Colorado Enterprise Fund (CEF) recently introduced the
Healthy Foods Fund to increase access to healthy foods across the state.
"We're the only Colorado entity or nonprofit involved in deploying those Healthy Foods Fund programs," explains CEF spokesperson Alisa Zimmerman. The fund offers loans of up to $250,000 to support retail grocers of all manner; packaging, processing and manufacturing food enterprises; food production companies; food distributors; urban agriculture projects and all segments of the food system in rural and urban areas of Colorado.
"There are a lot of areas, not just in urban parts of Colorado but throughout the state that are considered
food deserts," Zimmerman says. "We're looking forward to helping small businesses that are involved in everything from farming to retail -- to any point along the food system to enhance their particular enterprises with funding from us."
She says the goal is "to reach more people so that everybody in Colorado has access to fresh foods within a mile of their home."
"It's a comprehensive kind of approach to the healthy food markets in Colorado," Zimmerman continues. "Which I think we're already ahead of being aware of it. But how do we do it?"
Contact Confluence Denver Innovation & Jobs News Editor Chris Meehan with tips and leads for future stories at chris@confluence-denver.com.
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