Sec. 203. Duties of Secretary
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The Secretary shall— designate a national fund manager to manage national funds; oversee the Initiative nationally; work closely with the national fund manager— to ensure that funds are used appropriately and in the most effective manner practicable; and to develop the program strategy into a detailed work plan, program, and operating budget; review and approve the operating budget for the national fund manager to ensure that the administrative costs are— reasonable (not more than 5 percent of the total budget); connected to the costs of operations; and reflect efficient operations by the national fund manager; and make available to the public an annual report, using data obtained from the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the community development financial institutions, that describes the impacts of the Initiative, including tracking health and economic development indicators at the local, State, and national levels to determine the impacts of individual projects and the collective impact in local areas and statewide of funded projects and the Initiative overall.
The Secretary shall conduct financial audits of, and establish performance targets for, the national fund manager, which shall include, at a minimum, the requirements described in this subsection. Partnerships funded by the Initiative shall be geographically diverse and representative of the underserved areas across the United States. A substantial portion of the projects funded by partnerships shall serve very low- and low-income communities, as defined by the Bureau of the Census of the Department of Commerce.
The national fund manager and any local financial institution involved in a partnership shall demonstrate on-going capacity and timeliness in raising private capital and disbursing funds as required under the Initiative. The provision of technical assistance by the national fund manager shall be evaluated based on— the responsiveness of the national fund manager to requests for assistance; and the ability of the national fund manager to craft programs that develop needed new capacities in partnerships.
Performance targets shall address the allocation of funds by the national fund manager to partnerships and the tracking and reporting of the impacts of the funds in improving access to fresh, healthy foods and in achieving other related impacts. The Secretary shall assist in the administration of the Initiative by approving the disbursement of funds to the national fund manager in a manner that facilitates the implementation of the overall Initiative.