Recipient Organization
MARKETUMBRELLA.ORG
200 BROADWAY ST STE 107
NEW ORLEANS,LA 70118
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Louisiana has the second-highest rate of food insecurity in the nation, and 83% of Louisiana parishes contain areas that the USDA has deemed low-income and low-access (LI/LA). Food insecurity also deeply impacts the children in our state. One in five children in Louisiana live in food insecure households. Poor diet is a leading factor contributing to chronic disease outcomes in Louisiana's communities, where statewide, 14.2% of adults have diabetes and 39.7% have hypertension. Louisiana ranks fourth in the nation for adult obesity at 34.9% and third in the nation for obesity in children ages 10-17. Studies show that when FF/V availability is expanded, consumption also rises which reduces the rates of chronic disease.GTG will serve SNAP recipients across Louisiana by increasing the availability of FF/V nutrition incentive programs through direct-to-consumer outlets and neighborhood food retailers, to drive economic and community health in Louisiana.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Greaux the Good: Expanding Market Match Across Louisiana (GTG) will build on the success of Market Match and Greaux the Good by serving low-income shoppers across the state by adding new nutrition incentive partner farmers, farmers' markets, and neighborhood food retailers that prioritize sourcing local agricultural products. It will continue to support current Market Match and GTG partners, while providing resources to low-capacity markets in high-need areas.Greaux the Good aims to strengthen the health and safety of communities across Louisiana while building up the rural farmers who feed Americans. The goal of Greaux the Good is to provide Louisiana SNAP users dollar-for-dollar FF/V nutrition incentives through both direct-to-consumer outlets and neighborhood food retailers, some of which offer online SNAP ordering and purchasing. This will be accomplished by supporting existing partner firms throughout population centers such as New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Shreveport, as well as rural communities across the state. In addition to these existing partners, an estimated 19 new partners will be added throughout the project period at a rate of approximately 5 new partners per year. By the end of the project period, partners will provide over $500,000 in direct benefit incentives annually, with the overarching goal of increasing FF/V consumption among rural and low-income communities and facilitating healthy lifestyles through improved nutrition.Specific objectives to accomplish this goal include:1) Provide continued support for FF/V nutrition incentives offered by MU's existing partner firms,2) Increase the number of SNAP-authorized retailers throughout Louisiana by providing technical assistance to new partner firms pursuing retailer authorization,3) Design and implement FF/V nutrition incentive programs at 19 new partner firms throughout the state through a mixture of direct-to-consumer outlets and neighborhood retailer partners
Project Methods
MU will partner with LPHI on data management initiatives for the proposed project. LPHI maintains robust systems for data intake, processing, storage, and analysis and is capable of anonymizing and aggregating data collected from partners across the state. LPHI will conduct an initial infrastructure build-out at the onset of the project, after which the system will be largely automated. MU will have access to the dashboard for the platform at all times to ensure timely reporting and evaluation. MU has existing data management systems for its New Orleans-based Market Match and statewide GTG programs, but has elected to partner with LPHI to ensure that a single, integrated system can be rapidly constructed for the proposed project. This system will alleviate the administrative burden for data management that would otherwise be incurred by MU's staff.Process assessment will be conducted by evaluating: 1) reach of the nutrition incentive program, as determined by the number and location of participating firms, the number of SNAP transactions, and the dollar value of incentives distributed and redeemed, 2) fidelity of outreach to partner firms and implementation of nutrition incentive programs to MU's established protocols, and 3) contextual factors out of our control, such as natural disasters, availability of certain types of produce, etc. Firms will document the number and dollar value of transactions through online ordering, delivery, and in-person shopper counts and report these metrics to MU monthly. Fidelity to protocols will be measured by scheduled observations, and all instances of outreach to prospective partners, be they written, virtual, or face-to-face, will be recorded, as will onboardings and trainings. MU will provide technical assistance and conduct monthly check-ins with partners to collect and report required data, and partner firms will be surveyed annually regarding the challenges and successes associated with program implementation. Process assessment will be shared with NTAE annually. Outcome assessments will include the collection of data from participating firms and SNAP users, and such data will be shared with the NTAE. Core participant-level data will include an annual, cross-sectional survey that evaluates the impacts of nutrition incentive programming on knowledge, purchasing, and consumption of FF/V. This survey will be voluntary and will not impact a participant's ability to earn a nutrition incentive. Surveys will be qualitative in nature. Core firm-level data will include the tracking of disbursement and redemption of incentives.Success will be measured by achieving the following changes in knowledge and action:1) 19 or more new direct-to-consumer outlets and neighborhood food retailers that have learned how to accept SNAP and/or offer nutrition incentives to SNAP shoppers at the point-of-purchase2) 60% of SNAP customers surveyed at the point-of-purchase will report trying a new FF/V for the first time as a result of nutrition incentive programs and the awareness they create regarding the availability of fresh produce3) 19 direct-to-consumer outlets and neighborhood food retailers implement a nutrition incentive program4) Successful distribution of dollar-for-dollar match on FF/V to each SNAP shopper, totaling over $2M by partner firms throughout the project period, as determined by data collected from partner firms5) 75% of SNAP recipients report purchasing and consuming increased quantity and variety of FF/V as a result of offered nutrition incentives, as determined by surveys administered at point-of-purchase