When it comes to supporting communities, there is always more to do. The pandemic brought an increased focus to issues that have long been a challenge to the daily lives of many Americans, such as nutrition access, affordability and education. 

That’s why we launched a partnership between the African American Mayors Association (AAMA) and the American Beverage Foundation for a Healthy America (ABFHA) in which five cities with African American mayors will receive significant grants to advance essential programs that improve community health. Mayors will be able to apply the funds towards vital resources such as community gardens, mobile veggie and fruit stands and food security programs, and attract additional investments for the nutrition issues their cities are facing.

Funds from the program will go directly toward city programs that demonstrate measurable progress in increasing access to affordable basic nutrition needs, educational components that help market the program to a mayor’s community, provide community outreach or help educate citizens about the benefits of the program and towards programs with an initial investment that will attract matching grants or other investment dollars.

At the 2023 AAMA Annual Conference, $525,000 in grants were awarded to four cities and programs in three categories.

Large City:

Houston, Texas and the Young Agri-business Leaders of Houston

Medium City:

Newport News, Va., and the Sarfan Food Forest

Baton Rouge, La., and the Geaux Get Healthy Community Wellness Program

Small City:

Greenville, Miss., and the Food Corps program.

 

Learn more about the grant program here.