$200,000 Available in
Public-Private Grant Funding to Strengthen Local Food System in Rhode Island
Providence, RI - January 2014 - The Rhode Island Department of Environmental
Management (RIDEM) will be accepting grant applications for the Local Agriculture
and Seafood Act (LASA) Grants Program. The Local Agriculture and Seafood Act
of 2012 established a grants program within RIDEM’s Division of
Agriculture for small or beginning farmers, seafood marketing and
organizations/related activities supporting the growth and marketing of local
food and seafood in the state.
The
LASA Grants Program is made possible by a unique and unprecedented
public-private partnership with $100,000 in funding from the State of Rhode
Island and $100,000 in matching funds from the van Beuren Charitable
Foundation, the Henry P. Kendall Foundation and the Rhode Island Foundation.
The LASA Grants Program Advisory Committee, established to
advise and assist the RIDEM in matters related to the LASA Grants Program, will
be chaired by the Chief of the Division of Agriculture and will have two
members representing the RI Food Policy Council, David Dadekian and Sheila
Brush.
LASA
Grants Program application materials will be released on February 15 with an
April 1 deadline to apply. Further information will be available on the
RIDEM and RIFPC websites in early February.