Healthy Food Access Project

Enterprise Community Partners is a national nonprofit organization that provides expertise and financing for affordable housing development for low and moderate income families. Enterprise recently developed the Green Communities Criteria, a points-based system that provides a framework and resources to build environmentally friendly, affordable homes. In New York City, all HPD-funded housing development projects are required to comply with the Criteria. The Access to Fresh, Local Food option of the Criteria allows developers to earn points for implementing a food access model into a residential development, which includes: community gardens or urban farms, farmers’ markets, and community supported agriculture. The Capstone team created a toolkit to guide developers through the decision making process of each food access model and tested the toolkit in a real-life simulation with a Community Development Corporation. The toolkit identifies the benefits and challenges of each food access model and provides resources to connect developers with experts in the field.