Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:The Food Basket is targeting low-income SNAP-EBT residents across the state of Hawai'i who cannot afford or do not have the means to maintain a healthy consumption of fruits and vegetables. The number of SNAP recipients in Hawaii increased by 26% between 2019 and 2020 (Pruitt et al., 2021). As of June 2021, there were 205,282 individuals in the state receiving SNAP benefits. As of late June 2020, we also targeted recipients of the newly created Pandemic-EBT (P-EBT) program, as we were notified by NIFA that P-EBT produce purchases are eligible to earn GusNIP incentives. P-EBT benefits created a new opportunity to service a large population of immigrant families originating from Pacific island nations under the Compact of Free Association (COFA). Many COFA nation households are eligible for P-EBT but do not qualify for SNAP food benefits. DA BUX is now able to offer discounted local produce and raise awareness around healthy food purchasing and consumption to families utilizing food benefits for the first time under the P-EBT program. Changes/Problems:The metrics used in our FY 2019 GusNIP project became problematic as we onboarded farm-direct firms that did not have SNAP authorization in 2019 and did not have baseline SNAP purchasing data. We currently do not havealternative metrics that can sufficiently evaluate the impacts of the DA BUX program across all participating retailers in one analysis. We feel using 2020 as an alternative baseline year, will not show clear impacts of the DA BUX program as 2020 marked the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic and produce retailers largely experienced unusual spikes in sales. In 2020, households, especially those with children who were normally fed by school meal programs, were preparing and eating the majority of their meals at home and thuswere increasing their food purchasing at local produce retailers. Our largest challenge was identifying alternative match sources to cover over $300,000 in pledged match that was not fulfilled. Unfulfilled match included $55,000 of State funding that was originally awarded as incentive funds to the DA BUX Double Up Food Bucks program but was retracted due to the Governor's Emergency Proclamation related to COVID-19 and the State's need to re-direct funding towards responding to the crisis. The remaining unfulfilled pledges were from two non-profit partners. One non-profit needed to close down their farmers markets and redirect pledged incentive funds towards their COVID-19 response. And the other non-profit experienced a change in ownership and reduction in staff that limited their ability to fulfill their pledged in-kind outreach and promotion services. The DA BUX administrative team worked constantly to find alternative match sources including by soliciting private donations to our Hawai'i Good Food for EveryoneFund and back-tracking documentation to substantiate The Food Basket's in-kind expenses towards administering our DA BOX community-supported agriculture program. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?On November 20, 2020, the DA BUX Statewide Manager, Chelsea Takahashi, was one of several webinar speakers providing training to farmers markets. The webinar was hosted by the newly created Hawai'i Farmers Market Association. Ms. Takahashi shared the steps to becoming a new DA BUX retailer and the basic processes for integrating DA BUX with typical SNAP redemption systems used at farmers markets. Given Ms. Takahashi's understanding of SNAP processes and resources available for farm-direct retail settings, she has become a statewide resource to field general questions regarding SNAP authorization and integration for farm-direct retailers. She has provided technical assistance to Keauhou Farmers Market, Ho'ola Farms, Hawai'i 'Ulu Cooperative, Hawai'i Eco Experiences, Farm Link, Malama Kauai, Lanakila Pacific, and Kamehameha Schools. Technical assistance included discussing potential SNAP-EBT vendors for payment processing, USDA policies limiting advanced payments for CSA subscriptions, limitations of online SNAP-EBT payments, and grants available by the Hawaii Farmers Marketing Association. Our FY 2019 GusNIP project provided stipends to 5 interns at $911 per month. We offered internship support to participating farm-direct firms that expressed limited staffing capacity to implement DA BUX incentives. The firms were responsible for selecting their interns and providing training and supervision on how to issue and track DA BUX incentives on eligible local fruit and vegetable purchases. The firms provided an educational experience to interns interested in pursuing careers fields such as Agriculture, Business, Human Services, Public Health and Public Administration. The interns were responsible for completing a minimum of 40 service hours per month, andtracking and reporting activities performed on monthly timesheets to DA BUX headquarters. Once timesheets were received, DA BUX staff issued their monthly stipend checks. The internship stipends seemed to be an effective strategy for low-capacity firms to increase their capacity by attracting quality intern candidates. Upon completion of the internships in Aug 2021, 2 of the 5 interns were hired as employees by the firms as the internship provided an opportunity for the firms to determine the interns' skill-level and fit within their organization. