Progress 07/01/18 to 06/30/20
Outputs
Target Audience:With this FINI project, Experimental Stationprovidednutrition incentives to Illinois SNAP recipients residing across the state and shopping at over 100 farmers market sites, 4 food cooperatives, and 1 small grocery store. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Link Up Illinois' Program Manager provided training and technical support to farmers market managers to obtain SNAP authorization, to implement SNAP and Link Match at their markets, and to promote their programs. Link Up Illinois also worked with Link Up Illinois partner markets to learn to implement Wholesome Wave's FM Tracks data tracking system. With further expansion to brick-and-mortar venues, Link Up Illinois worked with the Sugar Beet Co-op and the Dill Pickle Co-op to establish systems, practices, and protocols for carrying out and administering a Link Match program. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Experimental Station created and published both 2018 and 2019 annual reports for Link Up Illinois. The 2018reportwas shared in hard copy to a variety of stakeholders and mailed to all Illinois State Representatives and State Senators, in an effort to educate legislators about the benefits of nutrition incentives, as they considered including a $500,000 per year appropriation from state funds for the Healthy Local Food Incentives Fund, established in 2017 through passage of Public Act 100-0636. The 2018 report was shared in electronic form withprogram funders, farmers market partners, partnering organizations, and all other interested stakeholders and parties. Due to the coronavirus crisis, the 2019 Link Up Illinois report was disseminated electronically to program funders, farmers market partners, partnering organizations, and other interested parties. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
With this two-year FINI project, Experimental Station's Link Up Illinois program was able to provide Link Match incentives, expand Link Match incentives to two additional food cooperatives (the Dill Pickle and Sugar Beet food co-ops), expand Link Match to over 100 market sites, pilot and scale a statewide universal Link Match currency, and carry out television and social media advertising across the state. Following very positive experiences working with food cooperative partners, Green Top Groceryfood cooperative (Bloomington) and Neighborhood Co-op Grocery (Carbondale), Experimental Station was excited to expand Link Match to additional food cooperatives. As food cooperatives make a strong effort to source their products locally, they have been a natural partner for Link Up Illinois, as we work to support both SNAP clients and our local farmers. Our experience working with the Dill Pickle Co-op (Chicago) and Sugar Beet Co-op (Oak Park) was equally positive, though launching the program at the stores took longer than anticipated due to store staffing changes, adaptation of the stores' POS systems, training staff, creating branded materials for the stores.Since launching the program, both co-ops have actively supported the Link Match program in their stores, ensuring that their staff is well-trained, providing signage at the entry to the stores, in the produce area, on the produce itself, and at the cashier station. We have been highly impressed by their commitment. Seeking to expand Link Match to both new and under-funded farmers market sites across the state, as well as in Chicago, Experimental Station worked with the Illinois Farmers Market Association (ILFMA) to provide outreach to farmers markets throughout Illinois. Experimental Station participatedin ILFMA and USDA conferences to present the Link Up Illinois program and increase awareness among markets of the availability of Link Match incentive funding. We are pleased to have exceeded our goal to expand the Link Up Illinois network to90-100 sites by 2019, having provided funding, training, and technical support to 103 market sites in 2019. To enable our SNAP customers to more easily and conveniently utilize their Link Match, in 2018 Experimental Station's Link Up Illinois program piloted a universal Link Match currency in Chicago, making Link Match transferable from one participating farmers market to another. That is, SNAP customers earning Link Match at one Chicago market were able to spend their Link Match at any other participating farmers market in the city. In 2019, we expanded the universal Link Match currency statewide.The universal currency has strengthened the Link Match brand and has also provided greater convenience for SNAP customers, especially those residing and shopping in the Chicago area, where there is a high concentration of