I think there are great quotes and information in here for every market, every food system piece of writing you are doing…
Including this quote:
But alas, the gospel that better nutrition means more expense has taken on a life of its own. Everyone has heard it — and so everyone tends to repeat it. Perception becomes reality, so most people simply accept that good nutrition is economically disadvantageous. They then stop trying to eat better and simply propagate the urban legend.
Just visited the website dedicated to The Cooking Room program to teach food literacy in classroom. Not trying to be picky, but it took me a while to figure out where this program was (In NYC it seems) and I’d still like to know how it evaluates success. I know how hard the Edible Schoolyard in New Orleans has worked over the last 5 years to make this stuff meaningful, so with a serious tip of the hat to all who try, I wish good luck to this program.
The Cooking Room
esynola.org
On the House Majority Leader’s “You Cut” site, there was a “vote” on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) fruit and vegetable incentive program (Healthy Incentives Pilot), and urges taxpayers to “not have to be bribed (emphasis added) with additional cash benefits to make nutritious food choices.” That is certainly contrary to the thoughts of USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack last summer, who stated that, “This pilot project will empower low-income Americans to eat more nutritious food and has the potential to strengthen the SNAP program that serves as a critical safety net to the most vulnerable in our society. Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, especially in the place of higher calorie foods, can help move America towards healthier lifestyles and a healthier future.” See it here
You Cut
Chicago- After the meeting, the mayor sat down for an exclusive interview with ABC 7 political reporter Charles Thomas. The mayor said his meeting with the chief executive officers of six of the nation’s largest food/grocery chains was historic.
“Never anywhere in the country. First-ever conference with a mayor, first-ever discussion about the food desert. First-ever discussion with anybody about how to make this work,” said Emanuel.”
First ever?
with anyone?
are you sure Mayor?
and why no mom and pop stores at that historic table?
or farmers?
These incentives- is this the new word for short-term subsidies aka tax breaks?
This is one of our newest projects and builds on the last few years of our Meet Me at the Market (MM@TM) work. I wanted to share the early days of the project, although we are not ready to talk about measurable outcomes-since it’s only the first full week-and our market staff is running everywhere (not walking) these days to accomplish their to-dos on their calendar!
The Meet Me at the Market has been marketumbrella.org’s project for the last 4 years in which we travel to schools and community centers, do some activity with the attendees and then invite the organizers to visit on a selected day where we have a tent set up and a staff or volunteer person ready to assist the group. The purpose of the MM@TM (and targeted incentives) is we believe that once we build the relationship with the shoppers that goes beyond a passive chance visit to the market, we make long-term market community members, especially when there are barriers such as transportation issues, lack of knowledge about how to use open-air markets, or past purchase barriers (food stamps as an example) to overcome. The more barriers, the stronger the incentives.
Therefore we work to find ways to get our groups back as soon as possible, as often as possible. This has been an excellent way to introduce our Senior FMNP incentive; that incentive is where we offer a matching 24 dollars after they complete their FMNP booklet (to spend on other non-FMNP foods.) Those seniors stretch out the tokens as they did the coupons, coming in cooler months with family members to buy dairy or seafood with their tokens. Of course, they also know our market staff and interact with them more often throughout the year which builds trust and more knowledge transfer.
It has been harder to find some measurable outcome from the schools that have visited in the past years, as not all are using the market to teach the same lesson. So for 2011, we came up with a project we hope will do that and introduce more food-vulnerable children to the benefits of the market community.
This project has targeted a handful of schools that have a 50% +1 free and reduced meal enrollment, and are in zip codes near to one of our markets. The staff goes to the school, does a quick pre-Market visit tutorial in the classroom. This is where we measure their local food knowledge with our Bean Survey tool. Soon after, they attend the Market with their school in order to a) observe and participate in commercial and social transactions, b) attend a cooking and tasting lesson, and c) bring home from the Market sample specialty crops and an invitation to join the Market’s summer Marketeer events. The Marketeer events are held on Saturdays; kids of every background receive a postcard in the mail in the month of their birthday, which they can bring to the market to get a 5.00 token to spend and also come on the first Saturday of every month for a Marketeer event. The goodie bag the 2011 schoolkids will receive in their initial visit also contains an incentive for the parent to receive tokens when they come with their child to the Marketeer event.
We can measure the success in a number of ways:
1. The change in their knowledge from the Bean Survey (questions like have you ever met a farmer? have you ever tasted a Louisiana strawberry?) to after their market visit.
2. The number of bags we hand out with a pint of strawberries and the information.
3. The number that join our Marketeers club.
4. The number of parental incentives used.
This is a Department of Agriculture and Forestry grant through their Specialty Crop Grants; we are lucky to have such great partners that are interested in using their department to add knowledge about Louisiana specialty crops to the next generation of shoppers.
These are early days for this project so very little as far as outcomes can be shared yet. I will be updating its success here and am happy to talk via email (please direct questions to me so our market staff do not have more work from my sharing!)
How exciting to share my colleagues excellent work.
BOSTON – April 6, 2011 – With farmers’ markets preparing to open for the season, the Patrick-Murray Administration today announced that it will be providing $50,000 in grants for equipment and support to help farmers’ markets process Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits used by low-income residents.
News story with new Florida Ag Commissioner talking about markets, machines and incentives.
Posted: April 4, 2011 – 11:40pm
By David Bauerlein
On Monday, state Agriculture and Consumer Protection Services Commissioner Adam Putnam visited Glennette Produce and other vendors who have embraced the card-swipe machines. Putnam said the machines enable people in low-income neighborhoods, where grocery stores are scarce, to use the farmers market for the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables.
That in turn helps Florida farmers by giving them a bigger market for their products, he said.
Putnam didn’t make any announcements during his visit. He said he mainly wanted to learn more about how the Jacksonville Farmers Market operates.
“They’re really got a lot to teach us as we ramp this up on a statewide basis,” he said. “It’s part of a larger effort of nurturing our small farmers.”
He said the state helped a farmers market in Miami form a partnership with a private foundation that has a goal of improving the health of low-income people by giving them access to fresh produce. In that partnership, the private foundation will match on a dollar-for-dollar basis whatever a Florida resident spends at the farmer’s market using the state’s Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.
For instance, a resident who spends $10 using a SNAP card would be able to purchase an additional $10 of fresh produce because of the private foundation’s support.
Putnam said he wants to help establish similar partnerships with other farmers markets in the state, including Jacksonville.
Entire story at:
BRIDGEPORT, Conn., March 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Wholesome Wave, a Connecticut-based, national nonprofit organization dedicated to nourishing neighborhoods across America by increasing access to and affordability of healthy, fresh locally grown food, announced today that it has received a $600,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente. The funding will be used primarily to support its Double Value Coupon Program (DVCP), which provides fresh food incentives to encourage low-income consumers to increase their purchase of nutritious produce through local farmers markets.
Helping Farmers Markets Grow 