Mission West Awarded $3 Million National Grant to Launch Montana Local Food Financing Fund Partnership
The Montana Local Food Financing Fund Partnership will promote food hub development to expand food access for communities across Montana.
RONAN, MT, May 31, 2024 – In April, USDA announced 16 public-private partnerships selected by the Reinvestment Fund’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) to improve access to nutritious food in underserved communities, create and preserve high quality jobs, and revitalize low-income areas. As a recipient of this inaugural award, Mission West Community Development Partners, in cooperation with Hopa Mountain and Montana Department of Agriculture, will partner with USDA and the Reinvestment Fund to launch the Montana Local Food Financing Fund Partnership to address barriers to financing for food hubs and similar retail supply chain businesses across Montana.
By aggregating, processing, and distributing local food, these enterprises play an essential role in creating economic opportunity and promoting food access in rural and agricultural communities.
“This initiative will bring new capacity-building technical assistance and deliver credit enhancement services to help local businesses access the grants and loans that they need to grow,” said Charlie Michel, Cooperative Development Center Director.
Local food businesses frequently face barriers to accessing financial capital including lack of collateral, high interest rates on commercial loans, and insufficient cash capacity to provide a match for grant-funded projects. To mitigate these barriers, Mission West will purchase Certified Deposits as loan guarantees, buy down interest rates, and issue grant awards to emerging enterprises.
“These credit enhancement services will facilitate access to local funding opportunities like Mission West’s Cooperative Revolving Loan Fund and the Montana Department of Agriculture’s Grow Through Agriculture program,” explained Executive Director, Jan Tusick. Mission West will coordinate through the Montana Food and Agriculture Development Center Network to solicit applications and provide one-on-one counseling to develop client-specific financial packages.
A full list of awarded partnerships and their activities are available online.
Mission West Community Development Partners is a regional economic development organization serving small businesses, producers, cooperatives, and community organizations in Lake, Sanders, and Mineral counties and the Flathead Reservation.
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For more information about the Montana Local Food Financing Fund Partnership, please contact Charlie Michel at (406) 676-5901 or [email protected]
