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

Outputs
Target Audience:Virginia Fresh Match (VFM) facilitates the expansion of affordable access to healthy F&V for Virginia's low-income communities. By funding NI programs at 156 firms, this collective network of businesses, government agencies, stakeholders, and non-profit organizations tested VFM's core hypothesis: that people buy fresh produce when they can afford it. In Year 1, over 28,750 SNAP households with an average household size of 4 participated in VFM and increased their food budget to purchase fresh, locally grown produce. Based on 2024 survey data from SNAP customers who shopped at a subset of VFM partner outlets, the average VFM audience member is: female (76%), white (59%) or African American (32%), and supports a household size of 1-2 adults and 1-2 children. Of those surveyed, 68% said they were in at least good if not very good health, and 96% said they've had a positive experience using VFM. The overall food insecurity rate was 59% with 28% falling into the "very low food security" category. The majority (91%) said that they would use more program funds to buy produce if available, and 46% had used the program for more than a year. Results showed that participants who have used the program more than a year reported drastically lower food insecurity (24% compared to 46% for under 9 months). Food insecurity rates tended to be higher among participants who identified as Latina and African American. Of those surveyed, 44% said they did not have time to cook meals and 31% said they often couldn't make healthy meals from the food options they had. Most participants did not participate in other food programs, while roughly one quarter did receive food from a local food bank or pantry. When compared with survey results from the previous two years, our analysis shows that food insecurity is on the rise, making access to our program more important than ever. As one participant shared at the Blacksburg Farmers Market, "The program has helped our family so much because without it, we would not be able to eat. We are struggling so hard and this feels like a real blessing." Impact extends beyond SNAP participants. Our partner firm Market at 25th shared, "[this program] is one of few advantages we have in competing with the big box stores in our area, winning us much needed revenue." Farmers likewise appreciate the program, as one shared, "Our SNAP token intake has steadily increased over the years, and we're grateful for the opportunity to support our community while connecting with even more customers." These results only confirm the truth behind the concept of NIs as a "triple win." Changes/Problems:Our GusNIP application was submitted under the supervision of former VFM Network Director, Dr. Lanae Hood. Dr. Hood resigned from her position in March 2024. As a skilled academic and researcher, Dr. Hood set ambitious goals for our project, especially in the realm of evaluation and publication. With Dr. Hood's exit, the MT and Evaluation WG have had to reassess those evaluation goals, which we are pleased to report we expect to fully realize. While challenging, Dr. Hood's resignation has also provided VFM new opportunities for growth among our staff and greater investment among our leadership. We have provided our Center for Nutrition & Health Impact Program Advisor rolling updates on this change and do not anticipate any disruptions to progress on our objectives, outcomes, or evaluation plan. State cash match was a significant part of our GusNIP application as well. The allocation provided to VFM through a budget amendment in Virginia's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) has proven a great benefit to our network. To date, we have spent $969,434 of this state fund directly on NI redemptions. However, this transition has also come with its challenges. A slower payment process averaging 30 to 45 days from date of invoice has stressed our firms' financial health and, in a few instances, caused firms to discontinue their programs. VFM's Director of Advocacy has put in admirable efforts to improve communication with our state government partners and ensure they understand the importance of our program, while our Director of Operations adapted our systems to better meet their reporting requirements. We are confident in the value of our learned lessons and optimistic about our state's investment in its NI network. Nevertheless, uncertainties in the sustainability of our state funds as we spend down the $2M originally allocated continue to impact this project's timeline. In late 2023, our regional partner FRESHFARM, which holds its own GusNIP across their tri-state region (Northern Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.), informed us that they did not expect their award to adequately cover NI redemptions across their region. They requested that their Northern Virginia firms be reincorporated into this project, and, as LEAP has historically funded these firms and so had a precedent to do so again, we agreed. FRESHFARM and LEAP worked with our shared Program Advisor to transfer firm reporting and evaluation from FRESHFARM to LEAP in 2024. The transition has been smooth, and we expect to continue supporting these firms in Year 2. As detailed in this report, VFM underwent a significant rebrand and expanded our marketing efforts. We offered translated materials beyond Spanish for the first time and worked with a Virginia-based consultant to create those translations. We then asked for feedback from community partners on the accuracy of those translations and found the product was not accessible to our participants. The ways in which we typically describe our program didn't necessarily transfer to other languages as cleanly as we might have expected, and the nuances between dialects of the same language were lost in our initial translations. The materials underwent several revisions, and we learned the importance of engaging with community members in translating our marketing. This experience will inform future translation efforts. