Progress 04/01/15 to 12/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Allentown, Pennsylvania, a city of over 100,000 people, was once a booming steel, silk and manufacturing hub that has struggled to transform following the out-migration of manufacturing.Today, more than a quarter of all Allentown residents fall below the federal poverty line andnearly thirty-fivepercent of families with children under the age of five meet these criteria.More thanone in four Allentown households use Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to purchase food(1). But fresh food is difficult to come by--large swaths of the city's central and eastern neighborhoods are more than a half-mile from a supermarket and many residents in these neighborhoods have no access to a vehicle.(2) Local bodegas and corner stores offer little in the way of fresh, affordable options which indicates both a lack of supply and a demand great enough to enable high pricing on a perishable item. In 2016,Rodale Institute (RI) and Allentown-based community partners worked toenhance fresh food access in three of the lowest income neighborhoods, evenly distributed throughout the city. Rodale Institute is an authorized SNAP retailer and currently accepts SNAP benefits in its popular CSA type program called theAgriculture Supported Communities Program (ASC), which operates concurrently as a weekly farm stand on distribution days where community members can also buy fresh, locally-grown organic produce a la carte in addition to participating in the farm share program.. While ASC members must sign up and commit to participating for the full six-month season, payment, including SNAP benefits, is accepted on a weekly basis rather than the more typical up-front payment that the CSA model was built on. ASC and farm stand pricing caters to low-income residents, for instance, in 2016,a full family size share of organic fruits and vegetables grown at the nearby Rodale Institute Farm cost only $25 a week, and a small sharewas priced at $15 a week; the Double SNAP incentivesbrought the share prices to $7.50 and $12.50 respectively. The farm stands also accepted Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) vouchers for a la carte produce. In 2016, the ASC distribution sites and farm standswere thoughtfully located for easy access at a Head Start program site, a local hospital, and the YM/YWCA. For the 2016 market season Rodale Institute, in partnership with community service organizations and the City of Allentown, enhanced the fresh food offerings in two low-income neighborhoods to include SNAP authorized multi-vendor all-organic farmers' markets and the continuation and expansion of the SNAP authorized ASC program. In 2016, Rodale Institute shifted one AllentownMarket from its location on 7th Street to coincide with our most popular ASC Distribution site at Sacred Heart hospital in Allentown. This arose from a need to reach alarger portion of the population.Sacred Heart is centrallylocatedin a highly trafficked area withinthe neighborhood. We also changed the operating timeof this market to a Thursday late afternoon/early evening to capture both hospital clinic patients, employees, and visitors, as well as offer a convenient shopping time that coincides with the end of the workday. At the second site, the Allentown YMCA -YWCA approached Rodale Institute hoping to set up a market in their parking lot at the bequest of their members and to benefit the large residential community surrounding the Y. Incentivizing SNAP users to purchase local, organic vegetables and fruits with matching dollars at the point of purchase helps us to realize our organization's goal of increasing access to fresh, local, organic foods while ensuring a fair price to producers. This incentivization has also helped in recruiting organic farmers to the low-income markets, which may otherwise prove difficult due to farmers' negative perceptions of the viability of selling their produce at current market rates in low-income areas. In 2016, two additional regional organic produce farmers were able to offer the Double SNAP incentive to customers by participating in the Rodale Institute's Organic Farmers' Markets. The incentivization is also important to address the perception that organic food is expensive, which has been a hurdle in attracting SNAP users from low-income communities to all-organic markets. SNAP recipients must feel that local fruits and vegetables are affordable and represent a good value, and they must feel welcomed and comfortable in their understanding of how to use SNAP at the ASC or farmers' markets. Culturally appropriate cooking classes conducted in partnership with Cooking Matters and local chefs greatly enhanced SNAP usage at the markets by demonstrating how to use the fresh fruits and vegetables being sold by their local farmers that they could purchase with their SNAP Benefits. The following is a breakdown of community members served by each fresh organic produce program (Data was determined from surveys received from members post-season): Allentown ASC Members: Sacred Heart -42 families Community Services for Children (Head Start) -12 families RI Organic Market Y -22 families Total =76 families approximately 225 people SNAP using families -13 = 17.3%, this is almost double the percentage of SNAP using families in the ASC Program from the year before. Cultural Demographics of the ASC Program for 2016 were as follows: Female: 80%; Male: 20% 25-34 = 10% 35-44 = 39% 45-54 = 29% 55-64 = 19% 65+ = 