(Special to The Dallas Examiner) – The Healthy Food Dallas Initiative provides forgivable loan awards to nonprofit entities that provide access to healthy food to a low-income population through innovation and/or community partnerships. The awards are up to $70,000 per recipient, with a 50% match requirement – also known as a 1:1 match or a dollar-for-dollar match. The match can be from cash sources and in-kind (non-cash) resources.

The City of Dallas Office Economic Development and Urban Agriculture Division will host a workshop to provide details about project eligibility and the application process. The workshop will be held June 27 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at West Dallas Multipurpose Center, located at 2828 Fish Trap Road.

This program is restricted to projects in eligible food desert census tracts in the city of Dallas. The loan funds must be used for capital and/or capacity enhancements to providers of healthy food programs through facility redevelopment, improvements, construction and rehabilitation; technology and equipment installations and upgrades, staff training, security and/or inventory.

For this program, healthy food is defined as minimally processed foods including water, fresh or frozen whole or cut fruits, fresh or frozen whole or cut vegetables, milk and no-sugar-added dairy products, eggs, lean meats and minimally processed whole grains and legumes.