Foodchain Inc

“No other documents are made available to the public”

“The Board has reviewed the 990 prior to filing.”

“Line 8 - Rounding”

“Part III, Line 1: FoodChain is located in the heart of an urban food desert, which constitutes a low-income census tract that is further than 1 mile from a grocery store, where residents struggle with both access to nutritious, wholesome ingredients as well as the food literacy that accompanies a diet high in these components. As a consequence, FoodChain aims to forge links between our community residents and fresh food with education and demonstration of ways in which fresh food can be grown, acquired, and/or prepared in order to improve the long-term health outcomes of this high-risk population, encouraging a more robust local food economy, and resulting in a more resilient community. Our model, which we believe is replicable in communities around the country, combines unique operations, including an indoor aquaponics farm and a teaching and processing kitchen.”

“Part III, Line 4a: Many of FoodChain's neighbors rely on dollar stores & convenience marts for their weekly shopping, with limited funds and transportation available to get to higher quality stores with a greater abundance of nutritious whole ingredients. Furthermore, with the reliance on SNAP dollars and other federal food benefit programs, the community has become increasingly dependent on highly-processed, shelf-stable "junk" food for their daily meals, resulting in generational diet-related illnesses, including heart disease, diabetes, and more. While this hunger-obesity paradox is in part a result of limited food access, it has been exacerbated by a decline in food literacy, where families no longer have the knowledge, equipment, and familiarity to prepare meals from fresh ingredients. FoodChain aims to address this deficiency by offering educational programs to teach cooking skills, exposing families to a wider array of cuisines and flavor profiles, inspiring more adventurous eating and kitchen confidence. Overtime, this food fluency program will cultivate more self-sufficient households, as food independence leads to greater welfare and economic sustainability of a community.”

“Part III, Line 4b: In many urban communities like our own, there are both high rates of unemployment and also unfilled jobs in the local food economy. Therefore, FoodChain aims to bridge these gaps by informing residents about job prospects, training them with the necessary knowledge for working in kitchens and food facilities, and even encouraging them to embark on enterprises of their own, by growing or founding food businesses to fill the voids in the marketplace. To do this most effectively, we've solidified dozens of partnerships with other entities, ranging from social service providers who help refer clients to our services and identify needs, all the way to celebrated chefs and elected officials who understand the need for a more confident, prepared, and enabled workforce. Because of these rich partnerships, we were well-prepared at the onset of Covid-19 in 2020 to pivot our operations to link together these same resources in a way to best ensure food insecure communities had access to freshly-made, wholesome meals.”

“Part III, Line 4c: While one answer to the limited access of our fresh food is to increase its availability through retail, FoodChain believes it is even more empowering to start at food production. Therefore, we operate our indoor, state-of-the-art aquaponics system, growing fish and greens year round in a recirculating system that reduces waste and conserves resources, while also generating thousands of pounds of food that can be used for revenue generation and nutritional access. By running our farm as a demonstration facility, hosting tours and workshops for thousands, we work to get individuals more involved in growing wholesome food, understanding where food comes from, and how these techniques could be replicated elsewhere to increase agricultural productivity while subsequently making fresh food available year-round for all.”