Cold Chain Grants for Emergency Food Assistance

The purpose of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Cold Chain Grants for Emergency Food Assistance (CCG) is to support food assistance entities to temporarily store, effectively package, and distribute fresh and minimally processed foods through cold chain equipment investments. This will be achieved primarily through small investments in refrigeration, freezers, refrigerated/freezer vehicles and trailers, and repackaging equipment. CCG program investments help put U.S. farmers and ranchers at the center of solving the nation’s chronic health problems, support recovery of foods that would otherwise go to waste, improve food and agricultural supply chain resilience, and ensure that all families, regardless of circumstance, can access Real Food. The resulting increased capacity for food banks, food pantries, and similar entities will help ensure more nutrient-dense proteins and other healthy foods be made available in support of healthier families and healthier communities and in alignment with the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Eligible entities are described in the program’s Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) as nonprofit corporations, organizations, or institutions, including nonprofits with State or Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) status where no part of the organization’s or institution’s net earnings inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual. This may include charitable organizations or private foundations. AMS prioritizes awards to nonprofits that demonstrate the capacity to implement and manage a competitive subaward program funding others to conduct projects that meet the goals of the program. This includes competitive application solicitation, application review, award, oversight, and reporting. Applicants must be domestically owned, and their facilities must be physically located within the 50 States of the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Beneficiaries include eligible subaward entities such as emergency food assistance outlets, food banks, food pantries, faith-based organizations, and other public or private nonprofit organizations that provide nutrition assistance to people with low-income or challenging financial circumstances, by providing prepared meals or food for use at home. End beneficiaries are individuals and families seeking emergency food assistance from these outlets.

AMS outlines the application requirements and merit review process in each grant program’s NOFO. Applicants are required to use the NOFO to apply for grant funds. After the application deadline has passed, AMS begins a three-step process to evaluate each application submitted to the grant program and select applications for funding. Grant agreements are established with applicants based on the results of this three-step process to ensure compliance with requirement that Federal awarding agencies maintain a fair, unbiased merit review process in selecting competitively awarded grants. The Initial Qualification Screening is Step 1. In this step, the application is reviewed to ensure that they meet the NOFO’s basic requirements. Applications that meet these basic requirements move forward to Step 2. Step 2 is the evaluation by an internal or external review panel of subject matter experts. Each reviewer signs a conflict of interest and confidentiality agreement regarding any assigned applications. Peer review panels evaluate assigned applications using instructions prepared by AMS officials. Individual reviewers score applications and discuss with panel members to arrive at a consensus score. AMS then uses the scores as the basis for selecting applications that will go to administrative review. AMS will conduct Step 3, a final administrative evaluation of each review panel’s top scoring applications. In addition to the scores, AMS reviews each application to ensure that potential recommended projects align with the scope of this NOFO, allowability of budget items, available funding, geographic coverage/variety and USDA priorities. AMS staff will work with top-scored applicants to negotiate any revisions as necessary and possible.

More information can be found at www.ams.usda.gov/grants.