Food Truck Funding for the Homeless

Food insecurity and access to basic needs

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

The homelessness problem is not going away. Los Angeles County alarmingly has the highest number of homeless people in the country. According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, there were over 69,000 homeless people in the county in 2022. Statistics indicate that more than 48 percent of the homeless population are Hispanic, and a troubling 33% are Black, despite Black people only representing 8 percent of the County's population. For 3 years now, FMP's Food Truck has been visiting various locations in Skid Row and MacArthur Park and has been delivering meals to neighborhoods in Los Angeles, including Hollywood, Koreatown, Venice Beach, and Mid-Wilshire, as well as Culver City and Santa Monica. FMP's goal is to keep these people alive as they await for the wrap around services from the city that many have already been receiving.

FMP’s primary operation is the Mobile Food Truck Program. FMP leases a food truck used as a mobile kitchen to cook and distribute hot meals to several neighborhoods in Los Angeles where the need is greatest. The Truck rotates between several locations in Skid Row (San Julian Park, Gladys Park, San Pedro St. & E. 5th St, Towne Avenue & E. 5th St.) and MacArthur Park. This program focuses on distributing 300 - 400 freshly cooked meals prepared on-site. Each recipe the Chef creates and prepares is designed to provide a diner with enough proper nutritional value to get them to their next meal. The truck operates seven days a week.
The “To-Go” Meal Delivery Program supplements the Truck by distributing meals to individuals in additional areas of LA. Currently, 400 meals are pre-made by Feed My Poor volunteers and delivered six days a week. Deliveries are made to several neighborhoods within the city of Los Angeles (Hollywood, Koreatown, Venice Beach, Mid-Wilshire) and other cities within Los Angeles County (Culver City and Santa Monica).
The grant will fund FMP's operations for approximately 2 months. This translates to 18,000 hot meals served and 24,000 To-Go meals delivered.

FMP’s “mobile” operational model is designed to allow operations to adapt as needs throughout LA County evolve yearly. We can also physically meet our target population where they reside and, therefore, where the need is greatest. The individuals that FMP feeds do not have to travel to lengths and navigate transportation systems that are not always accessible to get a meal since we go to them. This model creates sustainability for the future as we can easily adapt its daily route to serve different geographic areas as needs in the community evolve. For example, we can provide a good meal to the residents of LA City's Inside Safe Program. We go to them, they don't have to come to us. This can be replicated in other cities in LA County. By 2025, we plan to operate a second food truck. It is our long-term goal to increase the number of trucks and scale the program into a food truck “fleet” that can reach and feed every hungry individual in Los Angeles. Also, more trucks, more jobs!

FMP will use the following goals to measure success.
-Cook and provide at least 300 hot meals daily via the mobile food truck. This will amount to approximately 18,000 meals served in just 2 months. -Distribute 400 pre-made to-go meals by 60 volunteers six days a week. This will amount to approximately 24,000 to-go meals distributed in 2 months. Volunteers will monitor the number of to-go meals made daily, and FMP leadership will track this data.