Grant will create access for early-stage food businesses in Alaska, focusing on underserved communities
ANCHORAGE, AK / ACCESS Newswire / March 18, 2025 / Anchorage Community Land Trust (ACLT) has received a $300,000 grant from KeyBank to launch the programming and operations of a new shared commercial kitchen facility in the Mountain View neighborhood of Anchorage. The facility, currently in development and slated to open in 2026, will provide shared kitchen and production space and cold and dry storage space to early-stage food businesses and producers, with an emphasis on underserved communities.
The incubator will help address a long-term lack of access to affordable kitchen space for early-stage food businesses, particularly those in underserved communities. Programming will include free training, technical assistance, orientation and access to the kitchen space and storage for participating food businesses. In addition, it will improve food security by providing access to more locally grown and packaged goods.
ACLT is a neighborhood-based non-profit in Anchorage that works with residents and business owners in targeted low-income geographies to improve quality of life in their communities. This kitchen space provides a logical next stop for ACLT's flagship Set Up Shop program, which provides a pipeline of training, technical assistance, lending, and real estate support to business owners in targeted low-income neighborhoods of Anchorage, which KeyBank has supported with previous grants.
"We have long been impressed with ACLT's efforts to support entrepreneurs as they build a thriving business, and we are excited to help provide a launch point for the next generation of small businesses," said Alaska KeyBank President Lori McCaffrey. "Our mission is to help our neighbors thrive, and nowhere is that more important than in underserved communities that often lack access to traditional business resources and funding."
"This historic gift signifies KeyBank's commitment not just to this facility, but to the entrepreneurs it serves who stand ready to rise," says Kirk Rose, CEO of ACLT. "A commercial kitchen incubator is a vital piece of small business infrastructure for Southcentral Alaska. It will ensure the path to food business ownership is attainable to anyone with a dream. This investment will allow early-stage entrepreneurs across the region to launch and grow their food businesses, creating and retaining wealth within their communities and becoming role models, leaders, and changemakers for our state."
About ACLT
Anchorage Community Land Trust (ACLT) is a neighborhood-based nonprofit that disrupts concentrated poverty by bringing concentrated opportunity and investment to neighborhood commercial corridors in Anchorage. Through a toolkit of real estate, advocacy, improvements to infrastructure, and targeted programming, we create community wealth, local jobs, resident leadership and economic opportunity for families. For more information on ACLT, visit www.anchoragelandtrust.org.
About KeyCorp
In 2025, KeyCorp celebrates its bicentennial, marking 200 years of service to clients and communities from Maine to Alaska. To learn more, visit KeyBank Heritage Center. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $187 billion at December 31, 2024. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management, and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,000 branches and approximately 1,200 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit?https://www.key.com/. KeyBank Member FDIC.
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CONTACT:
ACLT | Emily Cohn | 907.952.6980 | ecohn@anchoragelandtrust.org
KeyBank | Laura Suter | 206-343-6953 | laura_suter@keybank.com
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SOURCE: KeyBank
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