Regional finance el paso tx12/31/2023 “PeopleFund believes that healthy small business growth is the key to economic recovery and development and that every person, no matter their background or economic situation, has the ability to become a successful entrepreneur and job creator given access to resources they need,” said Gary Lindner, President and CEO of PeopleFund. Evaluation of impact is assessed at each level. Other efforts funded through the HEAL initiative and coordinated through the IHL are targeting other layers of the pyramid. The County of El Paso HFFI initiative will provide grants and loans that are essential to the foundation of the Food Access Impact Pyramid. This means that applicants can also apply for loans through CDFIs like PeopleFund, resulting in a high return on investment for the County of El Paso.įood Access Impact: The Institute for Healthy Living, through support from the Paso del Norte Health Foundation’s Healthy Eating Active Living initiative, is working with partners to coordinate efforts to collectively improve access to healthy, affordable food in the Paso del Norte region. Indeed, PeopleFund, one of the state’s largest Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), has already pledged to match the county’s investment by putting up $500,000 of their own capital for financing eligible healthy food retail projects. Public investments in healthy food retail typically attract additional dollars from other sources – public and private – such as financial institutions, foundations, and state and federal funds. In the initial phase of the County HFFI program, local grocers, farmers, and other small businesses may be eligible to apply for funding for projects that increase access to healthy foods. “Programs like this not only lead to increased access to healthy food, they create new jobs as well.” This new program will drive economic development around healthy food retail,” said Commissioner Stout. “There is such a huge need to improve access to healthy, affordable food in our county. The El Paso County initiative will be the first ever county-level HFFI program in the United States. The initiative is based on best-practice examples from similar initiatives that have proliferated around the country as a tool for state and local governments to bring new supermarkets, grocery stores, and other food retail models to under-served communities. The El Paso HFFI is a public-private partnership that aims to increase access to healthy food for residents in our community by encouraging the development and expansion of healthy food retail and related infrastructure. Leah Whigham, Executive Director of the Institute for Healthy Living, answers questions about healthy food finance initiative best practices for the El Paso County Commissioners at a meeting on Dec. These guidelines passed unanimously with a 5-0 vote by the County Commissioners Court, who supported the allocation of $500,000 of the County Economic Development Impact Fund to kick off the initiative.ĭr. After several months of collaboration with the Paso del Norte Institute for Healthy Living at UTEP (IHL) and the American Heart Association, County Commissioner David Stout and the County Economic Development Department presented the final Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) Policy Guidelines for the County of El Paso. In response, the County of El Paso just took a major step to make healthy, affordable food easier to buy. El Paso County Creates First County-Led Healthy Food Financing Initiative in the CountyĮl Paso – One in four kids in El Paso County lives in a food-insecure home – a home where there is not enough money to consistently purchase healthy food.
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