Montgomery Council Introduces $10.5M Special Appropriation for Food Security

$10.5 million food security initiative spearheaded by Council Member Will Jawando would be administered through a public-private partnership with the Greater Washington Community Foundation.

Jawando
Montgomery County Council Member Will Jawando

The Montgomery County Council yesterday introduced a special appropriation of $10.5 million to the FY 2020 budget in order to address food security challenges of County residents, while simultaneously supporting local food banks, restaurants, and farmers through a public-private partnership with the Greater Washington Community Foundation. The full Council sponsored this special appropriation that was initiated by Council Member Will Jawando.

This appropriation would provide up to $500,000 to the Greater Washington Community Foundation to initiate and administer the Montgomery County Food Security Fund, which would accept private donations that will support the implementation of a food security response strategy. This appropriation would also provide $10 million to implement the strategy with the goal of raising $5,000,000 in private donations.

According to a County Council press release:

Councilmember Jawando introduced the concept of a public fundraising program structured around incentives to draw greater participation from major donors while including smaller individual donors and expanding the base of overall participants supporting food security efforts. The County will enter into a public-private partnership with the Greater Washington Community Foundation to establish the Montgomery County Food Security Fund to support the implementation of the food security response strategy.

This effort will not compete with the fundraising efforts of local non-profits; it will instead be another way for funds to be secured and used to support food security. After discussions with the Office of Emergency Management, the County is able to accept and disburse funding via grants, however donations made to the Greater Washington Community Foundation have the advantage of being tax deductible.

The Council is tentatively scheduled to receive public testimony on the special appropriation on June 23 at 1:30 p.m.

View the Council staff report here.