Improving food access for people facing hunger with USDA-backed initiative
Improving food access for people facing hunger with USDA-backed initiative
The Southeast Regional Cooperative Inc. (SERC), a Feeding America network member, has worked alongside food banks and industry leaders across the Southeast to strengthen the charitable food supply chain through collaborative grant work. The SERC has coordinated this work over the past year and a half through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Resilient Food Systems Partnership (RFSP), a two-year grant that has brought together food bankers, growers and supply chain experts to work on improving access to nutritious food for neighbors facing hunger.
The grant has allowed the SERC and its partners to think beyond immediate needs and plan for the long term through shared distribution facilities, coordinated delivery networks, collaborative funding models and expanded services that give smaller food banks better access to produce while easing the load on the growers and carriers who make this work possible.
This grant has created an important opportunity for the SERC and its partners to move beyond short-term operational challenges and begin building a more coordinated, resilient and sustainable regional food system. Through collaborative planning, stakeholder engagement and committee-driven workstreams, the project helps identify practical solutions to improve logistics, middle supply chain operations, data coordination and long-term sustainability across the network. Participation has continued to increase throughout the project, with convenings bringing together industry leaders to discuss challenges, identify opportunities and shape a shared regional roadmap for the future.
The grant was supported by matching funds from Feeding the Carolinas, Feeding Florida, Feeding Georgia and the Georgia Department of Agriculture. A considerable in-kind donation of consulting services has also been provided by the Georgia State University Institute for Insight.
The scale of the existing network demonstrates both the importance and potential of this work. The SERC has distributed approximately 310 million pounds of produce through more than 25,000 transactions, generating an estimated $74 million in economic value over the last two years. The SERC serves as a vital bridge in the produce supply chain, connecting growers and processors across the Southeast with food banks and nonprofit partners. Over the past nine years, the SERC has built strong, lasting relationships with hundreds of farmers and producers throughout the region. By providing consistent demand to growers and supply chain partners, the SERC has created opportunities to procure fresh produce at competitive costs. This strategic sourcing model not only ensures a dependable supply of nutritious produce for partner food banks but also enhances product variety, quality and freshness for the communities they serve.
One of the most valuable outcomes of the RFSP grant has been the direct engagement of stakeholders in shaping priorities and solutions through the SERC’s in-person convenings of food bankers, growers, freight suppliers and middle supply chain experts held over two years. From these participants, the SERC established four focus-area committees: Logistics, Data & Technology, Middle Supply Chain and Long-Term Viability, which meet regularly to guide strategy development and roadmap planning. To support this work, the committees also distributed a food bank survey to better understand operational needs, capacity constraints, funding concerns and opportunities for collaboration.
Committee discussions and survey findings have validated key priorities, and recommendations have remained food bank-supported and grounded in operational realities. Stakeholders identified major challenges, such as transportation costs and funding instability. There was strong alignment around opportunities, such as regional collaboration and coordinated logistics planning. A key insight from this work is that many challenges facing the charitable food system are not necessarily caused by a lack of food supply, but rather by limitations in coordination, movement, infrastructure and visibility.
The RFSP grant has enabled the SERC and its partners to explore solutions with long-term regional impact. Discussions have included solutions around regional mixing and aggregation centers, shared transportation models and collaborative funding approaches. Participants highlighted strong potential for expanded value-added services that could improve access for smaller food banks while reducing burdens on growers and carriers.
Data and technology are also major focuses, with significant opportunities to leverage operational data collaboratively to support decision-making across the network, aligning closely with broader Feeding America initiatives around network-wide data coordination and enterprise resource planning modernization. In addition, the project has reinforced the importance of adaptability and long-term sustainability, as food banks continue to navigate rising costs, funding uncertainty and increased demand. Survey and convening feedback underscored the need for initiatives to build long-term resilience, such as diversified funding strategies and collaborative purchasing.
Most importantly, this grant has strengthened relationships across the network. The investment has created meaningful opportunities for collaboration, innovation and long-term strategic planning that will help strengthen the charitable food system across the region. The grant has also demonstrated the value of bringing diverse partners together to collectively address shared challenges and identify solutions that no single organization could tackle alone. As food banks and regional partners continue navigating an increasingly complex operating environment, opportunities like the RFSP grant play a critical role in helping organizations build stronger infrastructure, deepen collaboration and create more resilient food systems for the future.
As the project moves forward, the SERC and its partners will continue developing and finalizing a regional roadmap to be submitted to USDA in October 2026, focused on practical, scalable solutions. Upcoming convenings and committee discussions will help the SERC meet grant deliverables and provide real, collaborative solutions that will strengthen the network and continue increasing access to nutritious food for our neighbors facing hunger.
This work is made possible through the USDA’s Resilient Food Systems Partnership, and the SERC encourages organizations interested in advancing similar work in their communities to learn more and apply for the RFSP grant.
For more information on Feeding America and the SERC, visit feedingamerica.org or email [email protected].
