Source: FORSYTH FARMERS MARKET submitted to NRP
FARM TRUCK 912: COMBINING SNAP BENEFITS, A MOBILE MARKET AND LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES IN SAVANNAH
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1006169
Grant No.
2015-70018-23343
Cumulative Award Amt.
$50,000.00
Proposal No.
2015-02096
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Apr 1, 2015
Project End Date
Dec 31, 2016
Grant Year
2015
Program Code
[FPP]- FINI Pilot Project
Recipient Organization
FORSYTH FARMERS MARKET
11 W PARK AVE
SAVANNAH,GA 31401
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The Forsyth Farmers' Market (FFM) proposes to establish a mobile market, Farm Truck 912 (named for the Savannah area code), to deliver the farmers' market experience and fresh locally grown fruits and vegetables to regular locations in low-income neighborhoods in Savannah. Farm Truck 912 will utilize the proven SNAP/EBT and financial incentives for doubling purchases, helping low-income Savannahians afford healthy produce. The mobile market will be organized by the FFM, using their collective experience and expertise in outreach, market procedures and food education. The mobile market will use its FINI grant and other funding to combine access with an incentive program for SNAP participants, a food education and outreach program, and health screenings. Mercer University School of Medicine will provide the health screenings. All components are designed to work together to increase purchases of fresh fruits and vegetables. It is the goal of this project to provide access and incentives to 450 SNAP participants weekly at seven stops at community centers in the three zip codes identified as the target communities. The project has matching funds and in-kind contributions from Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Mercer University School of Medicine, and Wholesome Wave Georgia.Mercer University will conduct an evaluation of the project.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
70362991010100%
Knowledge Area
703 - Nutrition Education and Behavior;

Subject Of Investigation
6299 - Marketing, general/other;

Field Of Science
1010 - Nutrition and metabolism;
Goals / Objectives
Goals: The primary purpose of the multicomponent Farm Truck 912 FINI Pilot Project is to increase the purchase of fruits and vegetables by low-income consumers participating in SNAP by providing incentives at the point of purchase, i.e. the Farm Truck 912. To accomplish this purpose the project has set four goals. A logical model linking goals with outcomes is provided in Figure 1.1. Expand availability of and access to fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables in low income and food insecure neighborhoods in Savannah/Chatham County by distributing products at multiple sites using the Farm Truck 912.2. Make fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables affordable for low-income consumers participating in SNAP by providing financial incentives for their purchase from the Farm Truck 912.3. Increase purchase of fruits and vegetables by low-income consumers participating in SNAP through food education and outreach on their role and use in a healthy diet at Farm Truck 912 stops.4. Increase purchase of fruits and vegetables by low-income consumers participating in SNAP through health screenings in which providers reinforce linkage between nutrition and health at Farm Truck 912 stops.
Project Methods
The Farm Truck 912 and Forsyth Farmers' Market staff, working in partnership with Mercer University School of Medicine, Savannah campus, will participate in FINI Comprehensive Program Evaluation. We will provide self-assessment data to FINI that will include number of customers, number of new and returning SNAP/EBT customers, total sales and a breakdown of sales, number of SNAP and other customers taking handouts, number of SNAP and other participating in health activities.Mercer University School of Medicine Summer Scholars will collect, analyze and evaluate data and their reports will provided to FINI, as well.General data that will be collected will be:· Number of customers served for each site, each visit· Total sales of fruit and vegetables for each site, each visit broken down for Cash, Credit/Debit, SNAP/EBT· Number of SNAP/EBT customers served for each site, each visit· Number of new SNAP/EBT customers served for each site, each visit· Number of SNAP and other customers taking recipe cards/nutritional handouts for each site, each visitHealth Education/Medical Data that will be collected:· Number of SNAP and other customers participating in health education/health screenings/other health activities for each site, each visit· Health screening data from SNAP and other customers from a few specific sites to include heart rate, BMI, blood glucoseMarket sales data will also be used to develop a business plan for ensuring sustainability.

