ARPA and VFAIF funding supports LEAP’s commitment to growing a resilient food system in Roanoke.
Local Environmental Agriculture Project (LEAP) is renovating a historic building in Roanoke’s West End neighborhood. Once construction is completed in 2023, this building will house a food hub, food processing operations, community space, fresh food retail outlet, farmers market, and office space.
At the start of Virginia Agriculture Week, a press event will be held at 1027 Patterson Ave SW. On Monday, June 13, from 1:30-3:00 pm the Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) will visit the property to celebrate a $50,000 VDACS grant awarded to LEAP to support this project. LEAP Director of Programs Kelly Key and Board Vice President Brent Cochran will discuss the project and answer questions. Site plans will be available to view.
This project allows LEAP to invest more deeply in a community where it has long-established roots and to significantly increase its efforts to bring more healthy, local food to all people. On this property, LEAP will add a retail space and consolidate operations from their three current locations: the food hub, where regional farmers deliver produce for use in LEAP’s Mobile Market, Farm Share, and Online Marketplace, currently at Heritage Point in Northeast Roanoke; the West End Farmers Market, located behind the Patterson Avenue branch of Freedom First Credit Union; and LEAP’s administrative offices now housed in Villa Heights, a restored historic property near Roanoke’s Melrose neighborhood.
The LEAP Kitchen will remain at 1210 Patterson Ave. The LEAP-run Grandin Village Farmers Market will continue to operate from the parking lot behind the Roanoke Co+op on Saturday mornings. The move does not affect the location of LEAP’s four community gardens.
In November 2021, LEAP was awarded a $2.5 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant from the City of Roanoke that provides funding to expand and enhance Roanoke’s local food system. In June 2022, LEAP was awarded a $50,000 Virginia Food Access Investment Fund (VFAIF) grant from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Together, these and other funding sources allow LEAP to more efficiently purchase, store, process, and distribute locally grown food to Roanoke residents. Components of the 1027 Patterson property include:
- Loading dock and aggregation space for locally grown and raised produce, meat, dairy, and grains
- Cold storage for perishable products
- Dry storage for locally made food products
- Equipment to process in-season fruits and vegetables for year-round eating (freeze, dry)
- A small retail space with emphasis on fruits and vegetables
- Community meeting space
- LEAP’s offices
- Expanded West End Farmers Market
- Home for the LEAP’s Mobile Market and other delivery vehicles
- Rooftop solar system and charging station for electric vehicles (EV)
The VFAIF funding supports community-driven projects that increase equitable access to fruits and vegetables, including those grown in Virginia. The VFAIF funding will be used to purchase display coolers and freezers for the retail space and commercial processing equipment to preserve peak in-season local produce that will decrease food waste, increase year-round availability of locally grown food, and provide frozen and dried local produce on the Mobile Market and in the West End retail store. In addition, all VFAIF recipients, just like all LEAP markets, provide nutrition incentives like Virginia Fresh Match (VFM).
VFM is a success story that began at the grassroots level and continues to thrive through support from local and regional partners. Since 2018, VFM has used federal grants through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support thousands of low-income families and hundreds of Virginia farmers. The concept is simple: when recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) use their benefits at participating VFM outlets, their dollars are doubled for purchases of fruits and vegetables. This incentive directly supports Virginia agriculture — every dollar of SNAP and match goes from a customer’s hand into a farmer’s pocket.
The retail space in West End will add another location for people who participate in SNAP to take home additional fruits and vegetables. Existing VFM outlets in the Roanoke area include the Roanoke Co+op, Historic Roanoke City Market, Grandin Village Farmers Market, West End Farmers Market, LEAP Mobile Market, Salem Farmers Market, Blacksburg Farmers Market, Floyd Farmers Market, Glade Road Growing, Feeding SW Virginia Mobile Marketplace, Rocky Mount Farmers Market, and more.
The project at 1027 Patterson will make fresh, locally grown produce more visible, available and affordable to community members in West End and throughout Roanoke. LEAP has been part of the West End community since the start of the West End Farmer Market in 2010. Maureen McNamara Best shares that “after thirteen years of slowly growing LEAP’s programs and backend systems, it is amazing to build a brick and mortar facility in the West End that is completely focused on food, community, and sustainability.”
For questions about the event on Monday June 13, please contact Laura Weatherford Burns at laura@leapforlocalfood.org or 540-989-1804.
About LEAP:
Local Environmental Agriculture Project (LEAP) is a Roanoke-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Founded in 2009, LEAP’s mission is to create an equitable food and farming system, which prioritizes health and abundance. LEAP programs include: two farmers markets, a mobile market, an online marketplace, a farm share, a food hub, a commercial kitchen, four community gardens, and robust nutrition incentive programs. LEAP also works with community partners from across the region on initiatives such as Farm to School and food system development. LEAP is the lead organization for Virginia Fresh Match, a statewide network of markets and retail outlets that make fruits and vegetables more affordable for SNAP participants.
For more information visit www.leapforlocalfood.org, www.virginiafreshmatch.org, and https://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/marketing-food-access-investment-fund.shtml