Source: YOLO, COUNTY OF submitted to NRP
YOLO BONUS BUCKS PROGRAM
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1012592
Grant No.
2017-70025-26690
Cumulative Award Amt.
$500,000.00
Proposal No.
2017-01993
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jun 1, 2017
Project End Date
May 31, 2021
Grant Year
2017
Program Code
[FIP]- FINI Project
Recipient Organization
YOLO, COUNTY OF
625 COURT ST STE 102
WOODLAND,CA 95695
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Yolo County has been a pioneer of the Bonus Bucks program in California. We were one of the only Counties in California to receive this grant last year and feel that experience has assisted us in developing a scalable program that will be very successful. We have the past experience, knowledge, and resources to make this program not only successful, but to change the lives of our residents. Not only will CalFresh recipients be receiving 50% off allowable fresh fruits and vegetables, we will also be providing them the added benefit of nutrition education, shopping on a budget and other exciting nutritional topics by partnering with Nutrition Education and Early Prevention (NEOP) and SNAP-ED. These partners are willing to offer a variety of courses and tools for clients on cooking demonstrations; learning how to stretch their budget; and teaching them how utilize the variety of healthy fruits and vegetables that are in season and will even provide these services in the grocery stores where clients can use their benefits. This value added program will help low-income families become more aware of their eating habits, stretch their budgets, provide nutrition information and help them thrive.
Animal Health Component
65%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
15%
Applied
65%
Developmental
20%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
70414991010100%
Knowledge Area
704 - Nutrition and Hunger in the Population;

Subject Of Investigation
1499 - Vegetables, general/other;

Field Of Science
1010 - Nutrition and metabolism;
Goals / Objectives
Goal 1, increasingthe purchase of fruits and vegetables by Yolo County SNAP participants, will be achieved by providing a financial incentive to purchase fruits and vegetables, deploying a Mobile Farm Stand to rural areas, and maximizing funds for direct incentives to program participants.Provide financial incentive: During the Bonus Bucks pilot program, all SNAP households received a Bonus Bucks Discount Card in the mail with instructions, participating retailer information and a list of eligible fruits and vegetables. When the discount card is scanned at participating retail locations, eligible fruits and vegetables will be immediately discounted by 50%. Goal 1 will be achieved by providing a discount card that can be used at any of the participating retailers. The financial incentive has been shown to encourage SNAP recipients to purchase more fruits and vegetables as they begin to recognize the financial benefit of such actions. Thus lowering obesity rates and maximizing healthier eating habits.Goal 2, marketing the Yolo Bonus Bucks program to targeted audience, will be achieved by creating and distributing program material through direct marketing and using the Bonus Bucks logo regularly. This goal will be achieved by creating and distributing Yolo Bonus Bucks promotional material through a direct to consumer marketing campaign, notifying SNAP clients that the Bonus Bucks program is continuing. Promotional material will include pamphlets, posters and mailings.
Project Methods
Local grocery stores will be involved in the Yolo Bonus Bucks program. These retailers were integral in the implementation of the pilot program and will continue to be primary partners in the expansion of the program. Retailers participated in the initial design and implementation of necessary technology as well as with the promotion of the program and providing feedback to increase program efficiency. HHSA will partner with local community organizations and SNAP retailers to train cashiers and implement the Yolo Bonus Bucks program and those collaborations will continue to help local farmers become EBT certified and running mobile farm stand throughout rural area of the county.On a yearly basis, grant funds will be used for the financial incentive, or Bonus Bucks, CalFresh recipients will be provided a 50% discount at point of sale when incentivized fruits and vegetables are purchased. All fresh, canned, dried and frozen fruits and vegetables that do not contain any added sugar, salt, fats or oils will be eligible for the Bonus Bucks program. The items that will be incentivized in the Yolo Bonus Bucks program are based on the Healthy Incentives Pilot from Massachusetts, eligible Women, Infant and Children (WIC) program produce, as well as input received from the community.

Progress 06/01/17 to 05/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience is low-income families, students, and all food-insecure residents of Yolo County. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported 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? We were able to fiscally finalize the grant funding. Due to COVID, the FTE earmarked for the Outreach Specialist did not get fully spent.