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Impact data was shared with a variety of foundations, financial institutions, and other philanthropic organizations as we sought out match funding to apply for a FY 2021 GusNIP. Our success in sharing our program impact resulted in securing $1.8 million in cash match from the City & County of Honolulu, healthcare organizations, a for-profit investment firm and private donors. Additionally, The Food Basket secured $0.7 million in in-kind match from our participating GusNIP firms, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, marketing firms, and a diversity of community-based non-profits such as the Chef Hui, Maui United Way and We Are Oceania. The DA BUX program is currently working on publishing our first Outcomes Report by April 1, 2022 that will largely cover impacts achieved during the FY 2019 GusNIP grant period. The Outcomes Report will include sections for 1) the impacts on SNAP household purchasing and consumption of local fruits and vegetables, 2) the impacts on participating GusNIP firms' local produce sales, and 3) the impacts on local farmer income and production. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Our FY 2019 GusNIP grant was the impetus for unifying several independently established double-bucks programs under the statewide brand--DA BUX Double Up Food Bucks--as well as adding over 60 new food retail locations across the state where SNAP participants can access produce incentives, including grocery stores, farmers markets, community-supported agriculture programs, a mobile market, a direct-farm marketer, and other small food retailers. Increased SNAP Household Access to Nutrition Incentives In order to assess the impacts of our statewide expansion on access to double-bucks incentives, we partnered with Dr. Vanessa Buchthal of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dr. Buchthal conducted a GIS spatial analysis to determine the increase in the number of SNAP households who had a SNAP double-bucks retailer within normalgrocery-shopping distance of their homes. ("Normal" was defined as 0.5 mi in dense urban neighborhoods, and 3.5 mi in rural areas based on USDA data on average grocery shopping distances traveled by SNAP participants. After a review of diverse federal program definitions of urban and rural, this study categorized the Honolulu metropolitan area as "urban", and all other regions as "rural.") Dr. Buchthal determined that the number of SNAP households with access to a double-bucks retailer increased by 272% between 2018 and 2020. By the end of 2020, more than two-thirds (77%) of all SNAP households in the state lived within reasonable shopping distance of a double-bucks retail access point. The DA BUX Double Up Food Bucks program not only expanded sites offering nutrition incentives, but it also increased SNAP sales of Hawaii-grown produce as well as the number of SNAP households purchasing Hawaii-grown produce. All percentage increases reported hereafter (unless otherwise noted) are calculated using each retailer's baseline monthly averages from calendar year 2019. Goal 1-Increased SNAP Household Purchases of Hawai'i-Grown Produce at CSAs Our FY 2019 GusNIP supported a total of 4 community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs across the state. The Food Basket's DA BOX CSA was the only program that could be evaluated based on Goal 1 grant metrics. In June 2021, the DA BOX program's twelve-month average of SNAP sales of local produce increased 136% to $18,693 (Outcome 1.1). The remaining 3 CSAs operated by Lanakila Pacific, Kahumana Organic Farm, and Malama Kauai do not have 2019 baseline data because they were newly authorized to accept SNAP-EBT and offered DA BUX incentives during the tail-end of the grant period. Despite their brief implementation of DA BUX incentives, as of June 2021, Lanakila Pacific experienced a 39% increase in monthly SNAP sales of local produce over a 9-month implementation period; and Kahumana Organic Farm experienced a 