3% Hispanic/Latino: 13% American Indian/Alaskan Native: 2% Asian, Asian Indian or Pacific Islander: 2% Afican American: 2% Caucasion: 80% Other: 14% Income levels Less than $15,000 =8% $15,000 - $24,999 = 3% $25,000 - $49,999 = 29% $50,000 - $74,999 = 26% $75,000 - $99,999 = 17% $100,000 or more = 17% Farmer's Markets: RI Organic Market at the Y -50 guests per week RI Organic Marketat SacredHeart- 50 - 75 guest per week Cultural demographics of Farmers' Markets guests reflected that of the general population of Allentown,. We also conducted surveys with farmers' market visitors. The demographic results of those surveys are as follows: Female: 83%, Male: 17% Age: 18-24: 6% 25 - 34: 19% 35 - 44: 39% 45 - 54: 6% 55 - 64: 31% Race/ Ethnicity 25% of guests were Hispanic/Latino Ethnicity 64% of guests were Caucasians 6% of guests were African-American 3% Asian, Asian Indian or Pacific Islander 8% American Indian or Alaskan Native 22% Other 2016 Total Sales from Allentown ASC Share Holders and OrganicFarmers' Markets: $59,717 2016 Total Sales using SNAP: $5,400.00 ($2,700.00 subsidized by USDA FINI Funding) = 9% of total sales purchased with SNAP. Allentown's population is comprised of nearly 43% of people who identify themselves as Hispanic (1). According to our survey data, both the ASC and the Farmers' markets are underserving this population. While we did promote programming bilingually with membership forms, flyers, posters, brochures, television and radio spots, this is an area that we would like to target increased participuation in the future. Relatedly, while SNAP usage nearly doubled between 2015 and 2016, SNAP purchases still only accounted for just under 10% of Allentown sales in 2016, whereas Census Data shows that SNAP usage in Allentown is over 27%. Rodale Instituted focused on promotion of the Double SNAP incentive through bilingual flyers, posters, banners, billboards, membership forms, radio and television spots, however we would also like to target increased SNAP usage participation through additional effective placement of promotional materials. 1) U.S. Census Bureau. (2015). Allentown (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. Retrieved from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/42/4202000.html 2) Economic Research Service (ERS). (2015). USDA ERS - Food Access Research Atlas. Retrieved from http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas.aspx Changes/Problems:One major change that we implemented in 2016, was the site location and timeof one of our Allentown OrganicFarmers' Markets. Our original farmers' market began spontaneously in 2013 when we discovered the need for an additional outlet where community members could purchase fresh organic produce a la carte; individuals regularly inquired about how they could buy fresh vegetables at our nearby established ASC farm share distribution site at Sacred Heart Hospital. Since the ASC produce was pre-sold, we quickly worked with a community partner to set up a Saturday morning market at St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church on 7th Street in Allentown. The community insisted that we continue this market the following year as well. In 2015, we opened our second Saturday morning market at the Allentown YMCA at the behest of the administrators and members of the organization. However, there were several factors that made the 7th Street market less than successful in 2015. 1) The location was set back in the church parking lot and created a less than inviting space for passersby to explore. 2) A new supermarket opened less than 2 blocks away that year. 3) It was is direct competition with our other Saturday market at the YMCA. 4) There was no good parking accessibility. Because of all of these factors, the market had very little shopper traffic, which in turn made the vendors frustrated with the location and unable to commit to the entire sales season. We met with the community stakeholders and agreed that the best solution would be to combine the neighborhood market with our most popular ASC distribution site at nearby Sacred Heart Hospital which was on Thursday evenings. We already had nearly 50 families committed to picking up weekly shares here guaranteeing some customer traffic, and the location was in an open grassy area outside the hospital that captured both neighborhood traffic as well as hospital visitors, employees,and patientsof the clinic. The change inday and timealso accomodated different family work schedules. This change resulted in asignificant increase in SNAP usage at our Allentown markets. Vendors found that the income was not always reliable at the weekly markets, which made it difficult to commit time from their busy schedules to staff a sales table on a regular basis. So, we incorporated aconsignment model at our farmers' markets in 2016 that allowed ustoprovide sales oforganic breads, dairy (cheese, yogurt, butter), honey, and maple syrup intothe communityvenue without having the farmers present on a weekly basis. These products increased availability for all fresh locally produced foods in the neighborhoods, including increasing options for SNAP-eligible consumers. The biggest challenge we found with our pilot program was incorporating the Double SNAP incentive into corner stores and bodegas for fresh organic produce. Most corner stores did not have the infrastructure to begin selling fresh produce at their outlets; and if they did, they already had a regular supplier with whom they worked and had established a relationship. None