Progress 07/15/18 to 07/14/20
Outputs
Target Audience:Our primary target audience is SNAP participants in Montana. We have primarily reached this audience by offering point-of purchase incentives for SNAP purchases and cooking and nutrition class coupons. Our other target audience is localgrowers. We continue to reach this audience by offering Double SNAP Dollars (DSD) nutrition incentives at locations thatoffer local produce (farmers' markets and CSA's) in order to help increase their market potential. In addition to theseaudiences, our objective of building a statewide network for DSD has been a focus this past year, thus, we have engagedlocal food, health promotion, Native American, economic development, and other organizations in steering committeemeetings Changes/Problems:No major changes to report; however, the onset of COVID-19 heavily delayed the opening of farmers markets, closed some markets, and also delayed many typical program activities for this year. We are now in beginning our GusNIP project. 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?
Goal 1: Increase the purchase of of Montana-grown fruits and vegetables by SNAP recipents throughout Montana. Objective 1: 120 DSD customers were surveyed in 2019 and 96% reported eating more servings and a greater variety of fruitsand vegetables. At the end of market season 2020, 3,569 SNAP customers accessed DSD through the grant period.Obejective 2: At the end of the project, a total of 26 outlets offered DSD. Of the sites recruited, two of them were year-roundwinter markets and one retail location.Goal 2: Streamline state and local infrastructure to support efficient, effective, and sustainable SNAP incentive programsaccross MT Objective 1: Stakeholder engagment of DSD has increased quite signifigantly. There are a total of 16 DSD Network Steering Committee members that meet bi-monthly. There are three active sub-committiees that focus specifically on the growth,equity, and marketing of the program. Objective 2: CFAC recruited one new regional coordinating agency, a long time partner,the National Center for Appropirate Technology. Objective 3: All market managers that partcipate in Double SNAP Dollarsrecieve one-on-training from one of the three Spoke Coordinators. Systems and proceedures contininue to be organized andimplemented to increase effeciency and coordination of the program on the ground.Goal 3: Increase the engagement between local producer and low-income community members Objective 1: Of the 3569 SNAP customers, 1637 of them were new customers to Montana farmers markets and CSA's in the project period. Objective 2: 47% of vendors surveyed in 2019 reported that DSD did help them sell more fruits and vegetablesat the markets they attended and 33% said it, "somewhat helped." Objective 3: 1004 DSD customers were repeat customers throughout the grant period.
Publications
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Progress 07/15/19 to 07/14/20
Outputs
Target Audience:Our primary target audience is SNAP participants in Montana. We have primarily reached this audience by offering point-of purchase incentives for SNAP purchases and cooking and nutrition class coupons. Our other target audience is local growers. We continue to reach this audience by offering Double SNAP Dollars (DSD) nutrition incentives at locations that offer local produce (farmers' markets and CSA's) in order to help increase their market potential. In addition to these audiences, our objective of building a statewide network for DSD has been a focus this past year, thus, we have engaged local food, health promotion, Native American, economic development, and other organizations in steering committee meetings. Changes/Problems:No major changes to report; however, the onset of COVID-19 heavily delayed the opening of farmers markets, closed some markets, and also delayed many typical program activities for this year. We are on track to continue as planned, just on a delayed timeframe. We have requested a 3-month no-cost extension to account for this. 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?
Goal 1: Increase the purchase of of Montana-grown fruits and vegetables by SNAP recipents throughout Montana. Objective 1: 120 DSD customers were surveyed in 2019 and 96% reported eating more servings and a greater variety of fruits and vegetables. At the end of market season 2020, 3,569 SNAP customers accessed DSD through the grant period. Obejective 2: At the end of the project, a total of 26 outlets offered DSD. Of the sites recruited, two of them were year-round winter markets and one retail location. Goal 2: Streamline state and local infrastructure to support efficient, effective, and sustainable SNAP incentive programs accross MT. Objective 1: Stakeholder engagment of DSD has increased quite signifigantly. There are a total of 16 DSD Network Steering Committee members that meet bi-monthly. There are three active sub-committiees that focus specifically on the growth, equity, and marketing of the program. Objective 2: CFAC recruited one new regional coordinating agency, a long time partner, the National Center for Appropirate Technology. Objective 3: All market managers that partcipate in Double SNAP Dollars recieve one-on-training from one of the three Spoke Coordinators. Systems and proceedures contininue to be organized and implemented to increase effeciency and coordination of the program on the ground. Goal 3: Increase the engagement between local producer and low-income community members. Objective 1: Of the 3569 SNAP customers, 1637 of them were new customers to Montana farmers markets and CSA's in the project period. Objective 2: 47% of vendors surveyed in 2019 reported that DSD did help them sell more fruits and vegetables at the markets they attended and 33% said it, "somewhat helped." Objective 3: 1004 DSD customers were repeat customers throughout the grant period.
