Officials outline $5.2 million food security pilot program in Atlantic City

The Atlantic City Food Security Grants Pilot Program, funded by state and federal dollars, will provide grants ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 to fund projects to strengthen local food access. The grants can be used for direct and indirect project costs.

The program, which the NJEDA approved in October, is meant to act as a more immediate response to food access issues as residents await the construction of a full-fledged supermarket, which could take years, according to the authority.

As it stands, the city does not have a deal for a supermarket, despite two recent attempts to lure one.

In 2021, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority held a groundbreaking for an $18.7 million ShopRite on Baltic Avenue. But ShopRite eventually pulled out of the deal, frustrating politicians from Gov. Phil Murphy on down.

Then, in September of last year, the CRDA rejected four new supermarket proposals, citing the requested subsidies. Instead, the board voted to give the owner of the existing Save A Lot discount grocer in Renaissance Plaza a $250,000 grant to help with rent.

“Our focus has really broadened to include investments in food security, food access, alleviating food deserts,” said Tara Colton, chief economic security officer for the NJEDA, during a meeting the organization held Wednesday at Stockton University’s City Campus. “The fact that the state’s economic agency is putting its money where its mouth is — no pun intended — is a signal about the importance of combating hunger and combating food insecurity. It shows that this is not a handout, it’s an investment, and it has smart, strategic economic impact.”

Atlantic City and parts of Ventnor are considered food deserts due to their lack of food options, officials said.

“I’m very excited to see so many people here from presenting nonprofits and profits that are interested in providing enough food for everyone,” said Assemblyman Don Guardian, R-Atlantic. “No one should ever go to bed hungry, and no one should not be able to have a well-balanced meal. So whether we’re helping people to cook better meals, or we’re giving them food because they don’t have the money — because they’re trying to pay to live where they’re living or pay for the utilities — I think it’s great that we’re all here today.”

Guardian, who also served as mayor of Atlantic City, pointed out a variety of food security efforts in the city, like the Mighty Writers opening up a food pantry at 300 N. Tennessee Ave., the city and Ideal Institute of Technology opening up the Midtown Co-Op Market at 7 South Carolina Ave., AtlantiCare’s Community Mobile Market and Virtua Health’s Eat Well Atlantic City mobile supermarket.

The NJEDA has provided about $26.75 million in funding for projects in Atlantic City, so the food security program was another way the authority has showed its commitment to the city, Mayor Marty Small Sr. said.

“As you know, and it’s been well chronicled, that we had a severe letdown,” Small said. “We thought we had the deal with ShopRite to build a world-class supermarket, main branch supermarket for residents of this great city that they truly deserve, but we can’t harp on that. We have to move forward.”