Progress 09/01/20 to 03/01/22
Outputs
Target Audience:Among the intended target audience of Spanish-speaking SNAP consumers at Las Nenas, per survey data collected among the shoppers in August 2021, the majority of those surveyed were between age 40 and 50 years old, 93.5% identified as a woman, 40% reported the home zip code of 68107, and 97.8% respondents are of Latino/a or Spanish origin with an N=93 surveyed. The full surveyu results will be shared with NIFA and USDA staff as 59.1% reported not being employed but not seeking employment while a majority reported suffering one or more chronic illnesses. This was the project's intended audience and underscores the importance of SNAP and Double Up Food Bucks as a critical mechanism to treat and care for the chronic illnesses of low-income and high food insecurity populations within our communities. Changes/Problems:The COVID pandemic impacted this pilot in a significant way. Recruiting the Business coach was delayed due to the isolation of the pandemic, the nutrition education within the store had to shift to via recorded food demos and "commercials" on their in-store TV, as well as in store flyers and signage. Also this pilot supported University Nebraska Foundation's first pilot to implement electronic (Epic)DUFB redemption through Las Nenas and that took additional Spanish translation support. This was a change to addition staffing and support. Finally, more staff training on nutrition and education on DUFB rules was needed and once the staff understood, shoppers increased their fruit and vegetable purchases in comparing 2020 with 2021's interventions. Store staff and the owners are crucial to promoting and accurately engaging DUFB consumers in the model. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project provided opportunities for training and professional development. The training aspect came into play when training store cashiers and owners on the Epic system for electronic DUFB. The entire team at Las Nenas that handles transaction were trained on how to use the Epic system to process DUFB cards. During the transition, The Wellbeing Partners helped translate documents into Spanish to ensure that the staff at Las Nenas could be trained in their preferred language. Those documents that were created were then printed and handed to the store. Training also happened with the customers of Las Nenas using the DUFB program. As part of the outreach done by The Wellbeing Partners, customers were walked through how a transaction would look on the new system, how the customer could create an online account to check the balance on the card, and which number to call if they ever hard problems with their DUFB card. Both customers and Las Nenas employees were able to participate in the food tasting demo that was hosted outside of the store. The recipe used and additional recipes were handed to the store and to the customers for them to replicate at home. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The toolkit has been shared with Nebraska Extension and their network of statewide Extension and Nutrition expertswho will continue educate and share the toolkit and example interventions with more than 65 Spanish markets across Nebraska. In addition, this work has added UNL Extension to hire a 100% bilingual nutrition education specialist. Continuousoutreach is also planned in other stores throughout the state and who are using some tactics learned through this pilot to do outreach in other BIPOC owned neighborhood stores. Furthermore, this will be shared throughout food networks in the state of Nebraska and Iowa for distribution. The toolkit will also be shared with Las Nenas and their employees. Moreover, these documents will live on The Wellbeing Partners website for access to all community members interested in learning more about this pilot project. Finally, the information was shared and celebrated with Las Nenas staff, owner and the Share Our Table community coalition. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1.Though this goal was accomplished by the end of our grant period, it was not done so within the timeline projected at the beginning of the project. By September of 2020, The Wellbeing Partners was in contact and actively in communication with Nebraska Extension as well as Las Nenas to implement this project. From 9/1/2020 to 9/30/2020 $10,880.54 of SNAP dollars were spent at Las Nenas. From 9/1/2021 to 9/30/2021 the total amount of SNAP dollars spent at the store was $16,552.07. This is a 52.1% increase when comparing September 2020 to September 2021 Double Up Food Bucks redemption. Overall, The Wellbeing Partners expended their $102,000 food incentive budget for this program. Nebraska Extension was able to provide continuing funding for the store once the pilot was complete. It is important to mention that the usage of DUFB increased a significant amount past the annual projection. By August 2021, The Wellbeing Partners had reached the goal of 51% incentive spend. By September 30, 2020, 500 customers engaged in one of the engagement mechanisms offered within Nena's including food demos, focus groups, promotional events, and other in-store education with 80% surveyed stating that they have increased their knowledge of fresh fruits and vegetables and feel more confident to purchase and prepare these foods. Though this goal was not accomplished in the original timeline, 907 customers were reached through tabling efforts done by The Wellbeing Partners in partnership with Nebraska Extension, Latino Center of the Midlands, and the Midlands Latino Community Development Corporation. This was done over a period of nine months beginning in February of 2021. While working on this pilot, The Wellbeing Partners engaged the store's customers in a variety of activities such as a food tasting demo in partnership with Nebraska Extension. However, because of COVID-19, new strategies had to be thought of when engaging with the public such as creating videos with Las Nenas customers