Publications
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Progress 07/15/18 to 07/14/19
Outputs
Target Audience:Our primary target audience is SNAP participants in Montana. We have primarily reached this audience by offering point-of-purchase incentives for SNAP purchases and cooking and nutrition class coupons. Our other target audience is local growers. We continue to reach this audience by offering Double SNAP Dollars nutrition incentives at locations that offer local produce (farmers' markets and CSA's) in order to help increase their market potential. ? Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project director attended a collaborative network facilitation training in order to better prepare her for facilitating the state-wide DSD Network. Market managers were invited to sit on the steering committee of the Network, and one manager elected to do so thus far. The Street Team program is also an opportunity for professional development for low-income community members- we plan to provide better resources for the program going into next market season so more folks can take advantage of that opportunity. ? How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Project results are continually communicated to interested stakeholders through statewide coalition meetings. The project director visited Washington D.C. in Spring 2019 and provided information about this project to Montana's three congressional offices. Press releases are sent out at the beginning of every season and in 2019 resulted in two local news stories. Once final metrics are collected and analyzed, CFAC will continue its tradition of creating a year-end report and disseminating that report to stakeholders. Results of the comprehensive evaluation will be presented to the DSD Network and particularly interesting findings will be written about in blog posts, posted on social media, and written up in press releases. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Winter of 2019-2020 will primarily be spent collecting and analyzing metrics and evaluation data so we can fully report on all of the objectives of this project. Processes will be reviewed and refined to repeat for the 2020 season, where we will continue to develop the projects set forth in this plan and collect information to be able to report on their effectiveness. ?
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal 1: Increase the purchase of Montana-grown fruits and vegetables by SNAP recipients: As of October 2019, 22 sites offer Double SNAP Dollars (DSD) in Montana, an increase of six sites since the beginning of the grant period. Three of these additional sites operate during the winter months, contributing to our goal of increasing year-round access to DSD. Our typical market season in Montana ends in October, so we have not yet captured full participation rates from each site. However, between May-July 2019, 773 customers have shopped at Double SNAP Dollars sites and spent nearly $37,000 in SNAP$ and DSD$, which is a 30% increase in spending over the same time period in 2018. A cooking class nutrition incentive program has been implemented as a result of this project. SNAP participants in SNAP-ED-led cooking and nutrition classes are offered DSD coupons to be redeemed at their local participating farmers market. 14 farmers market sites participated in the program, along with 7 nutrition educators. Coupon redemption is being tracked and will be tallied at the end of the market season. A comprehensive evaluation, led by researchers at the University of Montana, is currently underway. This evaluation assesses if DSD customers are eating more fruits and vegetables as a result of the program, as well as vendors' impacts and perspectives of the program. So far 100 customer surveys have been collected and 34 vendor surveys. Results of these surveys, as well as follow-up interviews, will be analyzed and reported on this winter. A final tally of total customers and dollars spent will also be calculated this winter. Goal 2: Streamline state and local infrastructure to support efficient, effective, and sustainable SNAP incentive programs: A state-wide Double SNAP Dollars Network has been created, with close assistance from Wholesome Wave. 13 organizations have committed to this network and participated in an introductory webinar as well as 3 video conference calls. An in-person meeting of this network is being held on October 18. Within this network, 2 organizations are committed to also acting as regional program coordinators, meaning these organizations work directly with a number of incentive distribution outlets within their particular region. A third organization is onboard to act as a regional program coordinator, but additional funding and staff capacity are required before they can get started. Market managers will provide feedback about this season and their confidence levels in implementing DSD in the winter of this year. Goal 3: Increase engagement between local producers and low-income community members: A frequent shopper program has been created and piloted at 7 farmers markets this year. The program offers an extra $5 DSD token on a customer's 5th visit to the market. A street team program has also been developed and piloted at 1 site so far this year. This program recruits DSD customers and offers them extra DSD tokens for hours worked doing outreach for the local program. Results of these programs will be collected in winter 2019 and the average number of return trips will be calculated once all metrics are collected from all sites at the end of the market season. Between May and July 2019, of the 773 customers, 395 were new customers and 372 were returning (6 customers are unknown). Vendor perceptions of the program will also be analyzed in winter 2019.
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