Publications


    Progress 06/01/19 to 05/31/20

    Outputs
    Target Audience:We continue to focus on getting students enrolled in CalFresh and giving them the benefits of this program. However, with the SSI expansion and COVID-19, the senior population has also become a priority. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We have had several cooking demonstrations and budgeting classes teaching consumers how to purchase fresh fruits and vegatables on a budget and how to cook in-season items. 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?With the grant funding wrapping up, incentives may end shortly but we will still continue to educate consumers with the Bonus Bucks trainings.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Our Bopnus Bucks program continues to grow. Funds are running low, so I believe by 7/2020 we will have spent all funding. We consider this a success as most of our funding went directly to our consumers.

    Publications


      Progress 06/01/18 to 05/31/19

      Outputs
      Target Audience:All active Yolo County CalFresh recipients. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Ourtraining consist of how to eat healthy on a budget, tips and tricks on how to shop smarter, and a cooking demonstration. We also tweek the trainings and cooking demo's to target the audience. For example: University of California, Davis is in our county and student hunger is a huge focus area for us. Trainings there will consist of how to make healthy meals on a hot plate or microwave as most of the students are in dorms, or student housing. This training can also work for senior recipients. We also modify thecooking based on the culture of our audience and advocate for trying new fruits and vegetables. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have a large CalFresh population from rural areas that either have transportation issues with getting to our participating retailers or would like a retailer in their own town. Our goals this year is to bring on another small retailer is one of the larger rural town that would like to participate year-round. This way we can take care of a significant consumer base without them having to go too far. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In addition to bringing on a rural market, our focus this year is to get out in the community and have those cooking demos and trainings and telling community members about what we do and the resources we have. The drive for this is that we want our customers to be self-sufficient and knowledgable about eating healthier. We want them to know how they can still eat healthy on a budget and that their healthy eating habit can continue after the FINI funds are gone.

      Impacts
      What was accomplished under these goals? For Year 2, Goal 1: To date, we have provided over $197,000 in discounts to CalFresh recipients using FINI funds. We also conducted a survey for those in the program. Those who completed the survey were given a $10 gift card to their favorite participating retailers. If they attended and completed a training mentioned in the survey they received an additional $10 incentive. Goal 2: Initailly recipients received their Bonus Bucks cards and flyer about the program and the retailers. This year they will receive new cards and flyers. Flyers will consists of healthy quickrecipes and training information. Also, we now have the capabilitiy to reach our recipients via email notifying them of up and coming trainings and incntive offers.

      Publications


        Progress 06/01/17 to 05/31/18

        Outputs
        Target Audience:Our target audience is low-income families, students, and allfood-insecurepeople of Yolo County. Changes/Problems:We changed the style of the bonus bucks card which no longer has a bar code. The barcode type cards needed to be purchased by one of our partner retailers so the process for the bar codes to work would only be beneficial the that peticular retailers point of sale system. Because we have multiple retailers we didn't feel like this be helpful and it would be too time consuming to get consistent data. We (ourselves and our retailers) had a hard time determining not only how totrack purchases at the point of sale but how the transaction itself at the point of sale would work. After months of meeting we determined that we would purchase a generic Bonus Bucks card with the logo and retailer's information on it only. To receive the discount, the consumer would need boththeir EBT card and Bonus Bucks card. The retailers would then use the first 6 digits plus the last 4 digits from the consumers EBT card. This would prompt the discount in their systems but also give us the ability to track purchases in a variety of ways as well as determiningdemograpic data as well. Once we have run this process for 6 months it is our hope that we can get other retailers on board, especially those in rural areasand at local farmers markets. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As stated above we've had a slow start. We are in the process of setting up a training for University students. Students who attend the training will learn how to cook with fruits and vegetables in season. How to stretch their income when purchasing fruits and vegetables. How to cook nutritious meals on a hot plate or griddle. There will also be store tours provided. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Over 10,200 What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue marketing the Bonus Bucks program to our partners and community. We would like to provide trainings throughout the year. We are also going to conduct a survey of our consumers to see if they have changed their eating habits for the better; if they felt the program was beneficial in teaching them about a healthier lifesytle; and if they're going to continue with a healtier way of eating and if not, what are the barriers.

        Impacts
        What was accomplished under these goals? The first year was slow going while we worked with retailers on setting up the discount process using the consumers EBT card. While we were fine tuning this process we were also able to get cards ordered using the Bonus Bucks logo. We also created flyers andsent out over 10,200 discount cards to people including thousands of college students. We did our official launch on April 1st of this year and have already seen a huge response. We will be getting detailed reports from our retailers so that we can monitor trends.

        Publications