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Montgomery County food-systems office seeks new education grant funding as some programs face reductions
Summary
The Office of Food Systems Resilience outlined a FY27 plan that adds a $150,000 food‑systems education grant while recommending reductions—$230,779 to Food as Medicine and $150,000 to retail food access—part of a $13.8 million FY27 budget package the committee reviewed and concurred with for council consideration.
Heather Breskin, director of Montgomery County’s Office of Food Systems Resilience, told the Health & Human Services committee that FY27 will continue the office’s multi‑year shift from scattered contracts to targeted, competitive grant programs and stronger data and procurement systems.
Breskin said the county executive’s recommended FY27 budget for OFSR is roughly $13.8 million, an increase from FY26 that includes a one‑time $150,000 program enhancement for a new Food Systems Education Grant and a modest compensation increase. "We have been intentionally crafting our approach and our strategy," Breskin said, describing efforts to consolidate non‑competitive contracts into grants and to align common impact metrics across partners.
The committee packet shows proposed programmatic reductions totaling about $380,000: a $230,779 cut to the Food as Medicine grant program (about a 31% decrease from FY26 levels) and a $150,000 reduction to the retail food access program. Council staff said the retail reduction would still allow the MC Groceries enrollment to remain stable under current administrative capacity; OFSR staff noted the reductions are intended to reduce overlap and shift resources where they can have greater impact.
Breskin emphasized OFSR’s response to federal funding shifts that prompted last year’s special appropriations: roughly $1.85 million of a council special appropriation was distributed to 53 community organizations through community food assistance grants, with additional targeted allocations (including $750,000 to the Capital Area Food Bank and a $150,000 pilot “silver market” for older adults). "These are things that we're keeping in mind," she said, noting cuts at the federal level to SNAP outreach and SNAP‑Ed have constrained outreach capacity.
Program details the office highlighted: MC Groceries (supporting more than 1,400 children in its current iteration), partnerships to provide short‑term Fresh Funds vouchers for refugees and people without kitchens, incorporation of food recovery into grant funding, and Maryland Market Money purchases that emphasize local procurement (OFSR staff reported roughly 41% of grant‑purchased food sourced from the Mid‑Atlantic region). "We need to layer on top of that infrastructure that's adaptable," Breskin said, describing a triple‑bottom‑line approach that balances social, environmental and economic outcomes.
Council staff reported the OFSR received the highest operating‑budget equity tool score from the Office of Racial Equity, an 11, and noted the office’s community gardening, education and procurement work aims to fill gaps created by lost SNAP‑Ed funding in more than 40 MCPS sites.
Committee action and next steps: committee members heard the OFSR presentation, asked questions about regional procurement and program design, and—without objection—concurred with the county executive’s recommended OFSR budget changes for inclusion in the reconciliation list. The OFSR items will now go to the full council for final appropriation decisions.
What happens next: council staff and OFSR will provide program‑level reporting and continue monitoring enrollments and grant outcomes, and the full council will consider the reconciliation list when it votes on the FY27 budget.
