*New* *Orleans* *food* *co**-**op** first beneficiary of ASI FCU's effort to fight **food** deserts*
*The New Orleans Food Co-op <https://ncba.coop/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1790&qid=433277> is the first recipient of grant funds distributed by ASI Federal Credit Union <https://ncba.coop/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1791&qid=433277>, which recently won a $3 million federal grant for a revolving loan fund. According to this article <https://ncba.coop/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1792&qid=433277> published by The Times Picayune, the Harahan, Louisiana-based ASI FCU is one of a dozen financial institutions with a focus on community development to win federal money in the initial round of grants awarded through the Healthy **Food** Financing Initiative, a U.S. Department of Treasury program in step with the Obama Administration's efforts to increase access to healthy, affordable **food** in underserved communities. The Credit Union National Association shared this press release:* In 2011, ASI Federal Credit Union received grant funds as a community development financial institution (CDFI) to help wash out food deserts in New Orleans. The $324 million-asset credit union's first partnership through that program is a local food co-op. *************** Food deserts' targeted by $3 million federal grant Print <http://blog.nola.com/business_impact/print.html?entry=/2011/10/asi_federal_credit_union_to_st.html> [image: Rebecca Mowbray, The Times-Picayune] <http://connect.nola.com/user/rmowbray/index.html> By Rebecca Mowbray, The Times-Picayune <http://connect.nola.com/user/rmowbray/posts.html> Follow on Twitter <http://twitter.com/rmowbrayTP> on October 09, 2011 at 7:00 AM Reddit <http://ads.nola.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/www.nola.com/business/2011/10/asi_federal_credit_union_to_st.html/1854020913/StoryAd/NOLALIVE/default/empty.gif/544c45516156534a3174674144425371> The ASI Federal Credit Union will soon start making loans to launch grocery stores and other healthful food businesses in low-income communities after winning a $3 million federal grant for a revolving loan fund. ASI is one of a dozen community development financial institutions nationwide to win federal money in the initial round of $25 million in grants awarded through the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, a new U.S. Department of Treasury program in keeping with Michelle Obama's promotion of healthful eating and exercise. "We're just flattered and thrilled," said Mignhon Tourné, president and chief executive of ASI, which was founded 50 years ago to serve Avondale Shipyard workers. "We can't wait to book the first loan." [image: map-healthyfood-100911.jpg]View full size <http://media.nola.com/business_impact/photo/map-healthyfood-100911jpg-08754489aff97ff8.jpg> The award adds steam to an effort to give more people access to healthful food in New Orleans. In March, the city announced another program called the Fresh Food Retailer Initiative <http://www.hope-ec.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=135&Itemid=203>, which will make loans to start grocery stores in underserved areas using $7 million in Community Development Block Grant money from the city and $7 million from the Hope Enterprise Corp., a community development financial institution based in Jackson, Miss., that operates the Hope Federal Credit Union in New Orleans. About 30 applications have been made to the program, but the city has not made its first award. The Healthy Food Financing Initiative grant is ASI's second major score in recent months. ASI is the local lending partner <http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2011/08/kiva_launches_microlending_pro.html> for Kiva.org <http://www.kiva.org/>, a nonprofit organization that allows individual investors to make loans as small as $25 to a business of their choice. The program was pioneered overseas and expanded to the United States this summer; Detroit was the first U.S. city, and New Orleans is the second. [image: nola_food_coop_edwards_burge.jpg]View full size <http://media.nola.com/business_impact/photo/nola-food-coop-edwards-burgejpg-2e62b08791156f87.jpg>Eliot Kamenitz, The Times-Picayune archiveASI financed the NOLA Food Co-op, which is expected to open in November, Board member Angelo Edwards and General Manager Lori Burge were photographed at the site in May. ASI says it's become increasingly interested in nutritious food as a catalyst for healthy communities and economic development since Hurricane Katrina. ASI financed the Fatoush Restaurant at the Healing Center on St. Claude Avenue and the NOLA Food Co-op, which is expected to open in November, and hopes to do more through the Healthy Food program. "This really allows us to expand our reach," said ASI senior vice president Sarah Taylor, who will serve as the official contact for any entrepreneurs interested in applying to the program. *Hungry for more groceries* While New Orleans had 38 full-service grocery stores in August 2005, it only has 18 today, even though 70 percent of the city's population has returned since Hurricane Katrina. Most of the grocery stores that have reopened are in wealthier neighborhoods: a 2007 Tulane University study found that 60 percent of low-income residents of New Orleans must drive more than three miles to go to a grocery store, and only half of those surveyed have a car. In her