Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:The partner groups for this project had the following target audiences: San Luis Obispo Public Health- People with low incomes, Hispanic or Latino SLO Food Bank/GleanSLO - Farmers, Youth, Seniors, People with low incomes, WIC Recipients, SNAP Recipients, Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program recipients, Farmers market Nutrition Program recipients, Hispanic or Latino, General public, and USDA TEFAP eligible UC Cooperative Extension - Youth, Individuals, People with low-incomes, SNAP recipients, Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program recipients, General public, and Organizations One Cool Earth- youth, socioeconomically disadvantaged, free/reduced meal program eligible, educators Affordable Housing Paso Robles- Low income youth Slow Money- farmers, food businesses, entrepreneurs, general public Central Coast Grown - Students Promotores- Hispanic or Latino, People with low-incomes SLO Food System Coalition - Organizations, Advocates, State and local policymakers Central Coast Grown - Farmers, Youth, General public Changes/Problems:The biggest challenges that arose and impacted the project objectives were related to the COVID-19 pandemic. All of the projects that involved working with schools were impacted as they transitioned to distanced learning. Similarly, this impacted the organizations ability to promote or educate through in person events. Some partners, like the Food System Coalition, transitioned to focus on online platforms. Other projects were impacted through staffing challenges from employee turnover. Despite the challenges faced by the partner organizations, they still made a large impact on the community by helping San Luis Obispo County residents, particularly low-income individuals, increase access to fresh, local produce, and to learn about and benefit from the local food system. Their work over the last four years, and the lessons learned from the barriers they have met, will be applied as they continue to work together. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Over 300 people received training or professional development through the course of this program. Affordable Housing Paso Robles provided training in cooking, nutrition, and gardening to 241 youth. High school students participating in Central Coast Grown's City Farm "Farm Class" learned organic farming and cooking skills, and several participated in an entrepreneurial project to launch a farm box, which provided education in starting a business, including marketing and accounting. The Food Bank'sNutrition Education program trained Food Bank volunteers, including dietetic interns from the Cal Poly and Atascadero State Hospital dietetic internship programs, to prepare and deliver nutrition education lessons and recipes at food distribution sites. GleanSLO volunteerslearned about the agricultural industry and food system of the community through participation in the harvesting program.One Cool Earth provided 15 Teacher Training events, open to educators and parents, which reached a total of 150 people, and provided employment to students and FoodCorps service members who became Garden Educators. Slow Money coached 24 entrepreneurial food businesses and sent four farmers to trainings. Eleven Promotores received nutrition trainings from Public Health.The grant also provided funding for staff to assist in the coordination and administration of the San Luis Obispo Food System Coalition. There were two staff members in this role over the course of the grant, and they both gained skills in communications, administration, and facilitation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Individually, the partner organizations have been in communication with their program participants and community member contacts through newsletters, social media, websites, and presentations and attendance at events. As a whole, the progress on the grant has been reported to the community on a regular basis. Progress reports have been presented to the San Luis Obispo County Food System Coalition on a quarterly basis. These reports, which provide updates from partner organizations, have been an excellent opportunity to not only inform Coalition members of the work being completed, but also have served as a reminder of the collaboration happening outside of regular Coalition meetings. These reports have been distributed to those in attendance at the Food System Coalition meetings (which averages representatives from between 20-25 different organizations), and have been sent out to the SLO Food System Coalition newsletter list, which has 222 individuals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The Project, San Luis Obispo County Food System: Access for All, from Field to Fork, funded by the USDA Community Food Project Grant Program, brought together a coalition of organizations and agencies to increase access to local produce by San Luis Obispo County residents, enhance the connection between consumers and local agricultural producers, and develop a more resilient and local food system by investing in local food producers.The partners involved in this grant program include: San Luis Obispo (SLO) Food Bank, San Luis Obispo County Public Health, University of California Cooperative Extension, Affordable Housing Paso Robles, Central Coast Grown, One Cool Earth, San Luis Obispo County Food System Coalition, Promotores Collaborative, and Slow Money SLO.? Through this grant, the Food Bank partnered with thePromotores Collaborative of San Luis Obispo Countyto work with the Latino community to increase access to services, by advocating for food access and for culturally