Apply for Funding
Thank you for your interest in the Kansas Healthy Food Initiative, a healthy food financing program that aims to increase access to healthy food in low-resource and underserved areas of Kansas at the retail level.
Types of Funding
KHFI provides funding in the form of loan/grant funding mixes, which are made up of 15% grant funding and 85% loan financing, with grant caps dependent on total request. Note: As of August 2022, KHFI's small grant funding program (grants up to $15,000) is no longer available.
Racial Equity Funding Policy
The Kansas Healthy Food Initiative has expanded program support for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) entrepreneurs by increasing the grant to loan ratio for BIPOC-led projects. BIPOC may include, but is not limited to, people identifying as Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, Latinx, East Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian, Pacific Islander, Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African.
Expanded Parameters for BIPOC-led Projects: For BIPOC-led KHFI projects using the loan/grant funding hybrid, up to 20% of the total KHFI funding package can be a grant. For BIPOC-led KHFI projects seeking a small grant, the maximum award is $20,000. Note: As of August 2022, KHFI's small grant funding program (grants up to $20,000 for BIPOC entrepreneurs) is no longer available.
These policy changes reflect our commitment to serving communities that have been systematically disinvested in by traditional financing in the past, particularly in the food retail landscape, as well as our acknowledgment that the COVID-19 pandemic has had disproportionate impacts on BIPOC communities. KHFI knows that this action alone will not solve entrenched systemic injustices in our food systems, but we hope it makes funding more accessible to BIPOC-led food business operators.
Eligiblity Review
All funding applications submitted to KHFI are reviewed to determine whether the project meets KHFI programmatic goals. This eligibility determination is the first step of the application process.
Eligible projects must expand healthy food offerings in low-resource, underserved areas at the retail level and fit local community needs. Potentially eligible projects may include grocery stores, co-ops, farmers' markets, production, and distribution operations. To learn more about eligibility, review the KHFI Guidebook.
To start the eligibility review process, provide some basic information about your project by completing an initial intake form. Eligibility does not guarantee funding.