application to the program, Taylor emphasized the prevalence of food-related diseases in New Orleans such as diabetes or obesity, and the potential for more healthful food options to stimulate economic activity. "The challenge of New Orleans is that you have to erase the perception that there's food on every corner," she said. ASI will use the $3 million to create a revolving fund, so that as loans are repaid, new loan money will be made available for other healthful food businesses, creating capacity. Under the rules of the Healthy Food Financing Initiative program, ASI needs to lend one-third of its money by the end of 2013. The maximum loan amount is $500,000, but ASI can piggyback Healthy Food money with other loan programs or partner with other organizations to make larger loans. The credit union will make healthy food loans to low-income areas identified as "food deserts" by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that fall within ASI's service territory, which means that healthy food proposals in parts of Orleans Parish, the west bank of Jefferson Parish and parts of Thibodaux qualify. A map of USDA food deserts, or places with high concentrations of poverty and little access to grocery stores, is available at www.ers.usda.gov/data/fooddesert/fooddesert.html. But for New Orleans, the map is outdated: It uses census information from 2000 and grocery store information from 2006, so stores like the Robert Fresh Market location on Claiborne Avenue near Carrollton Avenue, which opened in 2008, aren't included. USDA hopes to complete an update in 2012. *Calling all entrepreneurs* ASI plans to loan money to entrepreneurs who seek to expand the production, distribution, sale or consumption of healthful foods. Taylor said that could be a local grower that supplies produce or herbs to local restaurants, an existing retailer that wants to devote new floor space to healthful foods, a juice bar, a fresh food cart, healthful food truck, a fresh food market, a restaurant or seafood business, to name a few. ASI will evaluate proposals on their healthfulness and potential to stimulate economic activity. Diego Rose, director of the Prevention Research Center at Tulane University and a professor at Tulane's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, served on a food policy advisory committee in New Orleans in 2007 that recommended, among other things, a financing initiative. He said the combined $17 million in lending capacity through the city and ASI programs could bring about some real changes in the grocery store landscape in the city. And with 70 percent of the population of New Orleans having returned but only 47 percent of the city's full-service grocery stores having reopened, it would seem to be a good business bet for any would-be entrepreneur. "The whole food marketing industry operates at relatively narrow margins, so store owners tend to be relatively risk-averse. If there's some way to reduce the cost of starting up a new place, then that can be just enough of a catalyst to open a store up," said Rose, whose research on the lack of grocery stores was cited in ASI's application for the healthy food program. "The other bonus with food stores is they're often anchors for new development." *'Everyone needs to eat'* John Weidman, deputy executive director of The Food Trust, a Philadelphia nonprofit group that is working with the city on the Fresh Food Retailer program, said the state of Pennsylvania launched a grocery financing program back in 2004, and it made a difference in the state's grocery capacity. Over five years, the program financed about 90 grocery stores and other food projects across the state, creating about 5,000 jobs and giving 400,000 people new access to nutritious food. The Pennsylvania program has helped demonstrate that grocery stores can succeed outside of wealthy areas. "Even though some of these areas had lower incomes, everyone needs to eat," Weidman said. The Food Trust has been evaluating proposals under the city's Fresh Food Retailer program to make sure they're located in areas that qualify as underserved by groceries, and then passes them on to the Hope Credit Union to work out the details of the financing package. He said the initial loans should be made soon. "We've seen lots of interest by the grocery industry in opening stores," he said. *Rebecca Mowbray can be reached at [email protected] <[email protected]> or 504.826.3417.* -- *jim embry859-270-3699Lexington,KY Sustainable Communities Network*, http://sustainlex.org/ "Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing." ~Arundhati Roy "Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable ... It comes only through the tireless efforts and passionate concern of dedicated individuals ... This is no time for apathy nor complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action."~— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive. ~Albert Einstein "We didn't inherit the earth from our parents. We're borrowing it from our children." Chief Seattle (1788-1866) Suquamish/Duwamish Chief *In modesty and humility, be like the Earth!In tolerance for others, be like the sea!In generosity and helping others, be like a gentle breeze!In compassion for others, and especially for yourself, Be like the Sun!* -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20141211/bd8c2bc7/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. 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