125% increase over a 6-month implementation period. Malama Kauai has not yet shown any sales increases but has maintained steady sales at a monthly average of $4,060 over a 4-month implementation period. In June 2021, the DA BOX program's twelve-month average of SNAP households purchasing local produce increased 89% to 275 SNAP households (Outcome 1.2). The remaining 3 CSAs cannot report this specific metric. However, as of June 2021, Lanakila Pacific experienced a 22% increase in SNAP households purchasing local produce over a 9-month implementation period; and Kahumana Organic Farm experienced a 48% increase over a 6-month implementation period. Malama Kauai has not yet shown any increases in SNAP households but has maintained steady counts at 52 SNAP households over a 4-month implementation period. Goal 2-Increased SNAP Household Purchases of Hawai'i-Grown Produce at Grocery Stores A total of 32 grocery stores participated in our FY 2019 GusNIP project--7 stores owned by KTA Super Stores, 23 stores owned by QSI, Inc. and 2 stores owned by Okimoto Corporation. KTA Super Stores was the only grocery chain that could provide complete data to track Goal 2 metrics. In June 2021, KTA stores' twelve-month average of SNAP sales of local produce increased by 294% (ranging from 213%-366%) to $19,354 (Outcome 2.1); and KTA stores' twelve-month average of SNAP households purchasing local produce increased by 230% (ranging from 144%-260%) to 2,472 SNAP households (Outcome 2.2). In June 2021, QSI, Inc stores' twelve-month average of SNAP sales of local produce increased by 175% (ranging from 108%-255%) to $10,486 (Outcome 2.1). QSI, Inc. was unable to track Outcome 2.2. Given that Okimoto Corporation was the smallest grocery store chain, their POS did not have the same capacity to track sales data as the larger chains and was unable to track Goal 2 metrics. Goal 3-Increased SNAP Household Purchases of Hawai'i-Grown Produce at Other Farm-Direct Firms A total of 7 other farm-direct firms participated in our FY 2019 GusNIP project. In June 2021, 4 farm-direct firms reported significant increases in their twelve-month average of SNAP sales of local produce--Hale Puna Farmers Market reported a 1,148% increase, Keauhou Farmers Market reported a 67% increase, Kokua Kalihi Valley Roots Café and Food Hub reported a 974% increase, and Oko'a Farms reported a 575% increase (Outcome 3.1). However, 1 farm-direct firm, Elepaio Social Services, reported a 37% decrease in their twelve-month average of SNAP sales of local produce (Outcome 3.1). Elepaio Social Services explained their data is reflective of the impact of the COVID-19 infection rates in their community and the extended closure of their Makeke farmers markets. Some farm vendors needed to pivot and look elsewhere for new markets, and some went out of business. Lastly, 2 farm-direct firms--Maui Hub and Farm Link Hawaii--were not authorized to accept SNAP in 2019 and are unable to report Goal 3 metrics; however, we can report that from Jan 2021-Jun 2021 (when our discount cap returned to $20 per day) monthly local produce sales for Maui Hub quickly jumped by 106%. Farm Link experienced a 32% decline in sales; we speculate this decline is due to high turnover at all staffing and management levels which was anecdotally reported by Farm Link. Data of SNAP households purchasing local produce mirrored SNAP produce sales reported by the 7 farm-direct firms. In June 2021, 4 farm-direct firms reported significant increases in their twelve-month average of SNAP households purchasing local produce--Hale Puna Farmers Market reported a 354% increase, Keauhou Farmers Market reported a 49% increase, Kokua Kalihi Valley Roots Café and Food Hub reported a 355% increase, and Oko'a Farms reported an 87% increase. Elepaio Social Services reported a 49% decrease in their twelve-month average of SNAP households purchasing local produce (Outcome 3.2). Maui Hub cannot report the Outcome 3.2 metric; however, from Jan 2021-Jun 2021, monthly SNAP households purchasing local produce quickly jumped by 71%; and Farm Link experienced a 6% decline in SNAP households.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Buchthal, V. (2021). DA BUX Grows Access to Local Produce 3x. University of Hawaii at Manoa Office of Public Health Studies. https://dabux.org/for-advocates
