Urban Action Community Development deployed $6MM of its Round 17 NMTC Allocation for the new construction, FFE, and working capital needs of a food bank in Winston-Salem, NC. The 142,500 sq. ft. Project will allow Second Harvest to combine the storage and operations of three disconnected warehouses, multiple cold storage trailers, and a separate office building into a modern, centralized community hub.

The utilization of the space includes – office and administrative space, culinary training space, and food distribution (ambient and cold storage). This will result in permanent improvements that will immediately build the Sponsor’s scale and capacity by:

• Simplifying and better managing a currently knotted and inefficient system of delivery and distribution
• Removing limitations to accepting additional resources and improving accessibility
• Increasing refrigeration and freezer space
• Adding new technologies such as a conveyor system and comprehensive real-time data collection to target assistance where the need is most urgent
• Welcoming and engage more volunteers and efficiently integrating all administrative functions
• Building upon the success of the nationally recognized Providence Culinary Training program and its social enterprises Overall, consolidating all operations into one facility will lead to a more cohesive, integrated organization.

The new headquarters will be in a more visible part of Winston-Salem, with easier access to downtown and local businesses. This will allow Second Harvest to attract more individual and group volunteers, as well as impact their efforts to highlight its dual mission of feeding its neighbors and providing a career path for those seeking to escape poverty.

In 2020, Second Harvest network distributed 49 million pounds of food (such as produce, meat, dairy, and healthier shelf-stable foods) across its 18-county region of Northwest North Carolina. In FY 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, over 138k unduplicated individuals (and 862k duplicated individuals) benefited from the network of food banks and pantries.