Washington, D.C. — This week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a new Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) that will award up to $400 million for food assistance purchases of domestic local foods, directing funding to historically underserved farmers and ranchers. This announcement reflects a critical transition in our nation’s pandemic-related response, moving us from stopgaps designed to support local farmers and combat food insecurity to transformative, future-facing investments that will build community resilience by redesigning our nutrition system for the 21st century.
Statement from Jeremy Cooley, Founder and CEO, Tangelo
Tangelo is a proven, turnkey food benefits platform that will allow state agencies to complete their LFPA programs to efficiently strengthen local and regional food systems. Tangelo has experience through — and stands ready to partner on — the entire LFPA pipeline of activities.
In our LFPA partnerships, Tangelo will help facilitate the distribution of food benefits directly to rural, low-income, and underserved people — communities traditional food systems have failed to serve. We will utilize local and socially disadvantaged farmers, ranchers, and producers to supply and deliver fruits, vegetables, and other healthy food to these beneficiaries’ doorsteps. Through in-app social needs assessments and instantaneous data dashboards on program implementation and effectiveness, Tangelo will also empower state agencies with the data necessary to maximize the effectiveness of LFPA funding and strengthen a fair, competitive, and resilient food system.
When this limited program ends, Tangelo will bridge the gap from LFPA funding to support programs like SNAP or simply credit card purchases — helping fulfill the program goal of sustainable, systemic change. Tangelo stands ready to help the USDA and states transform vision into reality and start building a better food system today.
About Tangelo
Tangelo is a proven, turnkey technology platform that increases access to nutritious foods by designing, administering, and evaluating nutrition programs that deliver public and private funds to underserved communities efficiently at scale. Focused on improving the affordability and accessibility of healthy, locally-sourced foods today, Tangelo helps sustainably reduce food insecurity, lower health care costs, and increase economic mobility tomorrow. Tangelo’s platform has been used by large public sector entities, hospital systems, and nonprofits to support and strengthen communities across the country.
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