Our Mission:

increase access to healthy, affordable food in rural, suburban and urban communities

 

How do we do it?

Through Mass Food Trust Program’s business resources and financing tools, the MFTP helps launch and expand businesses that accomplish the mission. In addition to community health, businesses funded by MFTP increase economic opportunity and stimulate their local economy.

Africana Villa Market Owners, Springfield MA

mftp focuses on:

  • Independent businesses producing, promoting, and selling healthy food harvested or caught in Massachusetts.

  • Projects reaching underserved communities in Massachusetts.

    *MFTP considers the diversity and demographics of communities served and funded.

Interested in applying? Please review the eligibility requirements for support from MFTP

Mass Food Trust Project’s Origins

How to solve the challenge of food access

Communities across the Commonwealth lack a basic grocery store. Residents in these communities suffer disproportionately from:

  • high rates of obesity

  • diabetes

  • diet-related diseases

In addition, these same communities often lack decent jobs, something that grocery food stores can provide.

NOTE: The MFTP healthy food projects make the biggest difference on residents in the regions in red. In these towns, where it’s difficult to capitalize, innovative, flexible financing has a meaningful impact.

“2.8 million people in low-income areas in Massachusetts lack access to grocery stores, including over 700,000 children and 523,000 seniors.”
— The Food Trust

Note: For data collection, grocery stores were defined as food stores with annual food sales of $2 million or more. Low-income areas were based on incomes lower than the statewide per capita income level of $36,895.

The Massachusetts Food Trust Program brings capital into the Commonwealth’s food sector. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts launched this state-funded initiative in 2018 for underinvested regions with seed money from the Baker-Polito Administration in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR). The financing supports independent businesses and farmers in order to expand access to healthy food in underserved areas in the Commonwealth.