Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the Urban League of Essex County is leading this project to address the immediate needs of Newark’s Fairmount Heights community by establishing a food pantry that can serve low-income residents on a weekly basis. By making structural changes and installing a refrigeration unit to an existing social enterprise site, the Urban League of Essex County is working to address food insecurity in the west ward of Newark. By the end of this project, the Urban League of Essex County will have built its capacity to implement future culinary workforce development initiatives and economic development opportunities for the Fairmount Heights community. In addition, this project will have advanced existing efforts to make nutritious food more readily available, which can inform an equitable response and recovery throughout the state.