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The majority of our training and professional development efforts were documented in our GusCRR Progress Report with a few exceptions. VFM co-hosted two equity-focused trainings with the Virginia Farmers Market Association: "Getting Started with the Anti-Racism Toolkit," presented by Atlanta Leadership Consulting in April 2024, and "Working with the Homeless & Conflict Resolution," presented by Empathy Studios in May 2024. Both trainings were free, public, and recorded for dissemination. In addition, VFM partners were offered free tuition for evaluator's Partners for Strategic ImpactStory™ Academy, which provides training on community-driven process evaluation and analysis. To date, 4 RL representatives have completed the training. Members of our MT also sat it on several communities of practice hosted by the NTAE, including Farm Direct Technology, EBT integration, Marketing & Communications, and special sessions offered around retail strategies, record keeping, and FNS policies. As detailed in our GusCRR Progress Report, we continued to host monthly communities of practice meetings for partner firms in which they were able to learn about relevant work. Within this project's abbreviated timeframe, these meetings provided information about the SUN Bucks program, the Farm Market Fresh (formerly Farmers Market Nutrition) Program, the results of our research, National Farmers Market Week, and No Kid Hungry research on food insecurity in Virginia. The most impactful meetings were arguably the ones in which partner firms heard from one another. In our October community of practice, we invited partner firms to share about the impact of their NI programs on farmers and SNAP participants. The support and camaraderie we saw in that meeting were as valuable as any training opportunity. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?VFM disseminates a monthly newsletter highlighting our impact and firms to a listserv of over 560 people with an average of about 45% open rate. VFM also ramped up our social media presence with frequent postings that significantly increased engagement, including collaboration with groups like the National Farmers Market Coalition and the Virginia Farmers Market Association. One video featuring how to shop with VFM tokens at farmers markets received more than 31,600 views. Stories about our NI programs and partner firms were featured in at least 15 news sources (tracked through Google Alerts, does not account for offline news publications and other sources). A story about VFM and National Nutrition Month was published by the Public News Service on March 22nd and picked up by 13 media outlets. We developed a 2023 one-page impact report and shared it with state partners (VDACS, Virginia Department of Social Services, Virginia Family Nutrition Programs, and the Virginia Farmers Market Association) and other stakeholders at various advocacy meetings, as well as across our network of firms. More in-depth analysis of our results was shared at the December 2023 in-person convening, at which our evaluator Partners for Strategic Impact shared results and analysis from our 2023 participant surveys as well as analysis of 2023 process evaluation. The Director of Operations provided quarterly reports to Regional Lead Organizations showing year-to-date NI redemptions for their regions' firms as compared to the previous year along with highlights on over- and under-performing firms. Evaluator Dr. Hagedorn-Hatfield submitted two abstracts to the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, entitled "Virginia Fresh Match Redemptions Remain Strong Despite the End of Emergency SNAP Allotments," and "Process Evaluation of Enhanced SNAP Benefits on Virginia Fresh Match Outlets and Consumer Well-Being Amid the Pandemic," respectively. Research findings were presented by Stephanie Reichert, a graduate student of Dr. Hagedorn-Hatfield's, at the annual Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior conference in Knoxville, Tennessee. VFM shared our results at Virginia Food Access Coalition advocacy events and in advocacy meetings with members of the Virginia Commission to End Hunger. The MT presented at SNAP Outreach conferences and met with SNAP Ed agents along with VFM RLs. VFM also presented to the Nutrition Education and SNAP Ed Community of Practice on collaborative marketing best practices. VFM serves in a leadership role in the Virginia Food Access Coalition to ensure that NIs are well represented in statewide forums. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We expect an exciting and productive second year for this project. Our LT will complete our strategic plan and approve a three-year implementation plan to achieve our strategic goals. Action items within this plan will include targeted recruitment based on firm-type with an emphasis on farm-direct and mobile markets, a public resource portal, advanced technical assistance, SNAP participant engagement in governance, and issuing capacity building funds to partner firms with state funds. The LT will develop policies around member recruitment, terms, and offices, and the MT will engage in more active firm recruitment and technical assistance around marketing and technology. In regard to participant engagement and evaluation, we intend to work with our external evaluator Dr. Hagedorn-Hatfield to collect in-depth interviews with farms and firms regarding the impact of NI programs and conduct advisory reviews with SNAP participants to inform program design. This next phase of evaluation will tease out the nuances in our data and help us facilitate more targeted recruitment and technical assistance in the future. Overall, we will continue to improve our processes and operations for better impact

