From Prison to Public Funding

Louisiana lawmakers are preparing to commit up to $18 million in taxpayer funds toward a grocery store development in Baton Rouge. The project is being advanced through a nonprofit (NGO — Non-Governmental Organization) formed less than three years ago by a man who served federal prison time for bank fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of Internal Revenue laws.

Supporters call it a solution to a “food desert.” Critics see something else: another government-backed development project wrapped in fashionable policy language and financed with public dollars. Either way, Louisiana taxpayers deserve answers before tens of millions of your tax dollars are once more redirected to private interests.

Following The Money

Separate from the legislative debate is approximately $18 million in funding for the A Good Deed Foundation through Louisiana’s capital outlay process. That alone warrants more questions. But the timeline surrounding the organization complicates the matter. In 2025, Hammond personally sought $11 million in state funding for a grocery store project through the A Good Deed Foundation. Since then, the proposal has grown into an $18 million capital outlay item and has become intertwined with a newly created special taxing district in Baton Rouge.

A Good Deed Foundation was registered with the Secretary of State in November 2023 with a single incorporator, Adrian Hammond. Public corporate filings connect A Good Deed Foundation to a Baton Rouge network involving recurring names, business entities, and shared addresses, including Harvest Fresh Market, LLC, Swift Rental LLC, Trey Harris, and Desmond Stirgus.

Federal records identify Hammond as a Baton Rouge businessman who was previously indicted and later convicted of bank fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of Internal Revenue Service laws, resulting in imprisonment and restitution obligations. But Hammond’s criminal history doesn’t appear to stop there – arrest and subsequent conviction in Texas on felony drug charges in 2002, arrest for battery of a police officer in New Orleans in 2008, and possession of a firearm in Georgia in 2013.

In 2025, Adrian Hammond sought $11 million in funding from the state of Louisiana on behalf of A Good Deed Foundation. The rationale:

A Good Deed Foundation, with the support of the Scotlandville Food Commission, is requesting Capital Outlay funding for the development of a much-needed grocery store in the Scotlandville neighborhood of Baton Rouge. This project aims to address a critical need for accessible, affordable, and fresh food options in an area that currently faces limited access to grocery stores and essential services.

Scotlandville is a historically underserved community where the over 15,000 residents and 10,000 students lack convenient access to fresh produce, meats, and other essential grocery items. This project will develop a full-service grocery store and other retail spaces which will not only meet these needs but will also serve as a local economic catalyst, creating jobs and enhancing neighborhood stability.

Special Taxing District (because of course there is)

The grocery proposal is not occurring in isolation. During the same legislative session, lawmakers approved Senate Bill 283, by Regina Barrow (D-2/10), “who has been a champion for this project.” It creates the BLVD at Harding Area Special District in Baton Rouge. The district encompasses roughly 76 acres near Harding Boulevard and Plank Road — far more land than would ordinarily be required for a grocery store alone.

The district possesses many of the tools commonly associated with large-scale economic development projects, including TIF (Tax Increment Financing) authority (the power for an unelected board to levy taxes without voter approval), bonding authority, cooperative endeavor authority, land acquisition powers, and the ability to incur debt.

This mechanism was created specifically to facilitate infrastructure and “economic development” projects in the same general area discussed as part of the grocery initiative. Whether the grocery project ultimately operates through the district, alongside the district, or merely benefits from the same redevelopment framework remains to be seen. But a question persists: If this is merely a grocery store, why does it require a special taxing district, bonding authority, debt authority, land-acquisition powers, cooperative endeavor authority, and roughly 76 acres of redevelopment territory?

Today, on the final day of the legislative session, both chambers accepted a conference report that preserves the BLVD at the Harding Area Special Taxing District while simultaneously creating a new Special Taxing District around Baton Rouge Community College.

Food Desert

The phrase did not originate in Louisiana. It has nothing to do with the scarcity of natural resources, such as water and vegetation, found in a traditional desert, although the rapid expansion of data centers in Louisiana raises important concerns about resources like water. In fact, much of its modern framework comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In 2008, the U.S. Congress, through the Farm Bill, directed the USDA to study the topic, borrowing a term which originated in the United Kingdom in the mid-1990’s. In simple terms, areas can qualify as “food deserts” when residents live “significant distances” from supermarkets or large grocery stores, or they live in “low-income, low-access” census tracts.

