has established a regional center located in rural Fayette County to promote the development of food enterprises in southwestern Pennsylvania. The Republic Food Enterprise Center (RFEC) will utilize a comprehensive approach to responding to the nutritional needs of the southwestern Pennsylvanian region by stimulating agricultural production, producing value-added products, distributing locally-gro
wn produce and products, and developing retail outlets within food deserts throughout the region. The RFEC, located at 2 Legion Street in Republic, Pa will serve as a comprehensive Center for the development of sustainable food products and social enterprise for western Pennsylvania, which will benefit small farms, food deserts, and the working population throughout the region. To develop this resource effectively and to its optimum potential, FCCAA is supporting, through technical support and direct investment, the formation of a new non-profit company whose business purpose will be to develop value-added food products for the regional market, which is demanding more locally-grown and processed food every year. This start-up company, the RFEC will partner with regional growers and suppliers to provide a platform for joint ventures in the food products arena and will become self-sustaining by the end of the third full year of operation. The effort intends to create 40 new full-time positions in the food industry spanning from growing and transportation to processing and preparation. Thirty (75%) of these positions will be filled by low-income Fayette County residents. RFEC will transition to a worker-producer owned cooperative. The RFEC will coordinate leading economic development organizations that can support food-based initiatives as well as strengthen the connections between local growers, area residents and leading commercial partners in the greater southwestern Pennsylvania region.