markets offering Link Match. Thanks tothe valuable partnership we have established with CBS Broadcasting's Community Partnership Division, we were able in both 2018 and 2019 to run 3 weeks of television advertising (180 ads total) in June-July, in Chicago and the surroundingcounties. CBS' production of30-second and 15-second 'I Link Match' ads enabled 1.68 million adults to learn about Link Match and gain access to an 800- numbermaintained by Experimental Station, that provided information about the locations of SNAP-authorized markets offering Link Match in the greater Chicago area. Also, in partnership with CBS Broadcasting, supported by FINI funding, Experimental Station was able to produce customized banners and marketing materials for a targeted statewide direct email and a mobile phone marketing campaign in 2018 and 2019. 150,000 targeted emails were deployed each year, with a 17.7% open rate (highcompared to the 5-8% industry standard open rate). To further expand awareness of Link Match and EBT acceptance at farmers markets statewide, Experimental Station produced the 2018 and 2019 Guides to IllinoisFarmers Markets Accepting Link, Link Match, and WIC & Senior Coupons. 50,000 and 75,000 brochures were printedin 2018 and 2019, respectively. Brochures were provided to the Illinois Department of Human Services to distribute to SNAP clients, made available to Link Up Illinois partner markets, and shared with other partners and stakeholders to distribute. Focusing on targeted low-income areas of Chicago, Experimental Station also produced and ran Chicago Transit Authority bus and train advertising from July through August in 2018 and 2019. The bus and train ads included the 800-number that enabled SNAP clients to gain access to additional information about the Link Up Illinois program and Link Match availability in the city. Experimental Station's intended and measurable outcomes on this 2018-2020 FINI project were: To develop new venues for SNAP clients to purchase and consume fresh fruits and vegetables year-round by expanding Link Match to two additional food cooperatives, the Dill Pickle Co-op and Sugar Beet Co-op, with combined SNAP and Link Match purchases of at least $73,000 in 2018 and $85,000 in 2019, made by at least 300 SNAP clients. Do to a late start to the program in the food cooperatives, actual figures were below anticipated ones, with combined SNAP and Link Match purchases of $65,153.21 in 2019, as a result of 2,670 SNAP transactions. To expand the Link Up Illinoisnetwork to include new Illinois markets located in- and outside of Chicago and Cook County, by providing funding, training, and technical support to 90-100 sites by 2019, 10-15 of which would be new market sites located outside of Chicago, and 5-10 of these located in Chicago. In 2019, Link Up Illinois provided funding, training, and technical support to 108sites in total. 44of these were non-Chicago sites in 2019, expanding from 38 in 2018. To increase SNAP client purchases of fruits and vegetables at Illinois farmers markets by providing Link Match incentives at the point of purchase, increasing combined SNAP and Link Match purchases to $785,000 in 2019. Actual combined SNAP and Link Match purchases at Link Up Illinois partner markets totaled$567,707 in 2018 and $677,921 in 2019, a 19% increase over 2018. Actual combined SNAP, WIC, and Link purchases at Link Up Illinois partner markets and affiliates (markets previously funded by Link Up Illinois that fundedtheir own incentives in 2019) was $747,319. To contribute to the understanding of the effectiveness of nutrition incentives in increasing consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables among SNAP clients as a result of the Link Match incentive programsimplemented at four food cooperatives, projecting that at least 75% of SNAP clients surveyed would report increased consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables. Although preparation was underway in the early months of the year, actual implementation of the on-site, in-person survey, scheduled for March and April 2020, did not occur due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. Experimental Station will carry out thesurvey as soon as health conditions will allow it.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Link Up Illinois 2018 Report
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Link Up Illinois 2019 Report
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Dr. Chelseas Singleton, University of Illinois, "Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Shopping Behaviors and Fruit and Vegetable Consumption of Farmers Market Incentive Program Users in Illinois, Ethnicity & Disease, Vol. 30, No. 1.