Supporters argue that food deserts are real and measurable problems. They point to communities where residents must travel long distances for groceries, rely heavily on convenience stores, or face limited access to fresh produce and healthy food options.

Critics see the issue differently. Economists and free-market scholars have long questioned whether geography is the real problem. They argue that “food desert” policies often confuse poverty with supermarket proximity, and that government grocery subsidies risk distorting markets while treating symptoms rather than causes.

It Doesn’t Work

Studies have found that simply placing a grocery store in an underserved neighborhood does not produce the dietary or health improvements advocates promise. It doesn’t change consumer choices, something Rodney Schamerhorn (R 9/10) keenly pointed out in committee debate on the topic. Nor does the government propping up a grocery store ensure its success, cries echoed by Representatives Beryl Amedee (R 10/10) and Danny McCormick (R 10/10). Critics argue that if a viable market opportunity existed, private investors would likely have already built and operated a grocery store without requiring taxpayer assistance.

Amedee also pointed out that under the federal definition, a distance of just over one mile from a grocery store could qualify as a “food desert,” while McCormick indicated that addressing the alleged concerns would require more than 50 new grocers in some urban areas.

Drowning in a Desert

This legislative session, Louisiana lawmakers filed measures aimed at food access and grocery intervention. HB1194 by Terry Landry, Jr. (D 4/10) and HB1222 by Rodney Lyons (D 2/10) would push the state further into the Zohran Mamdani-style grocery-policy arena through “food-desert” frameworks, financing tools, and grocery-support mechanisms. HB1194 passed the House by a vote of 64 to 28 and the Senate by a vote of 28 to 2. It has now passed House concurrence and heads to the Governor’s desk for signature or veto.

Meanwhile, HB1222 passed the House 61-31 and failed in the Senate 13-22. It was called from the calendar on Friday, but still failed with a very narrow 18-19. Whether the government can successfully manufacture an oasis from subsidies, grants, and legislative jargon, Louisiana appears determined to test the theory.

Meanwhile, Louisiana already has local examples of “food desert” responses taking shape with government subsidies. Louisiana’s latest experiment assumes markets failed, government understands why, and taxpayers should finance the correction — a familiar recipe in search of a new kitchen.

Louisiana’s New Food-Desert Industry

In Lafayette, we have seen initiatives ranging from Makin’ Groceries, a nonprofit grocery concept backed by institutional partners such as the Lafayette Initiative for Food Equity, to the Lafayette Fresh Food Initiative, involving grants, financing models, and food-access programming. The Lafayette Fresh Food Initiative was funded with $1 million dollars in American Rescue Plan Act funds and a $500,000 contribution from the Lafayette Public Trust Financing Authority (LPTFA — Hi, Kevin).

Whether one views these efforts as community innovation or policy overreach, the momentum is unmistakable. It may have taken nearly two decades for the language of federal legislation to trickle down to Louisiana, but it has arrived.

Good Timing?

Corporate filings show leadership changes within A Good Deed Foundation in early 2026, removing Hammond as President and replacing him with Trey Harris. That change occurred just one day after $50,000 in taxpayer funds was provided to A Good Deed Foundation, with an additional $50,000 following over the next two months.

Then on May 9, 2026, the Senate Committee on Revenue and Fiscal Affairs adopted a report and amendments without objection. That action placed A Good Deed Foundation in line to receive an additional $18 million dollars in taxpayer funding from the state. That can be found on page 143 of the state’s capital outlay budget (HB2).

Good Questions

The sequence of events raises obvious questions. Louisiana’s major food-desert legislation wasn’t filed until March of 2026. Questions, therefore, naturally arise regarding timing, positioning, and process. How did A Good Deed Foundation become associated with an $18 million public funding request? Who submitted what, and when? What due diligence occurred? Were decision-makers aware of organizational leadership history and relevant background?

Whether one believes food deserts justify government intervention is ultimately a matter of public policy. Reasonable people can disagree. The more immediate question is whether Louisiana taxpayers should be asked to finance an $18 million development project originally proposed by a nonprofit controlled by an individual who served time in federal prison for bank fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of Internal Revenue laws.

Before the state writes another check, taxpayers deserve to know who is involved, how the project was selected, what due diligence was performed, and why this particular organization was chosen to receive such extraordinary public support. Those questions are no longer about grocery stores. They are about accountability.

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