appropriate foods, and to develop relationships with community servicing organizations.San Luis Obispo County PublicHealth provided nutrition education training to the Promotores which included utilizing local produce, reducing consumption of sugar sweetened beverages, motivational goal setting, and chronic disease prevention. The Promotores worked within the community to encourage participation in food assistance programs and reduce barriers to participation, by making regular phone calls to encourage people to attend Food Bank distributions and delivering food to those with no or limited transportation. The also offered translation services and provided culturally appropriate recipes and demonstrations at Food Bank distribution sites. In order to increase access to local produce through local markets, theSan Luis Obispo County Food System Coalitionstarted a working group to increase acceptance of SNAP (CalFresh) food assistance programs at local farmers' markets. They worked with market managers to install EBT machines at several local markets, and conducted more general outreach to increase community participation in food assistance programs. In an effort to strengthen the local food system and support the local food economy, the San Luis Obispo chapter ofSlow Moneysupported local farmers, coached local food and beverage businesses, and provided community loans to support local food and farm start-ups. Partners also worked to increase food system education and garden based learning for students.Central Coast Grownworked with a local continuation high school to offer farm based science classes,where students developed a wide range of organic farming skills, including planting from seeds and starts, cultivation, soil preparation, pest control, and harvesting techniques.Students learned to cook with the produce, and took surplus produce back home for their families or donated it to a local food pantry. Students also developed a local farm box business plan, learning marketing, packaging, and accounting skills in the Farm Box Program.BothOne Cool EarthandAffordable Housing Paso Roblesprovided and expanded garden education and nutrition lessons to students in San Luis Obispo County. In addition to working with students, One Cool Earth offered trainings to educators to increase garden based education, and Affordable Housing Paso Robles was able to provide stipends to students that worked in their garden, enabling them to donate produce to those in need. University of California Cooperative Extension of San Luis Obispo (UCCE) andSan Luis Obispo County Public Healthprovided fruit and vegetable lessons and tastings to three elementary schools, teaching young students about local agriculture and nutrition. UCCE also partnered with local farms to bring students into the field to learn about farming and the path that produce takes from the field to their plates. This grant project resulted in increased access to fresh, local produce for low income residents, increased understanding of the local food system through educational programs for adults and students, and strengthened the local food economy by supporting food and farming businesses. The following grant outputs were made possible through this grant, which resulted in a community with increased access to fresh, local produce for low income residents, that has a better understanding of local agriculture and nutrition, and has built a stronger and more resilient local food system. Nearly 7 million pounds of produce provided free to low income individuals 5 Family Farmers' Markets were formed which on average served over 200 households a month 628 Children's Farmers' Markets were formed which provided over 10 pounds of produce to each child to bring home to their families, on average serving 1040 children per month Over 800,000 pounds of produce was gleaned for donation to the Food Bank 11 Promotores were trained, and participated in 60 Food Bank distributions and 30 events and disseminated hundreds of culturally appropriate food recipes 115 low income youth worked at the gardens and received stipends for their work 126 low income youth participated in nutrition and cooking classes 3,700 elementary students participated in fresh fruit and vegetable tastings 160 students participated in farm tours 2,900 students were engaged in garden education with emphasis on nutrition, farm education, and food access 60 high school students received farm-based science classes and developed a local farm box business plan One elementary school received a Smarter Lunchroom assessment 15 educator training events were held to increase garden-based education 46 food preservation demonstrations at Food Bank distribution sites, reached 1,826 individuals 18 farms were supported through Slow Money, four of which received stipends to attend trainings 24 food and beverage businesses received coaching 6 community loans were provided to 2 farms and 4 food and beverage businesses At least two farmers' markets increased access to SNAP (CalFresh) EBT
