PHOENIX, AZ - For those of us born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Sprouts Farmers Market is a community staple—a go-to destination for high-quality fruits and vegetables any day of the week. However, the retailer goes far beyond providing fresh produce to shoppers to demonstrate an unwavering commitment to the people in its communities. The Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation recently presented $3 million in grants to bolster local food systems.
“Sprouts is committed to strengthening local food systems by providing our communities with access to fresh, nutritious food and empowering children with the knowledge and resources to live a healthier life,” said Sprouts Chief Executive Officer Jack Sinclair. “Our Foundation’s work with local partners in this effort is just one of the many ways Sprouts is growing goodness in our communities.”
The recent investment will go toward improving school garden learning, nutrition education, and expanding equitable access to food, according to a press release. The Foundation has granted $15 million to over 300 nonprofit partners since its inception in 2015, bringing hands-on, garden-based learning to 1.5 million children and offering nutrition education programs to an estimated 900,000 K-12 students. Sprouts Farmers Market covers all of the Foundation’s operational expenses to ensure every dollar raised goes directly to programming.
This year, 115 nonprofit organizations received grants from Sprouts, nearly a quarter of which are first-time grant recipients. Of the $3 million granted, $2.2 million will go toward capacity and infrastructure development for school garden support organizations and strengthening community-based food systems. Fifteen of the nonprofit organizations will provide apprenticeship programs to industrious teens through hands-on agriculture and business career experience, 70 run gardening programs in schools or in the community, and 42 provide family programming to bring children and their parents together to learn about nutrition and gardening.
“Our partner organizations are led by incredible changemakers working at the neighborhood level to build healthy, vibrant communities and to make healthy habits rewarding and enjoyable for children and families,” said Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation Executive Director Lyndsey Waugh. “With this in mind, we value the importance of working with our partners for the long haul, and have invested in organizational capacity, program infrastructure, and multi-year funding to empower these leaders to be as effective in their work as possible.”
Not only does this recent move benefit the community, but the Foundation's investment is also yielding a better future for fresh produce by promoting a further interest in buying fresh.
A list of the 2021 grant recipients can be found here.
A round of applause goes out to Sprouts Farmers Market and the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation for their dedicated efforts to bolster the produce industry and the local communities it serves.
