Question: How much of ALIVE’s funding is to support rent? Are there opportunities to find e.g. municipal spaces where the cost savings could be redirected to services.
Response:
The ALIVE! Food Hubs remain the largest single point of contact between ALIVE! Food Program and clients, accounting for 35-40% of households served by ALIVE!. Food hubs provide residents with access to culturally relevant food, personal items, cleaning supplies, school supplies, community, and connections to information on other available services.
Lease Overview
ALIVE! Operates two food hubs: Del Ray Community Food Hub on Mt. Vernon Avenue and West End Community Food Hub on Van Dorn Avenue.
Del Ray Community Food Hub: Mt. Vernon
- Current rental cost: $45,600 annually/$3,800 monthly, not including utilities.
- Future plan: ALIVE! plans to close the Del Ray food hub in February of 2027 and relocate to Sanse once completed, expecting to reopen by May 2027. This relocation will result in a decrease in the annual rental cost.
- Proposed rent: $25,200-$28,000/year with 2.5% annual escalation.
- The new location is slightly smaller than Del Ray but better designed and more accessible for clients.
West End Community Food Hub: Van Dorn
- Rental Cost: $38,020 annually/$3,168 monthly, not including property tax share and utilities.
- This high-traffic hub serves a broad demographic from across the City of Alexandria. However, the primary users of this hub are residents residing South of Duke Street and Landmark.
- There are currently no plans to move the food hub from this location but there is an openness to explore options.
One option that could be explored for the West End is the location of food resources within Del Pepper Community Resource Center in the future. This could be a full Food Hub or a new “Quick Stop Pantry” model that ALIVE! is implementing. It would be necessary to identify dedicated space for a Food Hub in the building which would be very difficult given the usage and occupancy in the building.