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Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:There are a number of component programs included in this Community Food Project grant which all have different target audiences, but which all aim to enhance the connection between San Luis Obispo County residents and local agricultural producers. In this reporting period, San Luis Obispo Public Health, Food Bank, UC Cooperative Extension, YouthWorks, Promotores, and the SLO Food System Coalition projects targeted low-income families residing in San Luis Obispo County. The projects of Central Coast Grown, SLO Food System Coalition, Slow Money SLO and Glean SLO targeted agricultural producers and food entrepreneurs in SLO County. Programs of Glean SLO, Central Coast Grown, YouthWorks, One Cool Earth, and UC Cooperative Extension work with youth to increase food access and food system education. Changes/Problems:There has been staff turnover at some of the project partner organizations, which has caused some challenges for the organizations in meeting their goals and has delayed work while the hiring and training processes took place. One Cool Earth lost their educator for one school due to the travel time to the rural town. Public Health, who was working with the same school on farm-to-school and healthy lunch programs, was able to roll garden education planning into their work with the school. Obtaining new farms for the GleanSLO program has been challenging. Although meeting their goals distributed at some of the sites, the participation among community members has remained high. GleanSLO has been participating in other farmer groups hoping to connect with new farmers for gleaning events. Likewise, finding farms for field trips has also been more challenging than expected. Language barriers continue to be a challenge for some of the organizations, and so they are working to hire staff or recruit volunteers to help with translation. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The grant provided funding for an administrative staff person to assist in the coordination and administration of the San Luis Obispo Food System Coalition. Additionally, many programs made possible through this grant were supported by volunteers who received training and/or professional development. GleanSLO volunteers learn about the agricultural industry and food system of the community through participation in the harvesting program. Promotores gained skills in nutrition education and community outreach. Through UCCE's demonstration work at food distribution sites, many local residents learned about food preparation and preservation. One Cool Earth volunteers gained skills in gardening and education. Through this grant, youth working with Central Coast Grown and YouthWorks have learned about farming. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Individually, the partner organizations have been in communication with their program participants. As a whole, the progress on the grant has been reported to the community on a regular basis. Progress reports have been presented to the San Luis Obispo County Food System Coalition on a quarterly basis. These reports, which provide updates from partner organizations, have been an excellent opportunity to not only inform Coalition members of the work being completed, but also have served as a reminder of the collaboration happening outside of regular Coalition meetings. These reports have been distributed to those in attendance at the Food System Coalition meetings (which has representatives from 20 different organizations), and have been sent out to the SLO Food System Coalition newsletter list, which has over 200 individuals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?With one year remaining in the grant, the project partners organizations will continue to work towards the goals. Several of the organizations have already surpassed their goals for the grant, and the others are on track. Regular communication between all the grant partners as they address barriers to a healthy food system has been key in the success of this grant.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
San Luis Obispo County Food System Coalition (SLO FSC) has continued to provide a forum for various sectors of the local food system to learn from and share with one another. Members of the SLO FSC include the partner organizations collaborating on this Community Food Projects Grant (Affordable Housing Paso Robles (Youthworks), Center for Family Strengthening (Promotores), Central Coast Grown, Food Bank Coalition of SLO County, GleanSLO, One Cool Earth, SLO County Public Health, Slow Money SLO, and UC Cooperative Extension - SLO County) as well as other community agencies and groups (California Polytechnic State University's College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Environmental Science's Center for Sustainability, Community Action Partnership of SLO County, California Regional Environmental Education Community Network, Diringer and Associates, eatSLO network, Ecologistics, Inc., Farmers Guild San Luis Obispo, Healthy Eating Active Living-SLO, North County Farmers Markets Association, SLO Guild, and SLO Permaculture Guild). Slow Money SLO has continued their work connecting local farmers to buyers, and in the past year have linked local investors to four farming operations and five food businesses. In addition, they hosted and participated in outreach events, reaching over 460 people in the San Luis Obispo (SLO) community. The SLO FSC EBT Working Group continued to meet with a goal of expanding EBT acceptance at farmers' markets across the county. Over the course of the year, the group conducted outreach to both market managers and partner organizations, and the community at large. Signage and handouts were provided to at least seven farmers' market managers. They are also in the process of finalizing a guide for farmers' market managers detailing the various types of market match, how to enroll, administer, report, etc. Flyers, bags, and bookmarks were also distributed to 37 partner organizations. The group also developed a bus ad to promote fmfinder.org and using CalFresh at local markets. During National Farmers' Market Week, the group collaborated on three outreach events, reaching over 125 people. The SLO Food Bank distributed 1,526,100 lbs