Pueblo Food Project eyes grant to continue its mission to create equitable food system

Pueblo Food Project is set to submit an application for another grant from the Colorado Health Foundation, program manager Megan Moore told Pueblo City Council during a work session last week.

The organization's current Colorado Health Foundation grant expires in late September. The new grant would award Pueblo Food Project $400,000 over two years.

“This will be another set of money to continue our mission,” Moore told The Chieftain.

The latest grant would be the third round of funds provided to Pueblo Food Project by the Colorado Health Foundation. The organization was first given seed money and was later awarded implementation funds to further its plans.

Pueblo Food Project provides a community-wide impact

Pueblo Food Project, a community coalition with more than 150 members, distributed 23,000 food items from its pantry on the East Side and spent $356,402 in local food procurement in 2021. The coalition also served more than 500 families with meal kits.

In recent years, the organization has had additional funds to operate with — its budget increased from $85,000 in 2019 to $455,000 in 2021, all of which was provided by the Colorado Health Foundation and other entities. Pueblo Food Project used most of those funds to replenish its community pantry to support its mission to create an equitable food system in Pueblo County.

So far in 2022, the coalition has been awarded $370,000.

“The purpose of what we do is to make sure that we change the food system,” Moore said. “The food system touches people every day, whether or not they know it.”

The coalition’s youth council, which consists of high school and college-aged students, has also distributed meal kits and organized community cooking classes.

In its research, youth council members found students their age have an interest in eating healthy but struggle to package ingredients and healthy eating concepts together. The classes assisted those students in blending those ideas with a focus on health, Moore said.

Pueblo Food Project partnered with Civic Canopy, another nonprofit, to evaluate its programs and implement a distributed leadership model — using a community-oriented approach — as it maps out its future.

Pueblo Food Project provides food assistance to more than 20 organizations. One of those beneficiaries is Pueblo Rescue Mission, a shelter for people experiencing homelessness. The rescue mission uses Pueblo Food Project’s pantry as a food source to help feed dozens of residents and 2,000 to 6,000 visitors a month who seek outreach meals.

“What they do provide for us is extremely beneficial and it would definitely be a void — causing us to be scrambling and searching for additional donations — if we did not have them,” said Melanie Rapier, executive director for Pueblo Rescue Mission. “It’s a significant contribution.”

The rescue mission orders food from Pueblo Food Project on a weekly basis and provides outreach meals every day at 4:30 p.m. It receives private donations and additional products from Care and Share Food Bank, but the majority of its food comes from Pueblo Food Project.

Staff members at Pueblo Rescue Mission typically provide balanced meals to residents and visitors that feature protein, vegetables and fruits, which is made possible by Pueblo Food Project’s mission, Rapier said.

On Tuesday, 32 visitors, were at the rescue mission’s door — 12 to 14 of which were children — ready for a meal.

Some of Pueblo Rescue Mission’s residents use the shelter to save funds as they go through a transitional residential program, and many are waiting for subsidized housing opportunities; others may be experiencing financial setbacks after losing a job.

“(Pueblo Food Project) is beneficial for us because we have a 99-bed facility,” Rapier said. “We have residents that we have to feed daily with the food that’s provided by Pueblo Food Project.”

Planning for the future

Pueblo Food Project also introduced community meal prep classes last year. During a brainstorming session among parents, it was deduced that families needed more ways to connect with recipes and healthy food options while cooking together.

The classes are held once a month, with families as their target audience. In each session, participants learn to cook alongside one another and establish healthy eating habits, Moore said.

The nonprofit coalition also wants to establish research and evaluation tools so it can get a better sense of where it’s making an impact.

On Monday, Pueblo City Council approved a request to promote Moore’s part-time status as a program manager to a full-time role. The position will last through June 30, 2025, and be covered by a State of Colorado Department of Law grant.

Moore will be tasked with developing a succession plan for Pueblo Food Project to outline transition activities and determine its next steps — the organization's partnership with Civic Canopy is expected to assist with these efforts.

Moore said the coalition is investing some of its work to connect with non-English speakers in Pueblo County and is in discussions with One Colorado, a nonprofit in Denver, on how to better serve Pueblo’s LGBTQ community.

Chieftain reporter Josue Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo Food Project eyes third grant to continue community mission