsula - which can make deliveries both logistically difficult and inconsistent, especially in harsh, winter months. Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 grant funds will focus on providing more TEFAP foods to UP residents, in a more consistent manner, and through various distribution channels. Specific project activities include the purchase of dedicated transportation equipment for FAWM to make more frequently deliveries and the establishment of additional pantries, food lockers, and/or home delivery services for TEFAP clients in collaboration with the six community action agencies. Round 2 funds will also be used in part to continue home delivery service to underserved populations in the lower peninsula which were initiated with round 1 project funds.

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The Mississippi Department of Human Services will use TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 funds to complement its round 1 project that is focused in part on expanding mobile food pantry operations in underserved areas. The round 2 funds will be utilized to stand up a mobile distribution team of 4–5 staff members at three food banks (Mississippi Food Network, Mid-South Food Bank, and Catholic Social and Community Services). The teams will work with food bank procurement staff to acquire appropriate foods for mobile deliveries, to assemble the food into more accessible packaging for ease of distribution in a mobile environment, and to further develop and implement the mobile distribution model for future efficient distributions. Another element of operating mobile distributions is identifying appropriate locations for distributions and securing necessary permissions from local officials to set up and implement the distributions. With additional staff to coordinate these logistics, the food banks will be able to increase the number of distributions and expand the impact and reach of TEFAP product into rural, underserved areas.

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Montana Department of Health and Human Services (DPHHS) will continue its partnership with Montana Food Bank Network (MFBN) to carry out its TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 project. Funding will be used to provide small grants to partner agencies in the Montana Food Bank Network to make necessary repairs and upgrade to their storage and distribution facilities. Those agencies that are located in underserved areas, in addition to those that did not receive round 1 funding, will receive priority in the grantmaking process.

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The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services’ Round 2 project contains both an expansion of round 1 activities in addition to new activities. In terms of expansion – the state agency will use study findings from its TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 1 analysis to form regional, strategic plans for TEFAP expansion in areas that were found to be underserved, and to begin identifying partners to distribute TEFAP foods in these areas. Round 2 grant funds will also be applied to a number of technological and capacity building projects for current partner agencies served by the Food Bank of the Heartland, including a project to optimize the online ordering portal through which partner agencies order TEFAP foods from the food bank. This expands on round 1 work that was focused on allowing partner agencies more flexibility in selecting the timing and frequency of deliveries. Round 2 changes to the ordering portal will allow agencies to order smaller quantities of foods per order, thus accommodating agencies with less storage capacity which are usually located in underserved and rural areas. Funds will also be applied to purchase additional transportation equipment that will be necessary for making more frequent deliveries to these areas.

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The New Jersey Department of Agriculture’s (NJDA) TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 project builds off round 1 work that is currently being carried out in partnership with the Community FoodBank of New Jersey (CFBNJ). Grant funds will be applied to additional cultural competency, community engagement, and racial equity training for CBFNJ and their partner agencies, additional translation of signage and client-facing materials into languages spoken by TEFAP clients in underserved areas, and a significant expansion of round 1 efforts to provide all CBFNJ partner agencies with access to Oasis Insights, a client-level data collection platform. The platform will allow CFBNJ and their partners to serve clients faster and more efficiently, to better understand populations served and services desired, and to foster data-driven decision making about the distribution of TEFAP resources in the state.

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For its round 2 project, the New Mexico Human Services Department will expand TEFAP Reach and Resiliency - Round 1 activities currently being carried out in partnership with four regional TEFAP partners (Roadrunner Food Bank, The Food Depot, The Community Pantry, and ECHO Inc.). This work focuses on establishing a sustainable mobile pantry or onsite pantry in specific remote, rural, and tribal communities that do not currently receive TEFAP foods. In round 2, project efforts will be expanded to additional underserved areas.

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As in round 1, the New York State Office of General Services (OGS) will subgrant the majority of its TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 funds to partner food banks in the state. These food banks collectively work with over 2,500 smaller, TEFAP eligible recipient agencies (ERAs), and will work collaboratively with the ERAs to continue executing strategies to expand TEFAP’s reach into targeted underserved areas. Sub-grant project activities include, but are not limited to: establishing or increasing the use of mobile and pop-up food pantries; purchasing refrigerated trucks to transport TEFAP foods to new or further-away destinations; investing in freezing, cooling, and shelving infrastructure to build capacity; fortifying relationships that will enable expansion of the program; hiring additional staff to support expansion efforts; and implementing diversity and inclusion training for ERA stakeholders.

