Recipient Organization
FOOD BANK OF NORTH ALABAMA
PO BOX 18607
HUNTSVILLE,AL 35804
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The Pulaski Pike Market will be a worker cooperative grocery store located in Terry Heights Hillandale, a downtown neighborhood of Huntsville, AL. The Market will provide jobs for low-income workers with entrepreneurial aspirations, offer healthy food choices to low-income consumers reporting high rates of diabetes and assist limited resource, family farmers struggling to earn a living solely from farming. Terry Heights Hillandale is a predominately African American community bordered by three public housing developments. During the 06-07 school year, the number of Terry Heights Elementary School students eligible for free or reduced price meals was 97%, and the 2007 median household income within .6 mile of the proposed Pulaski Pike Market was $13,558 per year. Neglected by conventional retail services including large grocery chains, Terry Heights Hillandale does not have access to nutritious food choices within the neighborhood's borders. Lacking reliable transportation, many Terry Heights Hillandale community members purchase their groceries from "quick stops" that have unhealthy food selections and exceedingly high prices. In a recent survey of residents within the neighborhood's zip code, 42 percent of participants reported that they or a household member had received a diagnosis for high blood pressure, diabetes or high cholesterol. All three diagnoses portend severe dietary concerns and underscore the need for access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Before the national economic downturn, respondents to the survey also reported a 13% unemployment rate, more than double Huntsville's average. Because the Market will operate as a worker cooperative, the jobs created for low-income workers will include the opportunity to own an equal share of the enterprise and accumulate equity in a viable business. Our development team worked for two years to assess a cooperative grocery's feasibility and confirmed a viable niche market linking small, rural producers to the collective buying power of Terry Heights' low-income consumers. The Market's 6,000 square foot facility will also house the distribution center for a network of family farmers called the Clean Food Network who will supply the Market with locally grown farm products. To date only one Network member has been able to survive entirely through farming. This fact mirrors statewide statistics where only 40% of Alabama growers in 2007 farmed as their primary occupation, a 13% reduction since 2002. The Pulaski Pike Market is designed to meet the following needs: Offer low-income consumers who reside in a "food desert" access to locally grown fresh produce and conventional grocery products; provide nutrition education that promotes locally grown produce within a low-income community reporting alarmingly high rates of diabetes and metabolic syndrome; create jobs that offer opportunities to accumulate long-term savings through equity in a viable business; fulfill an infrastructure need and expand the marketing outreach of local, family farmers; and contribute to a locally sustainable food network by linking rural producers to low-income, urban consumers.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
100%
Goals / Objectives
Goal 1: Improve the health of low-income consumers residing in a food desert through access to healthier food choices including locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables, food education events and a cooperative staff knowledgeable about healthy eating habits and local produce. Objectives: Improve access to healthy, affordable local food for low-income consumers as evidenced by Pulaski Pike Market's, PPM, volume of local food purchases and the number of local food suppliers. Increase consumer knowledge about local food and healthy eating habits as evidenced by pre and post spot check tests of consumers at in-store promos. Increase PPM staff's knowledge about healthy eating, local foods and the importance of a locally sustainable food network as evidenced by pre and post training tests. Improve consumer and PPM staff's eating habits as evidenced by focus groups, pre and post training surveys and sales. Goal 2: Improve the standard of living of PPM's low-income workers through asset building. Objectives: Low-income workers gain the financial knowledge necessary to become competent board members as evidenced by pre and post training tests. PPM staff earns higher wages and or obtain better benefits than in previous employment as evidenced by a voluntary survey. Goal 3: Improve the economic viability of local, limited resource family farmers. Objectives: Provide needed infrastructure for a distribution center for the Clean Food Network, CFN. Increase CFN's marketing resources through joint marketing promotions as evidenced by budgetary comparisons. Increase low-income consumers' consumption of local food by promoting them at community food events and in-store promos. Goal 4: Build a model for self-sustaining entrepreneurial enterprises in low-income communities that contribute to a locally sustainable food network. Objectives: Provide expert grocery and cooperative operations training to PPM staff for 2 years. Create an incubation structure which enables non-profit partners to oversee PPM in its initial years until it meets operational and financial benchmarks. Evaluate and document the development process for replication purposes. Outputs: By May 2010 PPM opens with a product mix including local fruits and vegetables, 3 community members complete Local Food Ambassador training, 100% of PPM staff complete local foods and nutrition training, and the distribution center for CFN is complete. PPM hosts 6 community food events and 36 in-store public service promos each year post opening. Increase CFN's marketing budget. 25% increase per year of participants in community food events after baseline is established. 100% of PPM staff complete operations and financial training prior to opening. Milestones: Certificates of occupancy by April 2010 for the PPM and CFN's distribution center. Fifteen worker-owners, trained in the grocery industry, cooperative operations and local foods/nutrition, open PPM in May 2010 with follow-up training 2011-12. Plan and execute a joint PPM/CFN marketing campaign including nutrition/local food educational events targeting low-income consumers in 2010-2013. PPM attains profitability by 2013 and sustainability by 2014.
Project Methods
To meet its commitment to evidence-based practices in all areas of the operation, PPM will contract with Dr. Ritalinda Lee, an external evaluator who has more than 30 years experience in the fields of public health and social services research and evaluation. Over the course of the grant, 3 levels of evaluation will be conducted: Formative, which will chronicle and assess the preparatory stages of the project development and will run from notice of award to the opening of PPM; Process, which will document and assess the fidelity of implementation and extent of achievement of the objectives, 10 annually in comparison to baselines; and Outcome, which will provide baseline levels and will monitor progress towards achievement of long term outcomes of PPM. Participant confidentiality will be assured in all phases of data collection, handling, analysis and reporting. All HIPAA and consent guidelines will be followed, and all studies will be cleared through the ECHO Healthcare Education Foundation Human Subjects Review Committee. Methods: The evaluation will be based on participatory evaluation principles and will use a matched sample comparative design. Both quantitative and qualitative data will be collected for each of the indicators. Qualitative data will be generated from focus groups, surveys, structured interviews of staff and customers. Quantitative data will be gathered from surveys, audits and sales statistics. When appropriate, the survey instruments listed in the Community Food Project Evaluation Toolkit will be used. In addition, standardized instruments will be employed to gather such information as customer food/nutrition habits. Whenever possible, self reports of information will be corroborated with quantitative data (i.e. nutrition habit data will be measured against biomarkers such as weight, BMI and lab values that are collected in the context of health fairs). Analysis: Goal 1's sources include administrative records and secondary sources. Goal 2's sources include surveys, admin records and secondary wage data. Goal 3's sources include CFN records, survey, community and economic data. Goal 4's sources include admin records, survey, community and economic data. Frequencies for Goal 1 and 2 are ANOVA, for Goal 3 and 4, regression. When relevant, data will be cross-tabulated by demographic or behavioral characteristics. Sample size for all surveys will be dependent upon the size of population customer base. Sample frame, based on customer or community population as relevant, will be developed for all surveys.