preparing recipes that were culturally relevant and that used fresh produce from Las Nenas. This allowed The Wellbeing Partners to engage with customers while also creating something that would be lasting and could be used by others. Those who participated in the video were compensated for their time and all of the produce used to create the recipes was paid for by The Wellbeing Partners. Furthermore, customers were engaged in a Double Up Food Bucks survey, and a switch from paper to electronic Double Up Food Bucks vouchers. Additionally, at each of these outreach activities, The Wellbeing Partners was able to answer questions and concerns that customers as well as cashiers had about the program and was even able to refer some customers to the Latino Center for help navigating SNAP applications. Through surveying done in July of 2021 with DUFB customers, 94.7% rated their experiences with the Nebraska Double Up Food Bucks program as positive to very positive. However, out of 94 respondents 27.4% reported consuming fruit and vegetables less than once per day. 2.By August 31, 2020, present draft of culturally relevant business planning toolkit to support fruit and vegetable consumption among low-income SNAP consumers in Latino markets to area partners and Nena's. Final toolkit to be shared by September 15, 2021. This timeline was shifted due to the pandemic as well as the implementation efforts to get an electronic DUFB system into the store. The toolkit was completed by December of 2021 and is available in both English and Spanish. The toolkit details activities done under the grant to engage the Latino population, sample questions to ask focus groups, templates and marketing language, as well as strategies utilized throughout the grant. This also shared some information on suggested stipends if this would be replicated by other stores. 3. By October 30, Business Development Coach has established a network of Latino-focused resources, business leader relationships and helps to identify opportunities for ongoing sustainability to support more Latino-focused locally owned stores in the future as this person leads the in-store interventions and data management. Although this was not done during the original timeline of the grant, this was done throughout the implementation. The Wellbeing Partners through the use of grant dollars was able to hire Juan Montoya, Executive Director of the Midlands Latino Community Development Corporation as the Business Development Coach. By hiring Juan and his organization, The Wellbeing Partners was able to work with Juan and develop a relationship with Las Nenas as well as other partners serving the Latino population in Omaha. Additionally, Juan was able to provide and work with the store to help brainstorm and create advertising in Spanish that would appeal to Las Nenas customers. Furthermore, this pilot supported Nebraska's first pilot to implement electronic DUFB redemption through Las Nenas.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience reached via the Latino Business Catalyst Double Up Food Bucks intervention was primarily Spanish-speaking shoppers within a 10-mile radius of the intervention location, Las Nenas Zamoros in 68107. Surprisingly, during 2020, a growing number of consumers from various refugee communities or recent immigrants also shopped at the store based on its availability of fresh fruits and vegetables. Changes/Problems:The pandemic presented a major problem to overcome. In-store nutrition education, store staff training, focus groups and interceptor surveys all had to shift to outdoors, via electronic mediums to keep all staff and participants safe. Significant staff time was needed by The Wellbeing Partners to accomodate for the creation of nutrition education via video production to play within the store. The Business Coach spent more time coaching store owners and staff on online, social media presence to ensure a foundation of consumer education and connection despite the pandemic. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?During 2020 the planning began to shift in order to implement the pilot in a way that provided opportunities for community members and Las Nenas staff to learn more about the Double Up Food Bucks program and its purpose. This highlighted the need to spend time in 2021 sharing information with customers about healthy produce as well as the opportunity to use the program at the store. The store staff participated in demo videos that were shown in the store, due to the pandemic, to promote healthy recipies using fresh produce. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?There were no results in 2020 to share with the community. However, preliminary numbers were shared with funders and community partners; however, the Share Our Table healthy food access coalition helped to disseminate this incredible USDA grant opportunity wihtin the community and helped to shape the marketing and education interventions. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The Wellbeing Partners will achieve their goals by onboarding the Business Development coach, training the staff at Las Nenas, and revamping marketing materials within the store. The Wellbeing Partners expects there to be some changes in the implementation of the program depending on COVID and it's effect in the community.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In 2020, The Wellbeing Partners began a baseline Double Up Food Bucks intervention with Las Nenas which resulted in 868 customers being served and $62,665 worth of Double Up Food Bucks redeemed at the store from August-December of 2020. However, the Latino Business Catalyst intervention did not begin until January of 2021. The Wellbeing Partners contracted the Business Development Coach in December of 2020. This was because The Wellbeing Partners worked on finding a Business Development Coach who knew and was part of the community Las Nenas serves.
Publications
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