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With TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 funds, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will partner with Feeding the Carolinas and six North Carolina food banks to continue increasing access to TEFAP for residents in 78 of North Carolina’s 100 counties. This represents an expansion of the state’s round 1 project which focused on only 30 counties. Round 2 grant funds will be sub granted to the six food banks (Food Bank of the Albemarle, Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, MANNA Food Bank, Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC, and Actions Pathways) to carry out TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 activities in collaboration with partner agencies in their service areas. Activities will vary by food bank but may include the purchase of materials, supplies, and equipment necessary for reaching underserved populations, training for food bank or partner agency staff, translation of materials into other languages, and facility improvements to better serve persons with disabilities.

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The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction will continue its partnership with the Great Plains Food Bank (GPFB) to carry out TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 grant activities. Available funds will be utilized to bring TEFAP service to remote and tribal communities with a “pantry on wheels.” The pantry will maintain a weekly route, on a monthly cadence, throughout rural areas within Rolette County, and grant funds will support equipment and maintenance of the mobile pantry. GPFB plans to partner with the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Food Pantry in Belcourt, the Turtle Mountain Mikinaak Ode Shelter in Dunseith, and the Turtle Mountain Worship Food Pantry in Belcourt on the project.

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The Oklahoma Department of Human Services’ TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 1 project is focused on providing critical staffing and equipment resources to central food distribution hubs in the state, with a goal of increasing the efficiency and frequency of deliveries of fresh food from the hubs to remote, rural, and tribal areas in Oklahoma. The state agency’s round 2 project will expand on this work by purchasing freezing and cooling equipment for food banks and pantries served by the hubs. By providing resources directly to local agencies, the project hopes to increase their capacity to provide more fresh foods (both TEFAP foods and those provided by via USDA’s Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program) to their clients. The state agency plans to work with the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma and the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma on the project.

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The Oregon Department of Human Services will partner with Oregon Food Bank’s network of regional food banks to implement its TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 project. These food banks include Columbia Gorge Food Bank, Oregon Food Bank Southeast Services, Josephine County Food Bank, and Community Connection of Northeast Oregon Inc. Several of these food banks also received round 1 funds; thus round 2 activities will build on work already being accomplished. Project activities vary by food bank but include increasing TEFAP food access through mobile pantry distributions in rural and low-income areas; increasing partner agency participation in the "Service Insights" client database; establishing new pantry sites in underserved areas; implementing a barcoding system at one of the food banks to make inventory management more efficient; and increasing produce deliveries in underserved areas.

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As in round 1, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) plans to utilize TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 grant funds to award sub grants to qualified TEFAP eligible recipient agencies (ERAs) in Pennsylvania through a competitive process. Qualified ERAs may include county agencies and food banks with whom PDA has direct contracts for the administration of TEFAP, lead agencies designated by the county agencies to administer TEFAP, and local agencies (e.g., food pantries, food cupboards, school pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, etc.) who operate the program through an agreement with another ERA and who are in good standing with the state or their designated lead TEFAP contractor. Those who received funding in round 1 will not be eligible to receive funding in round 2. Sub-grant projects are expected to involve activities such as onboarding new partners, investing in cold storage infrastructure, renovating buildings, or purchasing materials and equipment necessary for reaching underserved populations.

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The South Carolina Department of Agriculture (SCDA) will sub grant TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 grant funds to four main food bank partners (Golden Harvest Food Bank, Harvest Hope Food Bank, Lowcountry Food Bank, and Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina) in the state. These food banks will help to distribute critical infrastructure and equipment funding to partner agencies located in 32 of 46 South Carolina counties that have been identified by SCDA as underserved for one reason or another. This represents an expansion of SCDA’s TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 1 grant project which is focused on freezing and cooling investments in 24 counties. With additional round 2 funds, the food banks will be able to meet additional, unmet need in the originally identified counties and to expand the project to additional areas.

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The South Dakota Department of Education (SD DOE) will partner with Feeding South Dakota on its TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 grant project. Grant funds will be used to purchase trucks and equipment that will allow the food bank to expand their current mobile distributions into underserved areas of the state. All areas that will be served by the expanded mobile distribution efforts are remote, rural, and/or tribal.