of produce during the course of the third year of this grant program- over 4,800,000 lbs have been distributed since the start of the grant. There were 20 Family Farmers' Markets held, providing over 46,900 lbs of produce 2,052 times to families. In the last year, 170 Children's Farmers' Markets were held, distributing 112,097 lbs of produce 12,312 times. Assisting the Food Bank in their programs were volunteers, including a volunteers with GleanSLO, who spent 2,844 hours supporting their programs. One Cool Earth continued progress towards their goals of expanding school garden opportunities at local schools through several programs. The organization offered 11 Library on the Lawn events, which pair a food tasting with reading of a food-related children's book. Over the course of the year they had 490 student encounters. One Cool Earth also offered 162 garden based educational activities that had a total of 1050 student encounters. Twenty food tasting demonstrations were held which had 500 student encounters. This work was supported by 90 volunteer hours over the course of the year. YouthWorks (part of Affordable Housing Paso Robles), who provides stipends to low-income students for work in their garden, also supported garden education through their programs. Twenty-four students participated in the program, which was supported by over 500 volunteer hours. Central Coast Grown hosted and taught 82 farm-based science classes at their urban farm, which had 1,320 student interactions. CCG also reached over 520 people through outreach events either at or about the urban farm. One hundred fifty eight volunteer hours were spent by community members at the farm to support this work. The Promotores continued to increase community outreach work to encourage participation in Food Bank and other social service programs for norther SLO County residents. This work has even included making personal phone calls to remind people about Food Bank distributions offered in their area. As part of this work, they attended Food Bank distribution sites to assist with sharing of recipes, translations and community outreach. The nine Promotoras have been working with the Food Bank to develop culturally appropriate recipes for distribution. Public Health held nutrition education trainings for Promotores, to expand their ability to assist families at Food Bank distribution sites, the latest of which was titled, "The importance of Self-care and the benefits for the community." The Promotores estimate spending over 700 volunteer hours over the last year. During the past year, UC Cooperative Extension held 54 food demonstrations and tastings reaching 1185 people. Additionally, they held four Harvest of the Month events, reaching 450 students.
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Progress 09/01/17 to 08/31/18
Outputs
Target Audience:There are a number of component programs included in this Community Food Project grant which all have different target audiences, but which all aim to enhance the connection between San Luis Obispo County residents and local agricultural producers. In this reporting period, San Luis Obispo Public Health, Food Bank, UC Cooperative Extension, YouthWorks, Promotores, and the SLO Food System Coalition projects targeted low-income families residing in San Luis Obispo County. The projects of Central Coast Grown, SLO Food System Coalition, Slow Money SLO and Glean SLO targeted agricultural producers and food entrepreneurs in SLO County. Programs of Glean SLO, Central Coast Grown, YouthWorks, One Cool Earth, and UC Cooperative Extension work with youth to increase food access and food system education. Changes/Problems:Some organizations have experienced challenges when trying to schedule educational activities into school calendars. In the next year, they will work with school administrators early to schedule activities for the entire year to get ahead of some of the scheduling challenges they have encountered. The Food Bank and Promotores have seen an increase in indigenous dialect speaking families. Staff are working to make those families seem welcome when a language barrier exists. Funding for staffing and recruiting of consistent volunteers has been a challenge for some organizations, but they are working towards developing a staffing/volunteer plan to address the coordination support required. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Through this grant program, many community members have received training and/or professional development. GleanSLO volunteers learn about the agricultural industry and food system of the community through participation in the harvesting program. Promotores gained skills in food preservation, as well as new skills in outreach and communication by coordinating and leading food preservation workshops. Through UCCE's demonstration work at food distribution sites, many local residents learned about food preparation and preservation. The grant also provided funding for administrative staff to assist in the coordination and administration of the San Luis Obispo Food System Coalition. One Cool Earth volunteers gained skills in gardening and education. Through this grant, youth working with Central Coast Grown and YouthWorks have learned nutritional cooking and farming, some of which have also received stipends for their work. