The Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP) at the University of Minnesota Extension continue to be at the forefront of supporting small, rural grocery stores across Minnesota. CERTs provided Aaron’s Grocery, a grocer located in Fertile, Minn., a seed grant to help install new coolers for fresh produce during the 2024 seed grant round. Zachary Paige, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Ag & Food Systems, Northwest RSDP, describes how this funding was further leveraged.
“I had the pleasure of working together with Aaron Bakke on his second application for the Good Food Access Program. It is a highly competitive grant, so we were all happy to see that he was awarded the funding,” notes Paige.
“Aaron's store in Fertile sort of checks all the boxes on who this grant is for. Fertile, Minn. is located in an area far from other grocery stores, and the community relies on Aaron's Grocery store for their regular food purchases.”
Paige is currently hosting a free monthly web series called Shelf Life, sharing opportunities and resources to aid grocery stores in Minnesota; the web series will be recorded in case you miss it the first time around. There is a session focused on grants, with Jenny Lezer of the Minnesota Department of Ag speaking more in depth about the grant program Aaron’s Grocery received, as well as Paige speaking about other grocery grant opportunities and grant writing strategies.
