Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the proposed project will operate…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the proposed project will operate from oris's food hub in downtown manchester and will assist low-income and minority consumers in manchester, nashua, and concord. Manchester has a population of 111,657 and a poverty rate of 14.8%, while concord has a population of 43,412 and a poverty rate of 7.7%, and nashua includes 89,355 people with a 9.3% poverty rate. Manchester, nashua, and concord are the most diverse cities in new hampshire, driven largely by refugee resettlement. 20% of households in manchester, 22.5% of households in nashua, and 10% of households in concord speak a language other than english at home.manchester's, nashua's, and concord's low-income communities are also those who experience poor access to supermarkets, according to the USDA's food access research atlas. A total of 63,204 of manchester's population (57%) live in low-income census tracts with a significant number of residents who live farther than one-half mile from a supermarket. Thistotal is 7,824 (18%) for concord and 25,659 (29%) for nashua. In these neighborhoods, low-income residents rely on corner stores and ethnic markets for basic provisions. Fruits and vegetables at the stores, including ethnic produce, is often only available in canned, dried, or frozen forms. Unsurprisingly, when local, fresh produce is both affordable and accessible in southern new hampshire, IT is very popular. The proposed project will improve the local food access needs of low-income individuals in southern new hampshire by: (1) expanding access local fresh food; (2) raising consumer awareness of improved access and the benefits of purchasing local fresh food; (3) making local fresh food more affordable for low-income consumers; and (4) engaging other food hubs and nascent food producers in food system strengthening. To do this, oris willexpand the number of mobile market stops at low-income housing developments across manchester, concord, and nashua; expand the community food ambassador (CFA) initiative to spur increased fresh food purchases in these developments; support a healthy corners project to sell fresh, locally produced food at corner stores accepting snap and WIC vouchers; and expand the retail space at the front of the food hub to sell produce, meats, cheese, and fruits using snap and fini benefits, while sharing the food hub's food processing space to support budding food entrepreneurs from low-income communities.