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Individually, the partner organizations have been in communication with their program participants. As a whole, the progress on the grant has been reported to the community on a regular basis. Progress reports have been presented to the San Luis Obispo County Food System Coalition on a quarterly basis. These reports, which provide updates from partner organizations, have been an excellent opportunity to not only inform Coalition members of the work being completed, but also have served as a reminder of the collaboration happening outside of regular Coalition meetings. These reports have been distributed to those in attendance at the Food System Coalition meetings (which has representatives from 22 different organizations), and have been sent out to the SLO Food System Coalition newsletter list, which has grown to 209 individuals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The project partner organizations will continue to work towards the goals outlined in this grant. So far, the partner organizations have been successful in meeting their annual goals, and are expected to do the same for the next reporting period. Regular communication between all the grant partners as they address barriers to a healthy food system has been key in the success of this grant and past grants.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Over the past year, San Luis Obispo County Food System Coalition (SLO FSC) has provided a space for relationship building and collaboration for their members, which includes: Affordable Housing Paso Robles (Youthworks), California Polytechnic State University's College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Environmental Science's Center for Sustainability, Center for Family Strengthening (Promotores), Central Coast Grown, Community Action Partnership of SLO County, California Regional Environmental Education Community Network, Diringer and Associates, eatSLO network, Ecologistics, Inc., Farmers Guild San Luis Obispo, Food Bank Coalition of SLO County, GleanSLO, Healthy Eating Active Living-SLO, North County Farmers Markets Association, One Cool Earth, SLO Guild, SLO County Public Health, SLO Permaculture Guild, Slow Money SLO, and UC Cooperative Extension - SLO County. SLO FSC and Slow Money SLO have continued to co-hosted events to connect farmers and buyers (including restaurants and school districts). There is a working group of the FSC that is focused on expanding EBT acceptance at farmers' markets across the county. They continued working with CalFresh Alliance and Department of Social Services to conduct outreach for EBT users at the downtown farmers' market in San Luis Obispo. They are currently working to coordinate a market tour in connecting with affordable housing communities to inform residents about farmers' markets, to increase EBT participation. In the last year, one additional market has started accepting EBT. The SLO Food Bank distributed 1,612,841 lbs of produce during the second year of this grant program, and over 3,362,900 lbs have been distributed since the start of the grant. It distributed 42,000 lbs of produce through their Family Farmers' Markets. In the last year, it held 5 Family Farmers' Markets per month at 5 different sites, where a total of 1,512 recipients received services. Over 91,000 lbs were distributed through the Children's Farmers' Market, with approximately 12 lbs going to each child at each site, and reaching 13,036 (duplicated) children er the course of the year- approximately 1100 children per month. Of the produce distributed, 229,949 lbs were gleaned through the GleanSLO program surpassing their annual goal of 200,000 lbs. Assisting the Food Bank in the GleanSLO program were volunteers, who spent 2,394 hours supporting the program. One Cool Earth made significant progress towards their goals of expanding school garden opportunities at local schools. Several programs were offered to teach elementary students about the local food system: -Library on the Lawn events pair a food tasting with a food-related children's book. Over the course of the year, 11 events were hosted, reaching 200 unique students, and over 500 student encounters. -One hundred thirteen garden based educational activities were held over the course of the year, with over 2,900 student encounters. -Seventeen food tasting events were held, reaching 580 student encounters. YouthWorks (part of Affordable Housing Paso Robles) also supported garden education through their programming. In the last year, 111 students attended nutritional cooking trainings. Sixty-three students worked in the garden. This program provided stipends to the 25 low-income students who worked in the garden. Central Coast Grown has worked with 122 students through their farm based science class, farm summer school, and other educational events. Four students have received stipends for their work on the farm. Four hundred seven people have visited the farm to learn about the program or to support it. Over 450 volunteer hours were spent by community members at the farm. Public Health held four nutrition education trainings for Promotores, to expand their ability to assist families at Food Bank distribution sites. Promotores have continued participating at farmers markets in partnership with the Food Bank and Public Health to help new families sign up with the Food Bank, and to share samples and recipes. They have also helped the Food Bank to understand culturally-appropriate food recipes. During the past year, UC Cooperative Extension has made progress on the Harvest of the Month program. Over 2,900 produce tastings were given out at 8 different events at local elementary schools to reach students about healthy eating and the local food system. UCCE hosted one farm field trips to a local farm, which was attended by 54 students. Both UCCE and Public Health are teaching about food preservation and food preparation business opportunities. UCCE held four food demonstrations by the Master Food Preserver volunteers. Public Health has started developed handouts on how healthy eating habits can prevent chronic disease, which they intend to distribute through their programs, and in partnership with the Promotores, to local low-income families.