Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP) has been awarded a significant sum of money that will go towards building its new Farmhouse Community Food Training & Resource Center. $385,000 was secured through Round Five of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Council initiative. Once built and operational the center will act as the heart of MAP’s food systems development model. The building, located at 389 Massachusetts Avenue, will house new indoor and outdoor training space, a teaching kitchen, a resource library, improved cold storage and tool storage space, and offices.
Along with urban youth training programs, the center will also be accessible by Buffalo residents, schools, community gardeners and organizations. This latest funding news is a huge step toward the completion of the facility. Additional past donors include Junior League of Buffalo, Wegmans, Patrick P. Lee Foundation, James H. Cummings Foundation, Assembly Member Sean Ryan, City of Buffalo, M&T Bank, Peter C. Cornell Trust, City Council Member David Rivera, Simple Gifts Fund, Children’s Foundation of Erie County, and individual donors.
The center will also be instructive in the following measures:
- Provide food and nutrition-related information
- Training to 15,000 people annually
- Increase access to healthy, affordable food
- Commercially licensed teaching kitchen for cooking classes
- Nutrition education and cooperative food prep clubs
- New meeting and training space
- Local food systems development
- Community involvement in food-based research and advocacy
- Home base for MAP’s innovative Growing Green Program
“We are grateful for this ringing endorsement from the Regional Economic Development Council. Food systems planning is a critical component of any healthy, economically sustainable municipality. The diverse public and private support we have received for the Farmhouse project will strengthen Buffalo’s national profile as a leader in urban agriculture and food systems planning,” said Diane Picard, MAP’s Executive Director.