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Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:The Food Basket is targeting low-income SNAP-EBT residents across the state of Hawai'i who cannot afford or do not have the means to maintain a healthy consumption of fruits and vegetables. As of July 2020, there were 97,382 SNAP households in the state representing 176,516 individuals. As of late June 2020, we are also targeting recipients of the newly created Pandemic-EBT (P-EBT) program, as we were notified by NIFA that P-EBT produce purchases are eligible to earn GusNIP incentives. P-EBT benefits created a new opportunity to service a large population of immigrant families originating from Pacific island nations under the Compact of Free Association (COFA), and prior to the pandemic did not qualify for SNAP food benefits. DA BUX is now able to offer discounted local produce and raise awareness around healthy food purchasing and consumption to families utilizing food benefits for the first time under the P-EBT program. Changes/Problems:In early June, we mailed our first promotional mass mailer including DA BUX Access Cards, an instructional flyer, and a letter endorsement from Department of Human Services to every SNAP household in the state (except for the least populated islands of Molokai and Lanai). The coordination for the mass mailing took several months given the time to finalize a universal barcode and Access Card design that worked across all participating grocers, to receive Department of Human Services approval of the mailout materials, to print and ship Access Cards from Minnesota, to troubleshoot how to insert our Access Cards into envelopes using a Bell & Howell machine, to mechanically stuff envelopes, and to mail the Access Cards to SNAP households. The cost of production for materials and shipping was over $47,000. Given this heavy investment, we decided not to include the Access Cards in the second October mailing. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The DA BUX Double Up Food Bucks Statewide Manager, Chelsea Takahashi, provided training to partner retailers QSI, Inc., KTA Super Stores, Hale Puna Farmers Market, and Kokua Kalihi Valley to ensure their understanding of GusNIP policies as well as the implementation processes and data collection needed to comply with these policies. Training occurred on an ad hoc basis via Zoom conferences, phone calls, and emails. Two documents are given to each retailer during onboarding: 1) a cheat sheet describing the criteria of qualifying DA BUX produce, and 2) instructions for reporting including a link to a private Dropbox folder where they must submit their montly transaction data and invoices. Technical assistance is provided to retailers inquiring to become a new DA BUX retailer, but do not have SNAP authorization. We recommend that they have at least 3-months experience accepting SNAP-EBT as an FNS authorized SNAP retailer before they apply to become a DA BUX retailer. We also provide a local contact such as Malama Kauai, the Maui Healthy Eating Active Living Coalition or the Kohala Center who can provide more personalized assistance with their SNAP retailer application. The Food Basket also receives contracted technical assistance from the New Mexico Farmers' Marketing Association (NMFMA). NMFMA shared their experience growing their statewide Double Up Food Bucks program, year-round procedures for retailer compliance in program policies, marketing strategies, and tips for data management. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?With GusNIP funding, we were able to develop a new DABUX.org website that lists and maps our partner retailers statewide. The website also has a page dedicated to learning how to sign-up and use DA BUX Access Cards at participating grocery stores. Both online and in-person sign-ups are offered. Those who sign-up online are mailed an Access Card within two weeks of their request free of charge. We were also able to print promotional materials for a mass mailing to all SNAP households in the state (except to those on the least populated islands of Lanai and Molokai) in early June 2020 and again in mid-Oct 2020. These marketing efforts contributed to the successful outcomes reported. Lastly, we created Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube accounts where followers can receive the latest program updates. We utilize these social media platforms to publish broad paid advertising across the state as well as targeted advertising to users who visit our website or any of our social media pages. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will analyze SNAP purchases of qualifying DA BUX produce across all participating grocery stores, including revenue, transactions, and unique SNAP household participants to identify low-performing stores. We will then inform these low-performing stores of our analysis and offer to work with them to create an improved marketing strategy to target residents in their area. We have an estimated $40,000 in marketing funds remaining that will be used for continuous website updates, flyer design an translation, and targeted social media advertising.