of them carried organic produce, and they could not justify investing in new products with a higher price point that they were not convinced would carry a high demand. In addition, it was almost impossible for RI to track this program at the bodegas without being present for the entire time or implementing intensive educational programming for store shoppers about buying fresh organic food.Since the RI staff is limited and does not have the resources to staff a corner store on a regular basis, this tactic was not an option. The store owners were also not willing to wait for a week or more to receive a reimbursement for the SNAP incentive. RI's Farmers' Market Manager regularly visited about 15 Allentown corner stores and bodegas over the course of a year and a half, and regularly ran into road blocksand issues about why these stores could not or would not carry fresh produce and track a Double SNAP Incentive. RI even offered gifts of different kinds of produce including the culturally popular Aji Dulce pepper which many latino cultures use in cooking sofrito or other dishes in an effort to try out the program in a few retailers. Overall the most difficult part was establishing a trusting relationship with the bodega owners. For this program to be effective, we would need several years to cultivate trusting relationships between the business owners and Rodale Institute, and incorporate a consumer education program to boost demand for fresh organic produce. As a result of survey collection from both ASC members and Farmers' Market Goers, we did collect some suggestions on how to improve local promotion including: engage more churches, promote to schools, and chiropractors' offices. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Rodale Institute operates seasonal internship programs where participants not only learn the professional skills of organic farming, but also operate direct-to-consumer retail operations within Allentown such as the Farmers' Markets and the ASC Distribution sites. Interns are trained in customer service, accounting practices, and logging and tracking SNAP usage andincentive. Community volunteers are also trained in market -staffing skills including customer service, educating customers about varieties of fresh produce, and daily accounting practices in exchange for a free share of fresh organic seasonal produce. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In 2016, Rodale Institute disseminated the results of our pilot project SNAP Match for Local, Organic, Healthy Food in Allentown, Pennsylvania to local groups of organizations through strategic planning and education sessions. One session was organized through the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley to communicate the work of our projectin concert withcongruent regional projects. Organizations participating in the presentations were Buy Fresh Buy Local of the Greater Lehigh Valley, the Kellyn Foundation, Second Harvest Food Bank, and Northampton County representation. Another organized group meetingwhere RI presented the results of our project was a gathering at the Food Trust in Philadelphia. Other presenting organizations participating on site or remotely included: Wholesome Wave, Chester County Food Bank, and appoximately eight other organizations. These gatherings were helpful to discuss successes and challenges with SNAP Incentive programs for fresh locally-grown food throughout the Northeast region and learn from other similar programs. RI staff also gave presentations to an undergraduate Urban Agriculture class at Lehigh University as well as Delaware Valley University Organic Certificate students. A series of blogs was also published on Rodale Institute's website regarding the Organic Allentown Program at the end of the 2016 season. We intend to publish a final report on the program on our website as well as other methods of dissemination. Rodale Institute hosts its www.rodaleinstitute.org website, which, since 1999, has served as a leading information source for farmers exploring more environmentally and economically sustainable agricultural methods. Rodale Institute's website receives an average of 47,000 visitors and more than 94,000 page views per month. Our social media accounts including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram receive 38,533 likes and have 31,532 and 3,818 followers, respectively. Rodale Institute's electronic newsletter currently has more than 30,000 subscribers, roughly half of whom identify themselves as farmers or agricultural professionals. Rodale Institute has an educational staff specializing in the development of field days and other events and activities designed to reach farmers and the general public. On-farm workshops, field days, farm tours and other events draw over 15,000 attendees to our research farm annually. In addition Rodale Institute publishes New Farm magazine which currently has 200 subscribers, but which the organization has also been giving out as a free promotional publication in its redefined inaugural year. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Before the implementation ofSNAP Match for Local, Organic, Healthy Food in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Rodale Institute's ASC Program and Organic Farmers' Markets received very little consumer participation from SNAP eligible individuals even though Census data has recorded that withinthe city of Allentown over 27% of the population qualify and are registered for SNAP Benefits. Through targeted promotional efforts and working with community partners to communicate the Double SNAP incentive for farm shares and local agricultural products at our markets, we were able to more than double the SNAP participation in both ASC membership and Farmers' market purchases in 2016.In addition, Rodale Institute was able to train a team of community volunteers, interns, staff members and local producers about the efforts in place to increase access to fresh local organic foods within the underserved population of Allentown. The token system implemented at the market also made it possible forten additionalproducers to reach this underserved population supporting their own individual enterprises in the process. The region-wide promotional campaign of the Double SNAP Incentive was key to the increased participation of our Allentown programming for fresh food access. Wemade an effortto use promotional tools that reached the greatest amount of people for the lowest cost. Examples include: a billboard campaign on a major highway where we received an in-kind donation for a portion of the cost; TV interviews on local access channels in both English and Spanish; radio interview and promotional campaign on La Ola Spanish Speaking station; La Ola radio broadcast from opening day at the market; flyers, posters and brochures that were disseminated by community partners thoughout their participant networks; multiple lawn signs, sandwich boards, and bannerspromoting the Double SNAP incentive on the day of the markets; and social media promotion through Rodale Institute and partner organizations' host sites. Ulimately this Double SNAP incentive makes fresh organic food more accessible to more regional families while continuing to support the income requirements of local producers. 90% of ASC members and 84% of Farmers' Market goers surveyed indicated that these programs contributed "a good amount" to " a great deal" to the eating more fresh fruits and vegetables. Relatedly 100% of ASC members and 86% of Farmers' Market goers surveys reported that Rodale Institute's programming contributed "a good amount" to "a great deal" of them eating more locally produced organic food. And 100% of ASC Members and 81% of Farmers' Market goers surveyed indicated that these programs contributed "a good amount" to "a great deal" in providing healthy food for their families and themselves. Reports on Objectives: 1. Develop and implement appropriate SNAP and SNAP Match accounting and reimbursement systems for the farmers' markets and ASC program. We developed logging systems that could be used at each ASC site and Farmers' Market to track SNAP and SNAP match usage as well as other vendor redemption of SNAP benefits. In addition, we produced tokens of $5 and $1 denominations that could be used for fresh organic produce from other farmers' market vendors. These were included on the tracking log as they were dispersed toSNAP users. We discovered that it was not really necessary to develop a solution for implementing a SNAP Match cap per user across the different venues, as almost all customers were self-regulating and kept SNAP purchases below $20 per week. Most often, vendors were reimbursed with the subsidy at the end of the market day which was attractive to them to continue participating in the program. If an outside vendor had a large amount of sales that could not be reimbursed at the end of the market day, a check would be issued and delivered to that vendor the following week. And we also implemented a monthly spread sheet to keep track of totalSNAP usage at individual sites over the course of each month as well as the entire season. 2. Implement the program for the 2016 season: train all staff and partners on how SNAP and the SNAP Match work for participants across all venues so that they are adequately able to implement and assist on market and distribution days andare able to promote the program to their constituents and neighbors. We held individual trainings for RI staff, interns and volunteers that explained how to charge SNAP users, issue tokens, and utilize the logs for tracking SNAP purchases at the ASC distribution sites and farmers' markets.Vendors were also trained on an individual basis regarding customerredemption of tokens at their stands. In addition, volunteers fromcommunity partner organizationslike Community Action DevelopmentCenter of Allentown (CADCA)and the Allentown Health Bureau were able to communicate the incentive to market goers and community networksin bothEnglish and Spanish through oral and written communications. 3. Create and implement appropriate and effective informational and marketing campaigns to widely advertise the SNAP Match availability across all participating venues (ASC & farmers' markets). In particular we worked with community partners to promote the Double SNAP program within organizational programming such as hospital health clinics, Allentown Health Bureau, Allentown YM/YWCA, Community Action Development Center of Allentown, and Community Services for Children in a Allentown throughout their family engagement representatives for Head Start programming. Flyers, postcards, posters, brochures, and membership forms were distributed throughout the organizations to both staff and clientele served. All promotional information was publicized in both English and Spanish. In addition, RI received discounted promotional billboard space for the Double Match incentive at the Farmers' Markets. And staff conducted interviews on local English and Spanish speakingradio stations. Each interview was available on their website. TV interviews included afocus on farmer training, organic food, and farmer'smarketsin Allentown on the local access channel in English and Spanish Shows respectfully. Banners and sandwich boards at the market location were posted weekly on the day of the markets in both English and Spanish to garner additional support on the day of the markets. And we worked with the local SNAP administration office to communicate the availability of this program and SNAP incentives for fresh produce in Allentown. Online promotional resources include the Rodale Institute's website and Facebook pages, Buy Fresh Buy Local Lehigh Valley,and Local Harvest. 