Houston, TX, April 26th, 2021 – Urban Harvest has announced it was awarded the Harris County’s Healthy Financing Food Initiative (HFFI). The HFFI funding will support Urban Harvest’s commitment to increase healthy and affordable food choices among underserved communities within Houston, Texas.
Covid-19 has exacerbated food insecurity, socioeconomic disparities, and agricultural livelihoods across Harris County. In response to this crisis, Urban Harvest will leverage local agriculture to target root causes of negative health outcomes – addressing not only access to healthy food, but also affordability, education, and production across the local food system.
To achieve this, Urban Harvest will utilize the recently launched Mobile Market and the Double Up Houston Program to create pathways for food-insecure clinic patients to access fruits and vegetables for half the price at each of our health clinic partners.
“We are humbled to receive support from HFFI and continue to grow our SNAP incentive: Double Up Houston Program. Since we launched Double Up in 2019, the program has proven to be an effective mechanism to increase fruits and vegetable consumption among low- or no-income people, said Libby Kennedy, Director of Strategic Projects at Urban Harvest.
About HFFI. Commissioner Ellis first proposed the Harris County Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) to increase the availability of fresh and nutritious food in underserved communities by funding innovative solutions through community partners. The first round of the Healthy Food Financing Initiative will provide $550,000 in grants to the HOPE Clinic, Houston Food Bank, Little Red Box, Small Places, Common Market Texas, and Urban Harvest.