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:There are a number of component programs included in this Community Food Project grant which all have different target audiences, but which all aim to enhance the connection between San Luis Obispo County residents and local agricultural producers. In this reporting period, San Luis Obispo Public Health, Food Bank, UC Cooperative Extension, YouthWorks, Promotores, and the SLO Food System Coalition projects targeted low-income families residing in San Luis Obispo County. The projects of Central Coast Grown, SLO Food System Coalition, and Glean SLO targeted agricultural producers in SLO County. Programs of Glean SLO, Central Coast Grown, YouthWorks, One Cool Earth, and UC Cooperative Extension have goals of increasing food access and food system education for youth. Changes/Problems:The Food Bank undertook a major consolidation of facilities and moved into a larger unified facility centrally located in San Luis Obispo. This has brought together its many programs and food storage sites under one roof. It also has community meeting space which has allowed for the CFP partners to meet regularly on a Food Bank site. As with many community projects, staffing changes have taken place. Carl Hansen, longtime executive director of the Food Bank retired in 2017. He was replaced by Kevin Drabinski, a longtime local resident and advocate asCEO of the Food Bank.Jen Miller, the CFP project director, has taken a position with County Public Health, where she will still be involved, but not direct, the project. She has been replaced by Andrea Keisler as the project director at the Food Bank. This transition was relatively easy since Andrea has been involved with the CFP for several years. Roxanne Sanders has taken over asthe Glean SLO manager. In addition, the Food Bank recently received funds from the County Department of Social Services to fund a bilingualcommunity SNAP outreach worker who provides support at CFP project sites among other community agencies. Program challenges have also been addressed. The YouthWorks garden and cooking program has been so successful that they need additional volunteer instructors to meet student demand. Central Coast Grown is reevaluating the student run enterprise program/business, but in lieu of that program, they have invited local food and farming entrepreneurs to meet with the students and talk about their experiences in the food and farming industries. Lastly, the Food Bank has had to reduce the size of the bags they provide through the Children's Farmers Market because the students aren't strong enough to carry 15-20 lbs. on their own. Instead, they are distributing closer to 10-12 lbs. fresh produce per child. They are evaluating how to get additional produce home to the children and their families, since they have the supply. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Through this grant program, many community members have received training and/or professional development. GleanSLO volunteers learn about the agricultural industry and food system of the community through participation in the harvesting program. Master Food Preservers and Promotores gained skills in food safety and food preservation through the training courses they participated in, as well as new skills in outreach and communication by coordinating and leading food preservation workshops. Through UCCE's demonstration work at food distribution sites, many local residents learned about food preparation and preservation. The grant also provided funding for administrative staff to assist in the coordination and administration of the San Luis Obispo Food System Coalition. One Cool Earth worked with a Food Corps member to work at the school garden in Paso Robles, who gained skills in gardening, education, and project coordination. Through this grant, youth working with Central Coast Grown and YouthWorks have learned nutritional cooking and farming. Public Health works with college students in the nutrition school at Cal Poly, who have developed skills in public health and community outreach. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Progress on the grant has been reported to the community on a regular basis. Project partners meet on a quarterly basis and share the results of their work. Quarterly progress reports are also presented at San Luis Obispo County Food System Coalition meetings (which average representatives from between 20-25 different organizations), and have been sent out to the SLO Food System Coalition email list which has 186 individuals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Representatives from the participating organizations meet on a quarterly basis to discuss progress and challenges with their individual programs and are looking at future funding sources to continue to build upon the accomplishments derived from the work supported by this grant. The individual organizations are tracking program progress and the grant evaluator works with the organizations in his evaluation of the grant program as a whole. In addition, the agencies are participating in Whole Measure framework using the Healthy People, Strong Communities, and Thriving Local Economies rubrics.