Progress 09/15/23 to 09/14/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The primary target audience for this project are Washingtonians who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). During state fiscal year 2023, an average of 924,162 people accessed SNAP, called "Basic Food", each month in Washington (an increase of 5.9% from SFY 2022 and 12% of Washington's total population). Twenty-two percent of Basic Food participants identified as Latino, 10% identified as Black, 8% identified as Asian/Pacific Islander, 3% identified as American Indian/Alaskan Native, and 50% identified as white. Thirty-five percent of participants are children under the age of 18. During the project period (September 15, 2023, to September 14, 2024), the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) worked with farm direct and brick-and-mortar firms to provide nutrition incentives to SNAP participants. The target audiences reached during the project are summarized by firm type. Farm Direct: During the reporting period, 130 farmers markets, farm stands, and mobile markets in 31 counties offered SNAP Market Match to SNAP participants; this represents an additional 9 farm direct firms (7% increase) in the number of farm direct firms offering SNAP Market Match compared to 2022. SNAP Market Match is available in densely populated metropolitan areas (e.g., Seattle) and rural cities and counties in central, eastern, and southwest WA. Participating farm direct firms served 19,012 unique SNAP participants and 8,218 (43%) repeat SNAP participants during the most recent calendar year (2023). Brick-and-Mortar: During this reporting period, 230 firms in thirty-three (33) counties offered SNAP Produce Match to SNAP participants; this represents an additional 21 firms (10% increase) in the number of grocery firms offering SNAP Produce Match compared to the beginning of the grant period in September 2023. During the project period, SNAP Produce Match was available in all 200 Safeway/Albertsons stores in Washington, 15 Haggen locations (a NW chain focused on providing fresh, local foods), 3 Fiesta Foods (a Hispanic-serving grocer in Yakima and Franklin Counties), Sophiya Mini Market and Halal (serving the Somali population in South King County), 9 food co-ops in 7 counties, and 2 rural grocers (A & J Market and Chimacum Corner Farmstand). SNAP Produce Match was also available for online ordering and delivery through Safeway and Amazon Fresh, making the program more accessible to those with mobility concerns or transportation issues. Changes/Problems:From July 2023 through June 2025, SNAP incentive work expanded greatly due to a temporary $6 million increase in state funds (for a total of $9 million during the biennium) to support programming. At this time, it's uncertain whether these funds will be renewed or whether state funding will return to the original amount of $3 million per biennium. For this reason, the onboarding of additional firms has been paused to ensure that funds will be available to support their participation past June 2025. Additionally, there was a major staffing change as the FVIP Program Manager/GusNIP Project Director vacated the position in March of 2024, it was filled by an interim Program Manager and was permanently filled in September 2024. The interim position was filled by the Retail Specialist and a pause in adding grocery retailers was required due to capacity. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Weyrauch, A., Washington State Department of Health's Fruit and Vegetable Incentives Program. Presentation at 2024 SNAP Market Match Kick-Off Training; 2023 December 7. Weyrauch, A., Washington State Department of Health's Fruit and Vegetable Incentives Program. Presentation at 2024 SNAP Market Match Kick-Off Training; 2024 March 14. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?DOH used a variety of communication tools and resources to disseminate results to communities of interest. The DOH webpage (www.doh.wa.gov/FVIP) provides information about the Fruit and Vegetable Incentives Program and GusNIP grant to stakeholders, decision-makers, and the public. Fact sheets, data briefs, a Fruit and Vegetable Incentives Program report to the state Legislature, and Community Advisory Network reports are available through the DOH webpage. Four e-newsletters were disseminated, which include up-to-date program information, and links to data reports, fact sheets, and nutrition resources. Information was shared via presentations to a variety of audiences including topics such as Resources for Food Insecure Patients, SNAP EBT Integration at Farmers Markets, and Addressing Food Insecurity in Washington State. Information about FVIP was also provided via SNAP-Ed Forums, the monthly SNAP-Ed Community of Practice, and through Washington's Food Policy Forum, which includes state-level policymakers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, the program will continue to work towards meeting the program's goals and objectives.During the current reporting period, 30 of 53 new firms were added and onboarding of additional firms has been paused until spring 2025 (see the section below for further explanation).FVIP continues to collect data and evaluate through the use of incentives and participant surveys to assess program's impact on food access and redemption rates to improve fruit and vegetable consumption. Enhancing communication strategies internally and through community channels to reach SNAP households to increase the marketing and promotion of the Fruit and Vegetable Incentive Program. The program will continue to foster collaboration and partnerships with local leaders and influencers to grow and enhance the program's impact on community health and nutrition.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the reporting period, $5,461,062.91 in nutrition incentives were redeemed by SNAP participants at 360 farm direct (FD) and brick-and-mortar (BM) firms out of the project period goal of $12,989,499. Over 83% of the total federal and non-federal funds for this project were used for nutrition incentives.SNAP benefits spent at farmers markets, farm stands, and mobile markets receive SNAP Market Match (SMM) funds to buy fruits and vegetables and get a $10 coupon or immediate $5 discount for additional fruits and vegetables. Goal #1,Objective 1:FD:During the reporting period, SNAP participants redeemed $1,363,825 of nutrition incentives at FD locations. Ten FD firms were added to the project, making SMM available to SNAP participants who shopped at 130 FD firms in 31 counties.Firms processed 60,104 SNAP transactions valued at $1,430,200. The incentive redemption rate was89%.BM locations:$4,079,677.42 was redeemed in SNAP incentives. This is an increase of 18.6% from the previous year due to adding 21 BM firms; making SNAP Produce Match (SPM) available to SNAP