Free Assistance to CFP Grant Applicants

For the past 10 years, CFSC has offered the following free services to help grant applicants understand the USDA's Community Food Projects program and submit a strong proposal. Thanks to USDA for supporting these services!

Read more about Community Food Projects grants.

Please note that it is extremely important to allow adequate time for both project planning and proposal writing. Developing an effective, collaborative project with multiple stakeholders takes time, and should be started well before the proposal deadline.

1) One-on-One Assistance to CFP Grant Applicants

CFSC is again sponsoring technical assistance specialists to help applicants with the 2010 CFP grant cycle. Zy Weinberg and Barbara Vauthier can help you decide whether or not to apply for a grant, clarify CFP program guidelines, address technical questions, provide feedback on program plans, review draft proposals, and/or refer you to others with expertise in specific areas. It is very helpful to start early to ensure that they will have adequate time to assist you. These consultants will likely assist 70-100 organizations this year, and if you wait until the last two weeks before the proposal deadline to request help, they may not be able to provide you with significant assistance.

If you would like to use this service, begin by reviewing the Guide described under Section 2 (below). Then contact Zy Weinberg via email at and let him know what kind of assistance you are seeking. He will reply by email to set up a phone appointment and/or make referrals for additional assistance if needed. You also may want to contact CFP program staff for information: Liz Tuckermanty at or (202) 205-0241, or Katrena Hanks at (202) 401-5286 or

CFSC will sponsor up to 1 hour of general assistance per CFP grant applicant at no cost, providing that a brief evaluation survey regarding this service is returned to CFSC. Applicants also may request additional assistance, at a fee of $70 per hour, but availability is at the discretion of the providers.

2) Written Guidance for Community Food Projects Grant Applicants

The first guide below is fairly comprehensive, covering what types of projects are eligible for CFP funding, how to develop a strong proposal, budget and match guidelines, and other topics. The other two guides are much shorter and focus on specific aspects of the CFP grant process.

• Guidance for Preparing Community Food Projects Proposals (15 pages, PDF format, updated October 2009)*
• Guidance for Preparing Planning Project Proposals (6 pages, PDF format, updated October 2009 with minimal revisions.)
• Electronic Submissions Advisory (7 pages, PDF format, updated October 2009 with minor revisions.)

*This guide has been reorganized and greatly condensed to make it easier to use. It still contains all the essential points, and the guidance has changed very little. However, it contains significantly less detail on some topics (especially project rating criteria and writing outcome-focused proposals). So, we are keeping the spring 2009 version of this guide [PDF] posted for those who may want this additional information.

If you are not able to access these documents, contact Aleta Dunne to request a hard-copy version.

3) Additional Assistance Available from Other Organizations

Additional Training and Technical Assistance is available from Growing Power and WHY (World Hunger Year). For more information, email .

Growing Power will sponsor a Community Food Project information session and planning workshop on November 1 at the Growing Food and Justice for All Gathering in Milwaukee. This will provide an opportunity for community leaders to learn about the CFP grant program, share information and strategies with peers, and sign up for technical assistance and training scholarships available in 2010.

4) View examples of successful Community Food Project proposals