Contra Costa County is accepting grant applications for high-impact projects

White Pony Express was trying to develop an app that would make it easier for grocery stores, restaurants and other small businesses to alert volunteer food runners when they had excess food that could be redistributed. So the nonprofit, which is based in Concord, applied for and received $100,000 from the Contra Costa County Innovation Fund grant.

“It made a lot of things possible because we were a little bit stuck, where we had the technology, but the technology needed some enhancements,” said Eve Birge, White Pony Express CEO.

With the help of the app, the organization collects an estimated 12,000 pounds of excess food daily, which its volunteers sort and quickly redistribute in refrigerated trucks to 98 nonprofit service providers. 

White Pony Express was one of five agencies to receive money from the county’s first Innovation Fund offering in 2023. The county is accepting applications until Oct. 7 for another round of grants from the $2 million Innovation Fund. Varying amounts will be distributed to 10 high-impact projects that increase equitable access to public service and remove the barriers that cause poverty and injustice.

The Innovation Fund Grant Program is a competitive grant funded by Measure X, a half-cent sales tax that began in 2021 to support health, emergency and other safety-net services. The program has two phases — concept and implementation — and is seeking projects that fall within various categories, including food and agriculture, infrastructure and the environment. 

“What differentiates the Innovation Fund from traditional grant-making programs is that we are not seeking to fund or just expand existing successful programs, but we’re looking to invent new programs that didn’t previously exist in our area,” Senior Deputy County Administrator Julie Enea said. 

While there is a higher risk in projects without proven success, Enea said there is a high potential for community impact and progress. 

“What is exciting to me about this Innovation Fund is that it allows us to experiment and test some new ideas and new concepts that are unproven,” Enea said.

The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, another 2023 recipient, applied to the Innovation Fund in hopes of building refrigerated food lockers around the county. Agency Relations Manager Erin McKinney said a former programs director believed that lockers would help the food bank provide to those who could not obtain food through the traditional pantry distribution system. 

After receiving over $700,000 through the Innovation Fund, the idea turned into a reality, as the food bank is on track to install lockers at four sites before the end of this year. 

“This is a project that probably would not have gotten off the ground if it was not grant funded,” McKinney said. “Because it’s such an innovation for our food bank in the area, I believe it would not have gone anywhere had we not gotten this innovation grant.”

More information about the fund and how to apply for grants is on the county website.

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