Local Food Infrastructure Fund – Small Scale Projects: Step 2. Eligibility

Step 2. Eligibility

Check if you meet the criteria to apply.

Eligibility checklist

You must meet all of the following criteria to be eligible:

• You are one of the following organization types:
  • Indigenous (First Nation, Métis, Inuit)^{Endnote 1}:
    First Nation, Inuit or Métis organization. They may include:
    • First Nation, Inuit or Métis community and/or governments^Endnote2
    • First Nation, Inuit or Métis not-for-profit associations
    • First Nation, Inuit or Métis not-for-profit organizations
  • Not-for-profit: Organizations that have a mandate or mission to provide community food services. They may include:
    • associations
    • corporations
    • local community, charitable or voluntary organizations
  • Municipal Administrations
• Your organization fosters equity, diversity and inclusion by removing barriers so that each person (including those who identify as Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and others, as well as Black and Indigenous communities) has equal access to opportunities and resources and can achieve their full potential.^{Endnote 3}
• By the application submission date, you’ve been in operation for at least 2 years as a legal entity (federally, provincially, or territorially incorporated) capable of entering into legally binding agreements.

Those not eligible for funding may include, but are not limited to:

• Schools, school boards, as well as academic and educational institutions
• For-profit entities
• Unincorporated entities

Eligible activities

Activities directly related to food production for equity-deserving groups must be the prominent feature of your proposed project. For example, building a community garden with an irrigation system, installing a greenhouse with solar panels, or establishing a food forest.

Eligible activities are restricted to the purchase and installation of:

• equipment to produce food (such as, equipment to grow and/or harvest food)
• equipment to process, distribute, store, and/or transport food, only when the project includes a food production element

Community food security exists when all people in a community have reliable access to an adequate supply of nutritious and culturally appropriate food. Food production is central to food security for its pivotal role in fostering resilient, secure communities. By investing in local food production, communities are empowered to take charge of their food systems, ensuring reliable access to nutritious sustenance. For information and resources to promote nutritious food and healthy eating, please refer to Canada’s Food Guide.

Ineligible activities

Ineligible activities include, but are not limited to those:

• that are not addressing food security for equity-deserving groups
• which have no connection to food production
• that include major renovations and/or construction
• that include the purchase of food, consumables, single-use items, and gift cards
• that result in commercial gain or profits (any revenues or proceeds must be reinvested into your organization’s food-related programming)

Eligible costs

Eligible costs are project expenses that fall within the set program cost categories and respect all program limitations.

To be considered eligible; all costs must be:

• included in the project application form budget
• related to the activities included in the application

For more detailed information, refer to Eligible costs (Complete the application and apply).

Expected results

Your application must show how your project’s activities support the following specific outcomes:

• Organizational capacity to deliver community food security projects is increased
• Food Environments within communities are improved
• Community food security is strengthened

The Community Food Security Continuum

Description of the image above

This figure of the Continuum shows how 3 types of initiatives work toward community food security. These 3 categories (Short-Term Relief, Capacity Building and System Redesign) have the following short, medium, and long-term impacts, respectively.

1. Short-Term Relief: provides emergency food aid to the most food insecure.
   1. Food banks, soup kitchens, and other emergency assistance programs.
2. Capacity Building: supports growth of individual and community capacity.
   1. Community kitchens, gardens, and other initiatives that strengthen community and individual capacity to address barriers to food security (access or availability).
3. System Redesign: addresses structural, systemic issues underlying food security.
   1. Strategies that address the underlying food system, social, and economic barriers to achieving food security, which will have a greater impact over the long term.