Jennifer Madden, a doctoral student at the Weatherhead School of Management and an adjunct instructor at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, wrote a Community & Economic Development Healthy Food Financing Initiative grant that was awarded nearly $788,673.
Madden’s grant, written for the nonprofit Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., was one of only 38 awarded across the country.
The YNDC is a community development corporation launched in 2009 that, through the nearly $800,000 grant, “proposes a convergence strategy building upon Youngstown assets both physical (vacant/abandoned land) and human (unemployed/underemployed poor residents) to develop a placed-based systems approach and scalable transformation strategy to create and sustain food entrepreneurs and ameliorate food insecurity,” Madden wrote. “This strategic neighborhood transformation will hire, train, and create entrepreneurship opportunities for low-income community residents. In addition to job creation, this initiative will build and expand healthy food infrastructure, expand local food offerings in corner stores and other retail outlets that will make fresh, affordable, nutritious food available to residents in food deserts throughout the City, providing food security.”
This is the second time Madden’s work has been awarded a Community & Economic Development Health Food Financing Initiative grant. Last October, a grant she wrote for Burten, Bell, Carr Development Inc. won $759,374 to create sustainable employment and business opportunities, improve access to healthy, affordable foods and promote education.
For more information on the grants, visit http://www.acf.hhs.gov/