4. Ensure ongoing process evaluation gets fed back into program design to improve first-year program outcomes. Create final report to inform following season activities and sustainability of the program. RI Staff held regular meetings to discuss effective practices and ways to improve the tracking and participation in the program. In addition, RI met with Buy Fresh Buy Local of the Greater Lehigh Valley, who is implementing theDouble SNAP incentive in neighboring Northampton County, as well as the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley to discuss the standardization of promotional language for the Double SNAP incentive throughout the region. All three organizations have also discussed how we can collaborate in the future for a region-wide SNAP incentive program for fresh locally-produced food after the conclusion of the funding period.
Publications
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Progress 04/01/15 to 03/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Allentown, Pennsylvania, a city of over 100,000 people, was once a booming steel, silk and manufacturing hub that has struggled to transform following the out-migration of manufacturing. Today, more than a quarter of all Allentown residents fall below the federal poverty line and forty percent of families with children under the age of five meet these criteria. About one in four Allentown households use Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to purchase food(1). But fresh food is difficult to come by--large swaths of the city's central and eastern neighborhoods are more than a half-mile from a supermarket and many residents in these neighborhoods have no access to a vehicle.(2) Local bodegas and corner stores offer little in the way of fresh, affordable options; as one resident remarked, "I went to go buy some bananas because [the kids] were hungry...they wanted to charge me $1 per banana."(3) A price such as this indicates both a lack of supply and a demand great enough to enable such high pricing on a perishable item. Highlighting the lack of affordable fresh food, another Allentown resident says, "It would be especially useful if they [farmers' markets] took food stamps... To find good produce with food stamps is very difficult. You pretty much have to put out cash."(4) Rodale Institute (RI)and Allentown-based community partners are working to spark this resurgence by enhancing fresh food access in three of the lowest income neighborhoods, evenly distributed throughout the city, recognizing that any effort to do so must ensure that residents who rely on assistance programs are welcomed. Rodale Institute is an authorized SNAP retailer and currently accepts SNAP benefits in its popular community supported agriculture type program called the Agriculture Supported Communities Program (ASC), which also acts as a weekly farm stand on distribution days. While members must sign up and commit to a full season in the ASC Program, payment, including SNAP benefits, is accepted on a weekly basis rather than the more typical up-front payment that the CSA model was built on. ASC and farm stand pricing caters to low-income residents, for instance a full family size share of organic fruits and vegetables grown at the nearby Rodale Institute Farm costs only $25 a week, and a small share is priced at $15 a week; the Double SNAP incentives brings the share prices to $7.50 and $12.50 respectively. The farm stands also accept Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) vouchers. In 2015, the ASC distribution sites and farm stands are thoughtfully located for easy access at Head Start program sites, a local hospital, a local church, and the YM/YWCA. For the 2015 market season Rodale Institute, in partnership with community service organizations and the City of Allentown,enhanced the fresh food offerings in two low-income neighborhoods to include two new SNAP authorized multi-vendor all-organic farmers' markets and the continuation and expansion of the SNAP authorized ASC program. The need for affordable fresh produce options is evidenced by the genesis of the new farmers' markets: the 7th Street Market emerged from unmet demand demonstrated at the nearby ASC share distribution site where local resident passersby regularly inquired as to how they could buy the food that ASC members were picking up--hence, a market stand began in haste in 2013 to meet the community demand. This expanded in 2015 to a multi-vendor market. At the second site, the YMCA - YWCA approached Rodale Institute hoping to set up a market in their parking lot at the bequest of their members and to benefit the large residential community surrounding the Y. Incentivizing SNAP users to purchase local, organic vegetables and fruits with matching dollars at the point of purchase helps us to realize our organization's goal