San Jose Standard

City of Long Beach issued the following announcement on Dec 16.

The City of Long Beach is seeking to contract with community-based nonprofits to provide food and nutrition-related services to populations experiencing high levels of food insecurity and/or barriers to food access as a result of the impacts of COVID-19 from Dec. 1, 2020 to March 20, 2021.

“By providing access to healthy food options to those most at-risk of severe illness we are safeguarding our community’s public health,” said Mayor Robert Garcia. “We strongly encourage micro-entrepreneurs, nonprofits and faith-based organizations with experience in providing healthy food services to respond to this very important request for proposals.”

Eligible organizations are encouraged to apply through the City of Long Beach’s Vendor Portal by 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 23. Details related to scope areas, eligibility requirements and submission instructions are available at PlanetBids. The City has also developed a video with instructions on how organizations can submit a proposal. 

Demand for food aid has increased among the City’s older adult population and low-income wage earners that have been unable to work due to business closures and have subsequently lost wages. Older adults, communities of color and people with underlying medical conditions are at the greatest risk of severe illness. The high rate of consumption of diets high in saturated fats, sugars and nutrient-poor foods contributes to the prevalence of obesity and Type-2 diabetes, and places these populations at an increased risk for severe COVID-19 complications and mortality.

In order to meet the needs within the community and reduce the risks of severe illness, hospitalization or death from COVID-19 for those with underlying chronic diseases associated with poor diet, the City is soliciting community projects to increase and improve access to healthy and affordable food for the most vulnerable residents.

For this RFP, Healthy Food Projects must focus in at least one of these areas:

• Costs for start-up or expansion of community-supported agriculture projects that have the ability to provide food to the community by March 20, 2021.
• Development and/or expansion of other food security related projects within the community.
• Outreach, promotion and assisting eligible individuals/families with enrollment in food-related resource programs, including government benefit programs to mitigate the economic impacts of COVID-19.
• Purchase/repair of equipment, such as refrigerators, portable food storage containers, SNAP/EBT equipment and processors, etc. if required for proper storage/transport of perishable foods and/or to accept SNAP/EBT for payment of healthy foods.
• Purchase of healthy food for food distribution events. Healthy foods are fresh produce and/or packaged foods low in sugar, fat and/or sodium consistent with USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
• Materials and supplies for packaging of healthy grocery kits/boxes for food distribution.

Selected organizations will be awarded between $10,000 and $50,000. The City anticipates awarding a total of $400,000 for this activity to 10 to 40 organizations.

The City continues to offer large-scale food distribution events as one strategy to improve food security. To stay informed about upcoming events, follow @LBHealthDept on Twitter.

The Health and Human Services Department continues to develop strategies to support segments of the community affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and will release additional RFPs to further these efforts. 

For the latest information on COVID-19, with details on all that the City of Long Beach is doing to keep our residents safe, visit longbeach.gov/COVID19 and follow @LongBeachCity on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.   

Original source can be found here.