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The Growing Good Food Awards
What began as a way for Texas Health Resources to support the infrastructure needs of two fledgling urban farms in 2020 has sprouted into a unique community awards program aimed at improving nutrition security in North Texas.
Texas Health Community Hope, where Texas Health Resources lives its mission to improve community well-being, today announced funding awards totaling $105,285 to 10 local groups that are working to make healthy food more affordable and accessible.
Now officially in its second year, the “Growing Good Food” awards program is designed to support organizations that are working to improve the North Texas healthy food system but may lack the capacity to navigate larger, more complex grant applications. Twelve local organizations have received a total of $198,285 since the program started in 2023.
Photo courtesy of Texas Health Community Hope
“We understand the barriers many organizations face when seeking funding. We want to remove some of those hurdles to ensure that well-meaning nonprofits can access the resources they need to drive positive change in their community,” said Matt Dufrene, a vice president of Texas Health Community Hope. “We looked for projects that take a holistic, systemic approach to making healthy, affordable and locally grown food available in our community, and these projects show dedication and passion.”
They are:
- Tabor Farms in Fort Worth addresses food and community inequalities through cultivating food and transforming the community. Tabor Farms will use funding to repair its wellhouse, which shelters a well that extends 650 feet into the ground. The water supplied by that well is essential for irrigating the urban farm.
- Community Link in Saginaw will develop a freight farm, a community farm that makes farm-fresh food accessible to the community. The freight farm will support Community Link’s food pantry and farmers market, providing up to 1,000 families with fresh greens. Community Link will also sell some of the produce at their own farmers markets and support other pantries serving the larger community.
- Southside Community Garden will address food inequities in the 76104 ZIP code, whose residents have the lowest life expectancy in the state of Texas. Southside Community Garden currently operates 80 gardens at various local residents’ homes so they can grow their own fresh fruits and vegetables. Funding will help revitalize those gardens with fresh soil, mulch, seedlings, fertilizer, and other supplies.
- Timberview Farmstead in Fort Worth educates and empowers young people in Tarrant County and beyond to lead more deeply rooted lives through farm-based learning and the embrace of unreasonable hospitality. Timberview Farmstead will provide monthly subscription boxes of community supported agriculture produce to its neighbors, enabling them to maintain healthier diets.
- Tarrant County Food Policy Council: Urban Agriculture in Fort Worth helps individuals and organizations learn to grow healthy food for themselves and their communities in a sustainable manner. The nonprofit will use its award to provide tours of successful local farms and community or school gardens to offer a greater understanding of how local gardens and farms uplift communities and give attendees opportunities for hands-on learning.
- Ridglea Giving Garden (RGG) in Fort Worth cultivates community garden space to produce healthy food for neighbors in need. RGG, which began operations in early 2024, will purchase supplies and tools as well as fund site improvements needed to sustain its garden.
- New Life Farms in Dallas provides fresh food in the heart of multiple food deserts. Its mission is to empower and nourish its community by cultivating a vibrant and sustainable oasis. In addition to growing fresh fruits and vegetables, New Life Farms offers training for Texas A&M University students and community members. With its award, New Life Farms will provide water and electricity to its urban farm site.
- Grow North Texas in Dallas connects North Texans to food, farms, and communities. It believes that a sustainable regional food system enriches the land, provides economic opportunities, and increases equitable access to healthy, nutritious, culturally appropriate food for all residents. With its award, Grow North Texas will support its Owenwood Farm Project, which provides a living demonstration of what can be done with open, vacant land in Dallas.
- Urban Roots, NTX DBA FunkyTown Food Project in Crowley integrates agriculture, enterprise, and service to offer a rigorous, practical urban farming experience. The nonprofit will purchase a used refrigerated van that will maintain the integrity of its fresh produce during transportation and enable it to expand food delivery service to more communities in need.
- CC Food Project (Compost Carpool) in Grapevine bridges the gap between abundance and hunger through food recovery — the practice of collecting fresh, edible food that would have otherwise gone to waste. The organization also advocates for local farms and teaches food preservation skills. With its award, CC Food Project will rescue more culled produce and show the community how it can extend the life of fruits, vegetables, and other food items.
In 2023, the Growing Good Food awards helped Tarrant County Food Policy Council organize farm and garden tours to share best practices for addressing challenges faced by produce growers; FunkyTown Food Project hired summer interns who cultivated leadership skills through food and farming; YMCA Camp Carter re-established a sustainable community garden; Restorative Farms grew produce and distributed thousands of community supported agriculture boxes; and Compost Carpool created a point of contact for an urban composting facility, the first one of its kind in this area.
Photo courtesy of Texas Health Community Hope
“The pandemic taught us that nutrition insecurity is a real concern in many of the communities we serve, and we know that a healthy diet is the key to a healthy life,” Dufrene said. “These Growing Good Food awards are just another way in which we are working to improve the health of the people in the communities we serve, beyond hospital walls.”
Growing Good Food awards are part of a larger effort by Texas Health to improve nutrition security throughout North Texas. That includes initiatives like the Good For You Healthy Hub and Double Up Food Bucks initiatives, which give families access to free or reduced cost fresh produce. Texas Health also supports urban farmers and leads a comprehensive learning garden initiative that has helped build or restore gardens in 40 area schools across five North Texas school districts.
Earlier this year, Texas Health also joined forces with Gallup to conduct a study in Dallas, Parker, and Tarrant counties to identify the underlying factors causing nutrition insecurity. Results of that report are expected by the end of 2024.
Learn more about these healthy food initiatives at TexasHealthCommunityHope.org.
Photo courtesy of Texas Health Community Hope