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Note: As VFM's fiscal sponsor, LEAP closed our previous GusCRR award in March 2024 and then switched to billing this GusNIP grant. As such, our accomplishments reflect a limited scope associated with the costs billed to this grant, while other activities not listed here were represented in our GusCRR Final Report. In October 2024, the VFM Management Team (MT) published a request for proposals for a brand redesign, to include a new logo, font and color suite, and tagline. The Marketing Working Group (WG) reviewed all proposals and recommended the preferred candidate to the Leadership Team (LT, providing strategic oversight). Graphic design firm YSSRS completed the redesign in January 2025, at which point VFM's newly hired Communications Coordinator was able to offer expanded marketing resources with technical support. VFM provided firms with over 23 customizable templates in Canva and an accompanying Marketing Guide, Canva manual, and video tutorials. VFM made available $500 per outlet in marketing reimbursements for these rebranded materials to partner firms, and issued over $12,000 in funds to firms for a wide range of outreach, from banners and flyers to social media ads and Department of Social Services mailers. In addition, VFM contracted for translations of 26 key phrases and 6 Canva templates into 6 languages (Spanish, Dari, Kurdish, Russian, Tigrinya, and Swahili). Our Communications Coordinator provided 50 hours in direct technical assistance to firms in the form of developing custom materials, editing language and format, and making outreach suggestions. This level of attention proved doubly effective during Virginia's launch of SUN Bucks, as most firms were not prepared to turn around marketing specific to SUN Bucks in the very short timeline between program announcement and launch. With VFM's support, outlets were able to access SUN Bucks marketing templates, and were kept updated about the launch through VFM's Partner Outlet Community of Practice. Year 1 of this project marks the first in which VFM has operated as a collaboratively governed entity. The proposal, initially drafted by the MT in March 2023, was adopted by the LT with consent in 2024. The policy provides clearly defined roles for all network groups, including the LT, MT, and WGs as well as network decision making processes and chains of decision making. Within this structure, the MT works collaboratively with the WGs to research subjects of interest and provide recommendations for the LT to consider and possibly approve via the Consent Principle. The LT provides strategic oversight and advisory guidance for the network, while the MT is responsible for operations and implementation of our strategic plan and the WGs ensure our participants (firms, farmers, SNAP consumers, etc.) can inform our policies and processes. Members of the MT act as leads of each WG and inform their focus areas. In Year 1, the Equity WG hosted 2 free virtual trainings on the Farmers Market Coalition's Anti-Racism Toolkit and Deescalation and Conflict Resolution. The Finance WG approved all 2024 firm funding requests and prepared the 2024 annual budget for approval by the LT, and the Marketing WG refined our marketing templates and outreach strategies. The Evaluation WG prepared our Year 1 participant survey plan to ensure a positive end-user experience for both firms and SNAP participants, provided 2 survey trainings for firms and several hours of direct technical assistance. We are thrilled to see an unprecedented 295 surveys entered in Qualtrics as part of the NTAE's evaluation. This WG also prepared and submitted two abstracts to the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior with intent to publish the full papers in Year 2. The Advisory WG connected VFM to other food access and agriculture programs and ensured NIs are part of Virginia's food system initiatives. VFM's most substantial accomplishments in Year 1 are expressed through our impact. 100 partner organizations operated NI programs at 156 firms and redeemed $911,143 in NIs (including redemptions attributed to our former GusCRR project), which marks 10% growth over the prior year. An estimated 1,261 farmers and 28,750 households earned more in income and free fruits and vegetables respectively. Our network is stronger and more collaborative than ever before and stands ready for a new chapter of growth and stability. According to the NTAE's Economic Impact calculator, VFM reinvested $1.06M in Virginia's local economies this grant year. Outcome 1.1: In Year 1, 156 firms offered VFM, a 34% increase over pre-Year 1 levels, including 68 FMs, 7 MMs representing 63 sites, 11 farm-direct, 7 grocery stores, and 7 small community stores. Outcome 1.2: In this shortened Year 1 (April - September), partner firms redeemed $551,901 in incentive redemptions (see narrative section above for total redemptions). Outcome 2.1: In Year 1, the newly hired Communications Coordinator developed a library of 66 marketing templates in English and 6 additional languages identified by partner firms as being spoken to subsets of their customers. Outcome 2.2: There is no progress to report toward this outcome as of Year 1. Outcome 2.3: In Year 1, VFM completed a rebrand in close collaboration with the Communications Coordinator, graphic designer, and Marketing WG. Outcome 2.4: In Year 1, VFM collaborated with the Virginia Department of Social Services and No Kid Hungry Virginia to support the use of the SUN Bucks at VFM firms. VFM worked closely with the Federation of Virginia Food Banks on advocacy and state funding and with the Virginia Farmers Market Association on social media and newsletter outreach encouraging farmers markets to start SNAP and NI programs. Outcome 3.1: In Year 1, the LT had six members, three of which are firm representatives with experience in food production, distribution, and access. The LT will develop a plan for recruiting new members in Year 2, to include diverse network representatives. Outcome 3.2: In Year 1, 5 WGs convened around the Marketing, Finance, Equity, Evaluation, and Advisory aspects of VFM's work. WGs focused on training (Equity facilitated 2 virtual network trainings), network proposals (including VFM's Structure and Governance), and planning (Marketing rebrand and annual work plans, annual budgets, strategic priorities). Outcome 3.3: VFM expects to survey the LT, Regional Leads (RLs), and firms in December 2024. The results will provide insight on our governance, priorities, and areas for growth. December 2023 RL survey results showed that RLs felt engaged in their work, that VFM processes were generally improving, and that more clarity was needed in their roles. Outcome 3.4: In Year 1, the LT reviewed and approved VFM's Structure and Governance after RLs provided edits and suggestions. This policy effectively puts VFM's strategic governance in the hands of a collaborative group of network partners. Outcome 3.5: In Year 1, the Evaluation WG convened regularly to implement program evaluation. The focus in Year 1 was in participant survey collection (295 recorded), publishing with preexisting data, and establishing the CBPR-informed priorities for Year 2.

Publications