Houston Food Bank Receives ARPA Grant from Harris County

HOUSTON, TX -- As Texans continue to cope with the lingering effects of the pandemic and manage the current impact of inflation, on average more than one million people in southeast Texas experience the struggle of food insecurity on any given day, lacking consistent access to nutritious foods. About one in six Texans lives at or below the poverty level, including many minority-owned businesses such as hyperlocal, small farmers and food producers. But a new $3.5 million grant from Harris County to Houston Food Bank being announced today will help these hard-working businesses while also providing more nutritional food assistance to the community.

Signed into law on March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) provides $350 billion in additional funding for state and local governments. These funds can be used to address the negative economic impacts caused by public health emergencies; replace lost public sector revenue; provide premium pay for essential workers; and invest in broadband infrastructure.

“The $3.5 million ARPA grant that Houston Food Bank is receiving today is a continuation of the amazing ongoing support that Harris County has given to the organization and the community which we serve,” says Brian Greene, president/CEO of Houston Food Bank. “Houston Food Bank’s partnership with Harris County during the pandemic was crucial, and the continued support will continue to have a positive impact upon individuals and businesses in the most populous county in Texas and the third most populous county in the United States.”

Houston Food Bank will use the ARPA Grant funds in a three-prong strategy to expand capacity, operations, and partnerships.


• Strategy One: Expanding Capacity
Houston Food Bank will strengthen relationships with and support HUB-certified, socially disadvantaged farmers and/or minority-owned food producers to expand capacity by purchasing and distributing $500,000 of food which will provide over 320,000 nutritious meals to families in targeted zip codes during the two-year grant cycle. The money will increase purchases of local food from socially disadvantaged producers and provide additional variety and culturally relevant products to underserved communities. (Hyperlocal refers to items raised, produced, aggregated, stored, processed, or distributed in the locality or region where the final product is grown/produced).

• Strategy Two: Expanding Operations
Houston Food Bank’s goal is to ensure that a minimum of 15 residents from priority zip codes are engaged over the course of one year. The Community Engagement Department will deploy a year-long resident engagement and data collection effort to inform parallel implementation and sustainability efforts. Accomplishing this goal will ensure that the resources and services mobilized (1) meet neighborhood needs, (2) have a quantifiable impact and (3) permit for resident involvement.

• Strategy Three: Expanding Partnerships
This strategy will help develop community ambassadors. The goal is to increase the efficiency and capacity of Houston Food Bank’s partner network to distribute more nutritious and culturally appropriate foods to Harris County residents experiencing hunger. The Partner Services/Capacity team will accomplish this goal through work with and feedback/input from the partner network. These partner network infrastructure grants, partner hub grants, and supplemental labor support for the partner network will result in an estimated 3,860,000 additional nutritious meals provided to the community each year.

From the grant, $1.1 million is going into existing partnerships, and $1.35 million will be going to existing Houston Food Bank sub-grantees (Target Hunger, Brighter Bites and Plant it Forward Farms).

“Houston Food Bank is excited to start this important work which we hope will be a structure/format/program that we can use in the future in our 18-county coverage area in the future,” says Greene. “As our communities continue to grow, we need to remain mindful of the importance of our neighborhoods and the local communities, what they create for our families and small businesses. Houston Food Bank’s vision is ‘A world that doesn’t need food banks,’ and to make this vision a reality, we will continue to commit ourselves to work directly with the community. We also commit to Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion throughout our organization and across the community. We will incorporate and promote diverse voices and perspectives to address structural and racial inequities.”

For more information on Houston Food Bank and its programs, visit houstonfoodbank.org or call 713-223-3700.