U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) announced $400,000 in federal funding for a food nonprofit in Willimantic on Thursday.
Commercially Licensed Co-Operative Kitchen, known as CLICK, needs the money for infrastructure upgrades to help its expansion plans in the town, including repairs to the roof of its building, repaving its parking lot and building a new loading dock to assist 31 local microbusinesses and 6 farmers that it services in the region.
“You have to have good bones,” said Leigh Duffy, executive director at CLICK. “We can’t do any part of our plan unless our building is standing.”
“All of this to support creating new markets for our farmers and creating good healthy food for our consumers,” she added.
Included in the kitchen co-operative are 10 women-owned businesses and 12 food trucks — many of which have food delivery options for the local community.
The federal funding is the start of expansion plans for CLICK, which has also applied for a $2.7 million federal grant to expand their operations.
Blumenthal said the money is just the start of what this means for the future of the co-operative.
“What’s so exciting about this kind of enterprise is it will create jobs, it will drive the economy and it will enhance and create opportunity,” he said. “Because people have to begin somewhere and they can’t all buy a huge freezer or a big kitchen to do their restaurant or to sell their produce or meat.”