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The SLO Food Bank Coalition distributed 1,750,134 lbs. of produceduring the first year of this grant program, including nearly 45,000 lbs. of produce through their Family Farmers' Markets. Five of the Family Farmers' Markets were started in the past year, surpassing the goal of two of these sites. On average, 42 low-income households receive food at each of these sites. Over 148,000 lbs. were distributed through the Children's Farmers' Market, with approximately 12 lbs. going to each child at each site, and reaching 12,294 over the course of the year. Of the produce distributed, 214,976 lbs. were gleaned through the GleanSLO program surpassing their annual goal of 200,000 lbs. One Cool Earth made significant progress towards their goals of expanding school garden opportunities at local schools. Several programs were offered to teach elementary students about the local food system: -Library on the Lawn events pair a food tasting with a food-related children's book. Over the course of the year, 27 events were hosted, reaching 165 unique students, and over 600 student encounters. -Two summer garden classes were held, reaching 60 students total. -Twenty-four garden based educational activities were held over the course of the year, reaching 165 unique students and over 600 student encounters. In addition, three community workdays were held with participation from over 100 volunteers to help double the amount of garden beds, tools were purchased, and a partnership was started with a local farm who will donate seasonal vegetable starts between 2-4 times per year. YouthWorks (part of Affordable Housing Paso Robles) also supported garden education through their programming. In the last year, 69 students received nutritional cooking trainings, which has become so popular, YouthWorks is seeking additional instructors to provide more classes. Sixty-three students worked in the garden. Through this grant, volunteers and students were able to add 8 additional raised beds to the garden, and an additional estimated 30 plants directly planted in the ground. This program provides stipends to the low-income students who work in the garden; 243 paid shifts were worked by the students over the course of the grant year. As of August, 736 lbs. of produce were yielded from the YouthWorks garden, which was provided free of charge to over 160 families. Central Coast Grown has worked with 109 students through their farm based science class. During this class, students have also had the opportunity to hear talks from local food and farming business owners. Public Health held two nutrition education trainings for Promotores, which included ten lessons, resulting in ten new Promotores. During this first year, Promotores did food demonstrations for 24 Food Bank distribution sites. The recipes ranged from energy bars to garden cannellini bean salad. Promotores have also participated in educational classes where they share culturally-appropriate food recipes as well as provide food samples. Public Health also partnered with Promotores by providing them with sugar sweetened beverage kits to raise awareness about making smarter beverage choices. Public Health also conducted a lunchroom assessment at an elementary school in northern SLO County, and the school began implementing some of the suggested improvements over the summer. Public Health has provided technical assistance regarding Smarter Lunchroom principles and practices and will be meeting with the school soon to assess how the changes are going. This coming year, Public Health will work with two more schools on Smarter Lunchroom strategies. During the past year, UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) has made progress on the Harvest of the Month program. Two elementary schools participated in farm field trips to local farms. As part of this program over 100 students received information regarding local food systems, farm technology and biology while at the farms. Both UCCE and Public Health are teaching about food preservation and food preparation business opportunities. Through UCCE, the Master Food Preserver volunteers have educated the community in various settings this year, including at the Food Bank and two elementary schools. Public Health developed handouts on Cottage Food Laws, and has been providing them to local low-income families. Over the past year, San Luis Obispo County Food System Coalition (SLO FSC) has provided a space for relationship building and collaboration for their members, which includes: Affordable Housing Paso Robles (Youthworks), California Polytechnic State University's College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Environmental Science's Center for Sustainability, Center for Family Strengthening (Promotores), Central Coast Grown, Community Action Partnership of SLO County, California Regional Environmental Education Community Network, Diringer and Associates, eatSLO network, Ecologistics, Inc., Farmers Guild San Luis Obispo, Food Bank Coalition of SLO County, GleanSLO, Healthy Eating Active Living-SLO, North County Farmers Markets Association, One Cool Earth, SLO Guild, SLO County Public Health, SLO Permaculture Guild, Slow Money SLO, and UC Cooperative Extension - SLO County. Additionally, SLO FSC has co-hosted an event with the Farmers Guild and Slow Money SLO to connect farmers and buyers (including restaurants and school districts). Another event was co-hosted with Slow Money SLO that showcased two farms and eight food entrepreneurs to local investors interested in investing in their local food system. SLO FSC also has a working group that is focused on expanding EBT acceptance at farmers' markets across the county. They are currently working with CalFresh Alliance and Department of Social Services to conduct outreach for EBT users at the downtown farmers' market in San Luis Obispo.
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