The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a surge in global economic, health, and food insecurity, thereby aggravating the health and economic welfare of minority and limited resource communities. This intensified the urgency for local access to food for socially disadvantaged communities, and it highlighted the need for self-sufficiency in local food production. In a bid to stimulate local food production and to increase economic opportunities for rural and small businesses, a Tilapia Capacity Building Project (2021-2024) was developed at Kentucky State University (KSU) to methodically diversify Kentucky food products and to provide economic opportunities for small-scale farms to integrate Nile Tilapia fish with superior growth performance into production. The project is comprised of four main areas: (i) genetic improvement of Nile Tilapia, (ii) demonstration of on-farm growth, (iii) development of resources for marketing and sales of locally produced Nile Tilapia, and (iv) production of resources for human nutrition and healthier living for training and education of field Extension agents and seafood consumers. The project is in its third year of implementation, and the four major objectives have had varying degrees of progress and challenges. The Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia has been maintained and propagated at KSU, but there is still a need to work on the import of YY males to produce fish for on-farm demonstrations, and marketing and sales work. However, major progress has been achieved in human nutrition. This has included training and education of students (high school, undergraduate, graduate) and Extension personnel on Genetics, Reproduction, and Aquaculture of Nile Tilapia, including methods of preparation for cooking and eating in a healthy manner (Figure 1).