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The Kansas Healthy Food Initiative

Kansas Healthy Food Initiative

116 Umberger
1612 Claflin Road
Manhattan, KS 66506
785-532-6868
khfi@k-state.edu

Apply for Funding


The Kansas Healthy Food Initiative (KHFI) is 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.

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.

*As of August 2022, KHFI's small grant funding program (grants up to $15,000) is no longer available.*


Racial Equity Policy

The Kansas Healthy Food Initiative is expanding program support for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) entrepreneurs by increasing the grant to loan ratio for BIPOC-led projects.

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.

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. 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.

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.


KHFI Eligiblity Review

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.

All projects 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. To start the eligibility review process, provide some basic information about your project by completing the form below. Eligibility does not guarantee funding.





The Kansas Healthy Food Initiative is expanding program support for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) entrepreneurs by increasing the grant to loan ratio for BIPOC-led projects.

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.

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. 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.

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.

Part of the initial review of this project includes a check for "Community Fit." Please share who your community partners are for this project, including contact information (phone, email). Community partners may include economic developers, local leaders, financial institutions, philanthropic foundations, etc. These partners will be contacted within the next 2 weeks.