Progress 04/01/15 to 12/31/16

Outputs
Target Audience:We worked with Chatham County's vulnerable populations, defined as those people living in poverty or up to 200% of the federal poverty level, reside predominately in three zip codes (31401, 31404, and 31415) and made up 26% of the total county population in 2013. Zip code 31401, although it contains the renowned Savannah Historic District, is the poorest zip code in the county. Almost 60% of the children living in this zip code are living below the federal poverty level. The median household income for the three zip codes is less than $35,000 and unemployment in 2013 ranged from 10% to 16%. The county average was 8.3%. Changes/Problems:Though we will continue to take the Farm Truck out into the community, and particularly into low-income communities, we feel that we must add middle to upper middle class neighborhoods to our route in order to sustain the operation. We do not sell very much at all in the neighborhoods we visit and therefore find it difficult to convince local funders to add more money to the project. We plan to implement a new route with stops in more neighborhoods in June 2017. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1. We were able to expand the availability of and access to fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables in low income and food insecure neighborhoods in Savannah/Chatham County by distributing products using the Farm Truck 912 in a total of 7 locations. With those 7 locations we made a total of 186 visits to Savannah neighborhoods with our Farm Truck from the 1st stop in October 2015 to the last stop of the project in December 2016. 2. We did make fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables affordable for low-income consumers participating in SNAP by providing financial incentives for their purchase from the Farm Truck 912. However, we did not come close to meeting our goal even with the generous extension of our project granted in April of 2016. Despite our best efforts, we simply could not meet our original goal. 3. We feel like we did increase purchase of fruits and vegetables by low-income consumers participating in SNAP through food education and outreach on their role and use in a healthy diet at Farm Truck 912 stops. Using other grant funding, we paired an educator with as many stops as possible to talk about healthy local food and provide recipes and tastings. An educator was with the truck for 150 of the visits to Savannah neighborhoods and we completed numerous outreach events, door to door campaigns and social media campaigns throughout the duration of the project. 4. We feel like we increased purchase of fruits and vegetables by low-income consumers participating in SNAP through health screenings to reinforce linkage between nutrition and health at 3 Farm Truck stops.

Publications


    Progress 04/01/15 to 03/31/16

    Outputs
    Target Audience:For our Farm Truck 912 project, we worked with Chatham County's most vulnerable populations, defined as those people living in poverty or up to 200% of the federal poverty level. Thesepopulationsreside predominately in three zip codes (31401, 31404, and 31415) and made up 26% of the total county population in 2013. Zip code 31401, although it contains the renowned Savannah Historic District, is the poorest zip code in the county. Almost 60% of the children living in this zip code are living below the federal poverty level. The median household income for the three zip codes is less than $35,000 and unemployment in 2013 ranged from 10% to 16%. The county average was 8.3%. Changes/Problems:We did ask for and receive an extension to our one year project because we have not had as high of SNAP sales as we anticipated. Although we've received an abundance of press, partner with a variety of organizations and provide outreach and education consistently, we find that the Farm Truck simply does not get many customers. We've heard a variety of complaints -- prices too high (we only work with local farmers), lack of fruit (South GA only produces fruit a few times a year), and inconvenient times (we've changed times at several of our stops to try to be accomodating). We will continue to be flexible in order to try to meet the needs of our customers. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We requested and received an extension on our project until the end of December 2016 so we have not disseminated results yet. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue to offer up to 7 stops in Savannah communities and will potentially add more. We will continue to offer SNAP incentives, education and outreach at each stop. We will also work with Mercer University School of Medicine to provide health screenings at our Farm Truck 912 stops.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? 1. We expanded availability and access to fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetablesin low income and food insecure neighborhoods by operating a total of 7 stops for Farm Truck 912in Savannah neighborhoods. 2. We made fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables affordable for low-income consumers participating in SNAP by providing a dollar for dollar match incentive on purchases from the Farm Truck 912. 3. We increased purchase of fruits and vegetables by low-income consumers participating in SNAP (as well as other consumers) through food education and outreach on their role and use in a healthy diet. Almost every stop of Farm Truck 912 utilizes an educator/outreach person to talk about local fruits and vegetablesand offer recipes, recipe cards, tastings and other education. 4. We did not offer health screenings at Farm Truck 912 stops yet due to the low availability of Mercer University School of Medicine students during Farm Truck 912 stop times. We plan to work on this issue this summer while students have more free time.

    Publications