On behalf of our friends at the Philadelphia Food Access Collaborative, please be advised of the Meals and More Grant funding opportunity which will be elaborated at a INFO SESSION:August, 28th – 1 pm – United Way, 1709 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy, Lobby 4.
The goals of the Meals and More initiative are to:
· Launch 10 new meal times among existing meal providers: 5 in the spring and 5 in the fall
· Increase connections to key social services for meal guests
· Increase the accessibility of healthy food in congregant settings to improve the health of guests
· This second round of grants for Fall 2014 will enable five more meal providers to each open a new meal.
· The initiative will also recruit, train and support 150-200 volunteers towards completing 50 hours of community service that will connect vulnerable residents to healthy emergency meals and to vital services. Release of application for organizations interested in participating in the Meals and More initiative (Information will be available onwww.SharedProsperityPhila.org) – September
· Deadline to submit a letter of interest – October
· Announcement of selected grantees – October
· Launch of new meal time – November
Opportunity for Meal Providers
We are looking for five meal providers that are ready to expand their meal service into a new time. Providers who expand their meal service will be eligible for the following:
· $7,500 in unrestricted funding to support the development of a new weekly meal service
· $1,000 in funds to purchase healthy food from a local food distribution organization
· Support from the Mayor’s Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Services and the Mayor’s Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity to recruit new volunteers and organizations to assist with meal service
· 10 hours of high quality training for new and existing volunteers in food safety, healthy food preparation, and social service skills
· Assistance in identifying social service agencies as partners to provide social and health services to guests