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In September 2019, The Food Basket-Hawai`i Island's Food Bank received a USDA GusNIP grant to expand statewide access to double-bucks food retailers that offer Hawai`i SNAP participants financial incentives, such as discounts or free vouchers, for locally-grown fruits and vegetables. GusNIP was the impetus for unifying several independently established double-bucks programs under the statewide brand--DA BUX Double Up Food Bucks--as well as adding over 60 new food retail locations across the state where SNAP participants can access produce incentives, including grocery stores, farmers markets, community-supported agriculture programs, a mobile market, a direct-farm marketer, and other small food retailers. In order to assess the impact of this broad public and private-sector collaboration on access to double-bucks retailers, a GIS spatial analysis was conducted to identify changes between 2018 and 2020 in the number of SNAP-participating households who had a SNAP double-bucks retailer located within a normal grocery-shopping distance of their homes. ("Normal" was defined as 0.5 mi in dense urban neighborhoods, and 3.5 mi in rural areas, based on USDA data on average grocery-shopping distances traveled by SNAP participants. After a review of diverse federal program definitions of urban and rural, this study categorized the Honolulu metropolitan area as "urban", and all other regions as "rural.") Results show a dramatic expansion of SNAP double-bucks access across the state between 2018 and 2020. Access expansion was particularly notable in Kaua'i and Maui Counties, and in both urban and rural areas of Honolulu County. In Hawai'i county, which had more robust access to SNAP double-bucks retailers in 2018 due to a prior FINI grant, access was expanded to the North Hawai'i and the Kohala Coast areas by 2020. The number of all SNAP-participating households with access to a double-bucks retailer near their homes increased by 272% between 2018 and 2020. By the end of 2020, DA BUX Double Up Food Bucksexpansion resulted in more than two-thirds (77%) of all SNAP-participating households having a double-bucks retailer within a reasonable shopping distance of their homes. The DA BUX Double Up Food Bucks program not only expanded sites offering nutrition incentives, it also increased SNAP sales of Hawaii grown produce as well as the number of SNAP households purchasing Hawaii grown produce from these sites. All percentage increases reported hereafter are calculated using each retailer's baseline monthly averages from calendar year 2019. The only participating community-supported agriculture (CSA) program operated by The Food Basket in Hawaii County met Objective 1.1--as of Aug 2020, The Food Basket's CSA increased its monthly average of SNAP sales by 58%. The CSA came close to meeting Objective 1.2--as of Aug 2020, the CSA increased its monthly average number of SNAP households purchasing its shares by 45%. As of Aug 2020, 17 out of 30 grocery stores participating in the statewide DA BUX Double Up Food Bucks program met Objective 2.1--across all grocery stores, the average percentage increase in SNAP sales of qualifying produce was 51%. The participating grocery stores included 7 stores owned by KTA Super Stores in Hawaii County; and 23 stores owned by QSI, Inc in Honolulu County, Kauai County, and Maui County (QSI Inc. does business as Times Super Markets, Big Save Markets, and Shima's Super Market). As of Aug 2020, 7 out of the 7 KTA Super Stores met Objective 2.2--on average, KTA stores increased their monthly average of SNAP households by 50%. The Food Basket initially planned to collect SNAP household data from QSI, Inc.; however, QSI, Inc.'s point-of-sale (POS) software does not have the capacity to identify unique SNAP households. Instead, QSI, Inc. provides proxy SNAP transaction counts for purchases of qualifying produce which does strongly suggest increases in unique SNAP households. On average, QSI, Inc. stores increased their monthly average of SNAP transactions for purchases of qualifying produce by 45%. As of Aug 2020, the DA BUX program was supporting two other retailers that dramatically surpassed Objective 3.1--Hale Puna Farmers Market in Kauai County increased its monthly average of SNAP sales on Hawaii grown produce by 208%; and Kokua Kalihi Valley's Roots Mobile Market in Honolulu County increased its monthly average of SNAP sales by 415%. Both retailers also surpassed Objective 3.2--Hale Puna Farmers Market increased SNAP households purchasing Hawaii grown produce by 79%, and Roots Mobile Market by 105%.
Publications
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