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Lawmakers Hear Support for Reauthorizing Rural Grocery Sustainability Grant with $1 million Request
Summary
The Senate Government Operations Division heard testimony urging reauthorization of a rural grocery sustainability grant (Senate Bill 2228) and a $1,000,000 appropriation to help rural communities preserve and reopen grocery stores, with witnesses arguing matching funds and flexible eligibility will stretch the funding.
Chairman Wanzick convened the hearing on Senate Bill 2228, a bill to reauthorize the Rural Grocery Sustainability Grant and include a $1,000,000 appropriation, as lobbyists, regional leaders and state officials explained how the money would be used and why it remains needed.
Ellen Huber, rural development director for the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives, told the division that the program, piloted in 2023, helped communities collaborate on purchasing and distribution to improve price, availability and variety of fresh foods. “Small towns do matter,” Huber said, adding that grocery stores are “as essential to small‑town survival as water, emergency services and health care.”
Huber described how the pilot funded feasibility studies, business planning and…
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