of increasing access to fresh, local, organic foods while ensuring a fair price to producers. This incentivization has also helped in recruiting organic farmers to the low-income markets, which may otherwise prove difficult due to farmers' negative perceptions of the viability of selling their produce at current market rates in low-income areas. In 2015, two additional regional organic produce farmers were able to offer the Double SNAP incentive to customers byparticipating in the Rodale Institute's Organic Farmers' Markets. The incentivization is also important to address the perception that organic food is expensive, whichhas beena hurdle inattracting SNAP users from low-income communities toall-organic markets. SNAP recipients must feel that local fruits and vegetables are affordable and represent a good value, and they must feel welcomed and comfortable in their understanding of how to use SNAP at the ASC or farmers' markets. Culturally appropriate cooking classes conducted in partnership withCooking Matters greatly enhanced SNAP usage at the markets by demonstrating how to use the fresh fruits and vegetables being sold by their local farmers that they could purchase with their SNAP Benefits. The following is a breakdown of community members served by each freah organic produce program (Data was determined from surveys received from members post-season): Allentown ASC Members: Sacred Heart - 50 families Community Services for Children (Head Start) - 25 families RI Organic Market Y - 15 families RI Organic Market on 7th - 5 families Total = 95 families approximately 250 people SNAP using families - 9 = 9.5% Cultural Demographics of the ASC Program for 2015 were as follows: Female: 86%; Male: 14% 25-34 = 9% 55-64 = 46% 35-44 = 26% 65+ = 10% 45-54 = 9% Hispanic/Latino: 9% American Indian/Alaskan Native: 9% Asian, Asian Indian or Pacific Islander: 3% Afican American: 0% Caucasion: 86% Income levels Less than $15,000 = 9 % 9% $15,000 - $24,999 = 6% 6% $25,000 - $49,999 = 22% 22% $50,000 - $74,999 = 28% 28% $75,000 - $99,999 = 16% 16% $100,000 or more = 19% 19% Farmer's Markets: RI Organic Market at the Y - 75 guests per week RI Organic Market on 7th - 50 guest per week Cultural demographics of Farmers' Markets guestsreflected that of the general population of Allentown, but vistors were skewed towards a higher percentage of women, (70%) (50%) of guests were Hispanic/Latino Ethnicity (35%) of guests were Caucasians (10%) of guests were African-American (5%) Asian American and Other Organic Allentown Farmers' Markets Sales Statistics: YMCA/YWCA - Total Sales: $7,079.52 EBT/FMNP Sales: $654.05 The Organic Market at the Y: Averaged 70 guests per week. The Organic Market at the Y: Distributed an average of 225 lbs. per week of organic produceto the community. Market on 7th - Total Sales $3,621.57 EBT/FMNP Sales: $407.76 The Organic Market on 7th: Averaged 50 guests per week. The Organic Market on 7th: Distributed an average of125 lbs. per weekof organic produce to the community. Total Sales of Organic Allentown Farmers' Markets: $10,701.09 Approximately (10%) of sales at organic farmers' markets utilized SNAP or FMNP payments. Total Sales for EBT (SNAP) and FMNP (WIC) for Farmers' Markets and ASC: $3,242.20 1) U.S. Census Bureau. (2013). Allentown (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. Retrieved from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/42/4202000.html 2) Economic Research Service (ERS). (2013). USDA ERS - Food Access Research Atlas. Retrieved from http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas.aspx 3) Kraus, S. (2013, May 14). New Buy Fresh Buy Local program gets produce to city residents. The Morning Call. Lehigh Valley. 4) Dan Sullivan, "Farm Groups Bring Fresh Produce to City Residents in Allentown, Bethlehem Easton.," The Morning Call, May 31, 2014, http://articles.mcall.com/2014-05-31/news/mc-edited-lehigh-valley-food-deserts-2-20140531_1_fresh-fruits-andvegetables- rodale-institute-healthy-food-options. Changes/Problems:The biggest challenge that we faced in this new Double SNAP Initiative program was SNAP usage participation. We saw that there was definitely at least 100% improvement in SNAP usage between 2014 - 2015, however only 10% of our customer base in 2015 was using SNAP when there is absolute certainty that a much larger portion of the surrounding population receive SNAP Benefits. Given that it was the first year of the incentive program and that the timeline was very short to promote the Double SNAP usage before the farmers' markets opened in 2015, the limitedamount of participation does not come as a big surprise. However, we hope to remedy this by increased program promotion and additional word of mouth promotion due to the second returning year of the program. In addition it would be extremely helpful if we had additional promotional support from the local SNAP administrative office. An envelope stuffer that goes out to SNAP users when they initially receive benefits or renew their benefits would be an excellent way to educate the public on where they can buy fresh locally grown organic produce and where they can get more product for their benefits. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Rodale Institute operates seasonal internship programs where participants not only learn the professional skills of organic farming, but also operate direct-to-consumer retail operations within Allentown such as the Farmers' Markets and the ASC Distribution sites. Interns are trained in customer service, accounting practices, andlogging and tracking SNAP usage and incentive. 