participants who shopped at 230 grocery stores across 33 counties. SPM was available in all 200 Safeway/Albertsons stores in Washington,15 Haggen locations, 3 Fiesta Food locations, Sophiya Mini Market and Halal, The Food Coop, Chimacum Corner Farmstand, 29 food co-ops in 7 counties, 2 rural grocers, and 2 Community Food Co-ops. SPM was also available for online ordering and delivery through Safeway and Amazon Fresh, increasing accessibility to those with mobility or transportation barriers, or feel unsafe going to a BM store. SPM is also available for online order through Safeway and Amazon Fresh, resulting in $293,649.73 in incentives redeemed during the reporting period. The BM incentive coupon redemption rate was 26% and 100% in locations offering an immediate discount.BM incentive coupons expire 30 days from issuance, which leads to a lower redemption rate compared to FD firm incentives, which expire at the end of each calendar year. Coupons expiring within 30 days allow for budget control, limit risk, and ensure funding is available for continued programming. Objective 2:A total of 360 firms are currently offering incentives to SNAP participants. This includes 21 new BM firms and 9 farmers markets. Objective 3:FMs and DMFs continue to collect SNAP shopper data per transaction to include the amount of SNAP and incentives distributed, the last 8-digits of the SNAP shopper's card number, and zip code where the SNAP shopper resides. This information has been crucial in identifying areas of impact these incentives reach in the FD setting. Due to updated USDA guidance, individual card numbers or zip codes can no longer be collected which will negatively impact the ability of FMs and DMFs to determine how many SNAP shoppers they are serving. This data has been used as a root factor for funding requests and partnership support. Goal #2,Objective 1:FD:Firms used Formstack, a data collection platform, or Excel spreadsheets to track SMM distribution and redemption. Most (87 of 130) of firms collected information through the website; 43 through Excel spreadsheets due to mobile/Wi-Fi connectivity issues. DOH offered data collection training for FD firm staff annually through the project period, provided a Data Collection Toolkit to firms, and technical assistance as needed.Safeway, Fiesta Foods, and A & J Market offered nutrition incentives to SNAP participants via a coupon on the bottom of the customer receipt. Other grocers/food coops offered a discount at the point of sale. The automation of the coupon method enabled all SNAP participants to receive an incentive for later use; however, the redemption rate for coupons was 26%, indicating many incentives earned are not redeemed. The discount method used by other stores/food coops is effective due to being issued and redeemed during the same transaction; however, SNAP participants must tell cashiers before making their purchase that they plan to use SNAP benefits otherwise the incentive would not be applied.Safeway and Amazon Fresh online SPM incentives were redeemed at a higher rate than in-store incentive coupons. The online SPM redemption rate for Amazon Fresh and Safeway was 70% and 50%, respectively. Both online SNAP incentives offer a digital coupon that can be used on the next transaction. The difference in redemption rates is largely due to Amazon's focus on delivering a seamless shopper experience by assuring that the coupon is automatically applied to the next qualifying transaction, whereas the Safeway app requires shoppers to find and manually add the coupon before checkout. DOH staff have requested an easier online checkout experience for Safeway shoppers, but they don't have the ability with current technology. Incentives redeemed online made up 7% of overall SPM redemptions during the reporting period. Objective 2:Progress on this objective has been paused. The 2 small, independent grocers who required an automated solution are no longer participating in SPM. The Sophiya Mini Market and Halal burned down in November 2023, and the SeaTac International Market did not have their contract renewed due to 8 months of non-responsive communication. If an additional small retailer is onboarded who needs an automated tech solution, this work will resume and be updated in the next progress report. Objective 3:DOH is in communication with Amazon Fresh to create an automated email reminder for SNAP shoppers who have earned but not spent their incentive before the 30-day expiration date. Amazon indicates this may be feasible, and we will report on outcomes during the next reporting period. Goal #3,Objective 1:The Fruit and Vegetable Incentive Program (FVIP) continues to partner with SNAP-Ed through monthly Community of Practice (CoP) meetings to ensure effective outreach and communication about FVIP programs across the state.SNAP-Ed pairs culturally relevant outreach and demonstrations with FVIP promotional materials in 21 languages throughwww.doh.wa.gov/SNAPMatchPrograms. Objective 2:No mailers were sent during the reporting period due to program staff testing more effective solutions to promote the program. Historically, mailers have led to a large influx of calls and confusion, mostly from seniors, with the assumption that the mailer and QR code are an actual coupon. FVIP is reassessing communication strategies. Objective 3:DOH provided 1,060,536 free printed outreach materials to community partners and SNAP participants in 25 languages; leveraged SNAP-Ed funds for a large-scale social marketing campaign to include promotion through radio, online, TV, and out-of-home print ads in English and Spanish to priority counties that have high rates of SNAP use. This campaign generated over 50 million impressions of overall program awareness. Out-of-Home placements were the largest drivers of impressions due to broad reach, while YouTube and TV were the highest source of online impressions. ?Goal #4,Objective 1:DOH continues a contract with Northwest Harvest to coordinate and convene the Community Advisory Network (CAN), gain input to from individuals to improve access to FVIP, and contribute to program planning and development. CAN members met 12 times and gave input on paid media messaging, program expansion, and messaging about program changes to SNAP participants. Objective 2:FVIP staff continues to partner with DOH SNAP-Ed staff to maintain the SNAP-Ed/CoP. The purpose of the CoP is to provide a community platform to share information, learning, and collaboration between FVIP, SNAP-Ed, state and local implementing agency staff. The CoP met 10 times this reporting period with 50 members. Objective 3:Due to staffing changes at WSDA, there wasn't adequate opportunities to provide education workshops to DMFs, however, FVIP continues to partner with WSDA to send FV incentive information to DMFs using current communication channels.

Publications