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Using TEFAP Reach and Resiliency - Round 2 grant funds, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) will extend round 1 efforts to expand TEFAP’s reach into underserved low-income and/or rural communities across the state. To accomplish this, TDA will continue its partnership with the Chattanooga Area Food Bank, Mid-South Food Bank, Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee, Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, and Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Tennessee. With round 1 funds and now with additional round 2 funds, each food bank is carrying out TEFAP Reach and Resiliency activities in its service area. Project activities vary by food bank.

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The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) will utilize TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 funding to continue and expand round 1 activities. These activities include a competitive sub grant program for TEFAP eligible recipient agencies (ERAs) in underserved areas and two state-level projects for TEFAP: outreach and training. The outreach project will increase awareness of TEFAP in rural and remote areas to assist more Texans in need of food access; and the training project aims to develop resources that will increase eligible recipient agency understanding of program operations, resulting in operational efficiencies and strategies that will allow for program expansion. New to round 2 – give the additional funds, Texas will be able to extend their sub grant program to areas identified to be medium-high risk in addition to high- and very high-risk communities.

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As in round 1, the Vermont Agency of Education (AOE) will subgrant the majority of TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 grant funds to the Vermont Foodbank (VF), which is the state’s largest hunger relief organization and only food bank, providing food and facilitating food access through its own programs and a network of more than 300 community food shelves, meal sites, congregate housing communities, schools, and other organizations. Most of the state of Vermont is considered to be rural and the Vermont Foodbank will use grant funds to cover the costs of distributing TEFAP foods to these areas.

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As in round 1, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will be partnering with the Federation of Virginia Foodbanks and their seven food bank agencies on its TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 project. Each food bank has a specific plan for further expanding TEFAP reach in its service area, with a majority of projects focused on providing equipment and supplies to smaller, TEFAP eligible recipient agencies in underserved areas. Participating food banks include Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, Capital Area Food Bank, Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank, Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, FeedMore, Peninsula Regional Food Bank, and Feeding Southwest Virginia Food Bank.

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The Washington State Department of Agriculture’s (WSDA’s) TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 project will involve continued partnerships with the nine TEFAP hunger relief organizations selected as sub grantees in round 1. WSDA will also partner with four new organizations in round 2 (Coastal Harvest, Community Services of Moses Lake, Community Action of Skagit County, and Lower Columbia Community Action Council) to carry out additional, similar activities. Activities vary significantly by organization but include creating, expanding, or sustaining mobile food pantry distributions, purchasing equipment, and increasing outreach.

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For its TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 project, the West Virginia Department of Agriculture will work to expand round 1 efforts currently being carried out in partnership with Facing Hunger Food Bank and Mountaineer Food Bank. Facing Hunger Food Bank will work to establish and support new partner agencies in remote and rural areas, in addition to increasing traditional TEFAP distributions, mobile pantry distributions, and just-in-time deliveries in those areas. Mountaineer Food Bank’s project will focus on expanding local agency capacity through a competitive sub grant process to local agencies. The food bank will use information gathered from its round 1 gap analysis to identify underserved areas and will prioritize funding projects in those areas.

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The Wisconsin Department of Health Services’ (DHS) TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 project will build off the results of a round 1-funded assessment of remote, rural, tribal, and low-income (RRTL) areas in the state. The round 2 project has several goals which include conducting a needs assessment and strategic plan for TEFAP expansion in identified RRTL areas, providing new partners with the necessary infrastructure to serve TEFAP foods efficiently and effectively, piloting an online food preordering program, implementing mobile distribution, and developing sustainable partnerships with new tribal partners. Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin and Hunger Task Force - Milwaukee will be the state agency’s main sub grantee partners on the project, but each of these food banks will work with multiple other stakeholders, including tribal nations, to carry out planned activities.

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With TEFAP Reach and Resiliency – Round 2 funds, the Wyoming Department of Family Services, in collaboration with Food Bank of Wyoming (FBW) will work to conduct a client-centric focused outreach, research, and data collection project that is intended to identify barriers in food access in underserved areas. This data will inform FBW efforts to expand TEFAP reach and to help partner agencies build capacity. The state agency and FBW will collaborate with a number of partners on the project including the University of Wyoming Extension program, Cent$ible Nutrition Program, Wyoming Food Coalition, SNAC (State Nutrition Action Coalition), and numerous current TEFAP partner organizations.

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