Austin Fresh is a collaborative grantmaking program, started in 2020, to increase access to healthy affordable food, support community gardens and local food production, grow food enterprises, and protect and strengthen food assistance programs in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago. The vision is an equitable Chicagoland region where all people have knowledge of and access to healthy food. Austin Fresh uses a place-based model focusing on listening to community needs and supporting community-owned solutions to make healthy food affordable and plentiful. To address issues of equity and racial justice, Austin Fresh recognizes the need to place Austin on a more just and equitable footing with regard to food access with an initial commitment of a minimum of $1M for each of five years (2020-2024) to support the neighborhood. In 2025, Austin Fresh completed an evaluation of early program impact and renewed their commitment through 2029.
In 2023, Austin Coming Together—a community-based organization coordinating the Austin Eats coalition to strengthen the healthy food ecosystem in Austin by synergizing food justice focused groups—began participating in the Austin Fresh grant-making process to ensure that community voices were included and community priorities were reflected in the funding priorities.
Fresh Taste Members and Participating Funders supporting Austin Fresh include Builders Vision Philanthropy, Food:Land:Opportunity, The Lumpkin Family Foundation, Walter S. Mander Foundation, and Christopher Family Foundation.
Austin Fresh 2025 Grantees
- Austin Coming Together—for Austin Eats, a coalition working to strengthen the healthy food ecosystem in Austin by increasing the collective impact of its member organizations to improve education and economic development outcomes for the community. $500,000 for two years
- Austin Community Food Co-Op—for further development and growth of its business plan and membership. Funds will support the Co-op’s current momentum towards store opening. $75,000
- Austin Garden Collective—for operational support to grow volunteer recruitment, direct food access, and improve their Community Garden spaces. $280,000 for two years
- Beyond Hunger— for its Home Delivery program to further expand healthy, local food access and nutrition education in Austin for homebound individuals. Beyond Hunger will utilize new partnerships to distribute more food to unhoused populations and purchase food from Austin vendors. $90,000
- BUILD Inc.—for the Austin Grown programming, garden maintenance, and staffing serving over sixty youth and hundreds of community members through youth programming, community education events, and weekly farm stands promoting food access and neighborhood pride. $150,000
- Circle Urban Ministries—for its Seed 2 Success program to deliver fresh, year-round produce to families in Austin. Circle Urban Ministries will retrofit their Freight Farm with hydroponic and electrical systems to ensure a successful first year of cultivation. $100,000
- Evolved Network, NFP—for its Redefining Access Project delivering immersive, relationship-centered experiences for youth in Austin schools and community centers focused on gardening, cooking, and shared presence. $35,000
- Food Access Project—for its Coordinated Delivery for Individuals with Disabilities living in the Austin Community project providing monthly grocery deliveries and fresh produce to disabled individuals facing food insecurity in and around Austin. $120,000
- GSJ Family Life Center—for its Circle of Nourishment project, building on the success of its Austin Incubator Kitchen. Through hands-on gardening, culturally responsive nutrition classes, and a low-cost meal line, Circle of Nourishment advances food sovereignty, chronic disease prevention, and access to employment. $132,000
- Jehovah Jireh #1 Outreach Ministry—for its Austin storefront food pantry operations, including providing residents with fresh produce, non-perishables, dairy, and hot meals as a violence prevention strategy. $50,000
- NeighborSpace— for its Advanced Incubator Farm project to expand neighborhood-based economic and food systems strategy through supporting urban agriculture initiatives. The incubator farm will transform underutilized Austin land into productive, community-centered growing space for beginning and mid-level farmers to cultivate crops, receive mentorship, and connect to local food distribution systems. $450,000 for two years
- One Earth Collective— for its Austin Eats Food Education Film & Action Programs that occur twice annually. One Earth Collective integrates storytelling with experiential community engagement addressing food justice and health disparities in the Austin neighborhood. $30,000
- PCC Community Wellness Center— for their Diabetes Self-Management Education & Support Services program. The program will increase distribution of monthly local produce boxes to participants alongside cooking classes and diabetes management education. $50,000
- Task Force Prevention and Community Services— for their food pantry program serving Austin families and LGBTQ+ youth of color. The food pantry is embedded within their broader network of holistic support services addressing interconnected needs such as professional development, housing, and affirming medical care for LGBTQ+ youth of color. $30,000
- West Side Health Authority— for The Butchers Path: Workforce Apprenticeship Program. The 12-month program will partner with Forty Acres Fresh Market in Austin to train an apprentice butch in whole-animal butchery and other skill development. $50,000
Grantee Resources
The 2026 applications cycle will open in August 2026. Current grantees can use the online system to access files and submit reports. Sign up for our newsletter to receive initiative announcements.
Learn more about Fresh Taste’s related initiative, North Lawndale Fresh, here.