ASSISTANCE FOR COMMUNITY FOOD PROJECTS.

SEC. 4125. ASSISTANCE FOR COMMUNITY FOOD PROJECTS. (a) In General.—Section 25 of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2034) is amended— (1) in subsection (a)— (A) by striking “(1)” and inserting “(1)(A)”; (B) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as subparagraphs (B) and (C), respectively, of paragraph (1); (C) in paragraph (1)(C) (as redesignated by subparagraph (B)), by striking the period at the end and inserting or”; and (D) by adding at the end the following: “(2) meet specific State, local, or neighborhood food and agricultural needs, including needs for— “(A) infrastructure improvement and development; “(B) planning for long-term solutions; or “(C) the creation of innovative marketing activities that mutually benefit agricultural producers and low-income consumers.”; (2) in subsection (b)(2)(B)— (A) by striking “$2,500,000” and inserting “$5,000,000”; and (B) by striking “2002” and inserting “2007”; (3) in subsection (d), by striking paragraph (4) and inserting the following: “(4) encourage long-term planning activities, and multisystem, interagency approaches with multistakeholder collaborations, that build the long-term capacity of communities to address the food and agricultural problems of the communities, such as food policy councils and food planning associations.”; and (4) by striking subsection (h) and inserting the following: “(h) Innovative Programs for Addressing Common Community Problems.— “(1) In general.—The Secretary shall offer to enter into a contract with, or make a grant to, 1 nongovernmental organization that meets the requirements of paragraph (2) to 116 STAT. 327 coordinate with Federal agencies, States, political subdivisions, and nongovernmental organizations (collectively referred to in this subsection as ‘targeted entities’) to gather information, and recommend to the targeted entities, innovative programs for addressing common community problems, including— “(A) loss of farms and ranches; “(B) rural poverty; “(C) welfare dependency; “(D) hunger; “(E) the need for job training; and “(F) the need for self-sufficiency by individuals and communities. “(2) Nongovernmental organization.—The nongovernmental organization referred to in paragraph (1) shall— “(A) be selected by the Secretary on a competitive basis; “(B) be experienced in working with other targeted entities and in organizing workshops that demonstrate programs to other targeted entities; “(C) be experienced in identifying programs that effectively address community problems described in paragraph (1) that can be implemented by other targeted entities; “(D) be experienced in, and capable of, receiving information from and communicating with other targeted entities throughout the United States; “(E) be experienced in operating a national information clearinghouse that addresses 1 or more of the community problems described in paragraph (1); and “(F) as a condition of entering into the contract or receiving the grant referred to in paragraph (1), agree— “(i) to contribute in-kind resources toward implementation of the contract or grant; “(ii) to provide to other targeted entities information and guidance on the innovative programs referred to in paragraph (1); and “(iii) to operate a national information clearinghouse on innovative means for addressing community problems described in paragraph (1) that— “(I) is easily usable by— “(aa) Federal, State, and local government agencies; “(bb) local community leaders; “(cc) nongovernmental organizations; and “(dd) the public; and “(II) includes information on approved community food projects. “(3) Audits; effective use of funds.—The Secretary shall establish auditing procedures and otherwise ensure the effective use of funds made available to carry out this subsection. “(4) Funding.—Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this paragraph, and on October 1 of each of fiscal years 2003 through 2007, the Secretary shall allocate to carry out this subsection $200,000 of the funds made available under subsection (b), to remain available until expended.”. (b) Effective Date.—The amendments made by this section take effect on the date of enactment of this Act.