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Progress 07/01/18 to 06/30/19
Outputs
Target Audience:With 2018 FINI funding, Experimental Station provided funding, training and technical support to Illinois farmers markets and food cooperatives located throughout the state, enabling them to provide Link Match nutrition incentives to their SNAP customers. The final target audience Experimental Station seeks to reach through ourLink Up Illinois program is the 14-15% of Illinoisans receiving SNAP benefits. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Every farmers market or food cooperativethat partners with Link Up Illinois and receives Link Up Illinois funding receives training on how to implement Link Match in their setting and how to collect crucial and required data on their programs. To ensuredata collection, we provided training for markets to employ FM Tracks, developed by national partner Wholesome Wave,to track SNAP and Link Match distributed and redeemed, as well as other market data. With the adoption of a universal currency, Link Up Illinois provided training for markets on how to implement a city- and, in 2019, a statewide universal currency. Partner markets learned the overall aims of the universal currency and how the process would work going forward. Experimental Station Executive Director, Connie Spreen, and Link Up Illinois Senior Program Manager, Corey Chatman, have numerous opportunities throughout the yearto participate in panels and workshops thatprovide information regarding Link Up Illinois. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Copies of the 2018 Link Up Illinois Report were mailed, with a cover letter, to every State Representative and Senator, and to the Governor's office. They were also distributed to funding partners, program and policy advocates, NIFA and other USDA staff, and to any other interested parties in both hard and electronic copies.Electronic copieswerealso distributed to all Link Up Illinois partner markets and posted on Experimental Station's website. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, Link Up Illinois will provide funding, training, technical support, FM Tracks data tracking capacity, and promotional materials to at least 80farmers market and other direct-to-consumer sites and 4 food cooperatives. At least 15 markets and food cooperatives will be funded through this 2018 FINI award. In order to enable SNAP clients to spend their Link Match at any Link Up Illinois farmers market, Experimental Station will expand the universal Link Match scrip to encompass all farmers markets funded by Link Up Illinois. Experimental Station will produce 75,000 copies of the 2019 Guide to Illinois Farmers Markets and distribute it to farmers markets, Illinois Department of Human Services offices, and other agencies and partner organizations. In partnership with CBS Broadcasting, as in 2018, Experimental Station will again carry out a television, email and mobile phone advertising campaign to promote Link Match at farmers markets throughout the state. Experimental Station will contract with Dr. Chelsea Singleton to assist Link Up Illinois in an evaluation of Link Match onthe health and eating behavior ofSNAP clients shopping in food cooperatives offering Link Match. Dr. Singleton will produce a survey that will be implemented on site, and she will receive and evaluate survey results. Experimental StatIon will receive final reports from markets funded in 2019 and will receive feedback on the universal Link Match initiative. In spring 2020, we will produce the 2019 Link Up Illinois Report and distribute it to stakeholders.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In 2018, Link Up Illinois was able to provide funding, training and techical support to 92 farmers market sites and 4 food cooperatives located throughout the state. During the reporting period, 15of these markets and 2 food cooperatives were funded through this FINI project. In 2018, Link Up Illinois produced a 'Guide to Illinois Farmers Markets', printing 50,000 copies which were distributed to farmers markets across the state, Illinois Department of Human Services offices, and other partners to distribute to SNAP clients. The Guide provided information to SNAP clients about the Link Match program, which Illinois farmers markets are known to accept SNAP and WIC and offer Link Match, as well as their locations and times. In 2018, Link Up Illinois sought to test out a new universal Link Match incentive scrip across Chicago markets that we fund. With the universal Link Match scrip, SNAP clients earning Link Match at one farmers market were able to spend it, during the season, at any other Link Up Illinois-funded market in Chicago. Link Up Illinois produced $60,000 of scrip in 2018 and distributed it to 31 Chicagomarkets, providing trainings to partner markets to enable smooth implementation of the universal scrip. We were pleased with the response of market clients, who reported that they appreciated being able to spend Link Match they earned at other markets around the city--especially those extending their market days through the end of the calendar year. In 2018, Experimental Station partnered with CBS Broadcasting Community Partnership Division to produce and diffuse a 30: and 15: second television ad, as well as an email and direct mobile phone advertising campaign. The television ad ran 91 times in 7 counties in the northeast corner of the state, including Cook County, where Chicago is located. The ad campaigntargeted programs identified by Nielsen Ratings and Scarborough Research to be heavily watched by a SNAP audience, including the Local Midday News, Hot Bench, Judge Judy, Comics Unleashed, and Face The Nation. Experimental Station provided an 800- number for viewers to gain further information about the Link Match program, as well as participating farmers markets in their area. To reach SNAP customers beyond these 7 counties and throughout the state, Experimental Station undertook, in partnership with CBS Broadcasting, an email and direct mobile advertising campaign as well. Through this campaign, we deployed 150,000 email and 345,000 direct mobile advertisements. The 17.7% open rate of the emails was twice the industry average, with 27% of those who opened the email wanting to 'Learn More.' In 2019, Experimental Station again partnered with CBS Broadcasting to create and carry out a Link Match promotional campaign. The television, email and direct mobile advertisements were created in June 2019, to be aired and deployed in July 2019. Experimental Station's Link Up Illinois program worked with the Dill Pickle Co-op and the Sugar Beet Co-op to institute Link Match programs, doubling the number ofbrick-and-mortar stores offering Link Match. Training included requirements for locally grown produce, how to issue and accept Link Match, how to adapt their POS system to issue and accept Link Match. Having already worked In spring 2019, Experimental Station produced our 2018 Link Up Illinois Report, which reports on program activities and outcomes from 2018, including photos and quotes collected from partner markets.
Publications
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