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?We plan to increase marketing efforts focused around Double SNAP Incentive through a radio campaign on La Ola radio, a regional Spanish speaking radio station. The campaign will consist of interviews with the ASC Program Manager as well as the Organic Allentown Farmers' Market Manager followed by several blocks of promotional advertising for Rodale Institute'sDouble SNAP programming in Allentown. We have also secured a spot on Community Spotlight TV (RCN) in the upcoming weeks to promote the ASC and the Farmers' Markets as well as the Double SNAP incentive. Additional funding will be allocated to printing bilingual door hangers and posters that will be posted throughout the neighborhoods adjacent to the markets and ASC Distribution site. And the markets and ASC Distribution will be publicized this season on the City of Allentown's Community Bulletin Board (on line as well), Discover Lehigh Valley, the area's tourism publication, PASA(Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture)CSA guide, Buy Fresh Buy Local Lehigh Valley Local Foods Guide, and Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council Facebook page. We will also be continuing to use most of the other promotional strategies that were used in 2015including billboards, sandwich boards, banners, flyers, postcards, brochures, radio, and TV. We hope to make a more significant connection with the local SNAP administration office so the opportunity is widely communicated amongst local SNAP Benefit users. In the upcoming year, there is a plan to do two 30-day Healthy Eating Challenges centered at the YMCA. One will be conducted at the beginning of the harvest season and the second will be conducted toward the end of the season. And we will be approaching bodegas to carry one to two locally-grown organicproduce items in their stores and implement a pilot tracking program that is of minimal responsibility to the store owner. In 2016, we will also be forming community focus groups to guide the program focus, operations, and promotionbased on community needs and feedback from local participants and residents. And we will be compilingprogrammatic information with accumulated data into an evaluation of the program with the intention to share this information with the community.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1. Develop and implement appropriate SNAP and SNAP Match accounting and reimbursement systems for the farmers' markets andASC program. Wedeveloped logging systems thatcould be used at each ASCsite and Farmers' Market to track SNAP and SNAP match usage. In addition, we produced tokensof $5 and $1 denominations that could be used for fresh organic produce fromother farmers' market vendors. These were included on the tracking log as they were dispersed to SNAP users. We also discovered that it was not really necessary todevelop a solution for implementing a SNAP Match cap per user across the different venues, as almost all customers were self-regulating and kept SNAP purchases below $20 per week. 2.Implement the program for the 2015 season: train all staff and partners on how SNAP and the SNAP Match work for participants across all venues so that they are adequately able to implement and assist on market and distribution days and are able to promote the program to their constituents and neighbors. 3. Create and implement appropriate and effective informational and marketing campaigns to widely advertise the SNAP Match availability across all participating venues (ASC & farmers' markets). In particular we worked with community partners to promote the Double SNAP program withinorganizational programming such as hospital health clinics, Allentown Health Bureau, Community Action Development Center of Allentown, and Community Services for Children in a Allentown throughout their family engagement representatives for Head Start programming. Flyers, postcards, and membership formswere distributed throughout the organizations to both staff andclientele served.All promotional information was publicized in both English and Spanish. In addition, RI received discounted promotional billboard space for the Double Match incentive at the Farmers' Markets. And staff conducted interviews on two local radio stations, WAEB& National Public Radio syndicate WDIY. Each interview was aired several times or available on their website. TV interviews included a PBS focus on farmer training and organic food in Allentown as well as a story on the Grand Opening of the Allentown Farmers' Markets on local news station 69. Banners and sandwich boards at the market location were posted weekly on the day of the markets in both English and Spanish to garner additional support on the day of the markets. And we worked with the local SNAP administration office to communicate the availability of this program and SNAP incentives for fresh produce in Allentown. Online promotional resources include the Rodale Institute's website and Facebook pages, Buy Fresh Buy Local Lehigh Valley, and Local Harvest. 4. Ensure ongoing process evaluation gets fed back into program design to improve first-year program outcomes. Create final report to inform following season activities and sustainability of the program. RI Staff held regular meetings to discuss effective practices and ways to improve the tracking and participation in the program.
Publications
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