Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:The Double Up Food Bucks - Heartland (DUFB) healthy food incentive is a program for people who receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The program is implemented at grocery stores, farmers markets, farm stands and mobile markets in Kansas and Missouri. The participating firms supported by GusNIP COVID Relief and Response funding are in 19 Kansas communities (12 counties) and 54 Missouri communities (35 counties plus the city of St Louis). These communities are in rural, suburban, and urban areas. Ten of the forty-seven counties served have more diverse populations, with greater than 15 percent of their population represented by racial or ethnic minority populations. Nineteen of the counties have more than 20 percent of their population represented by people who are 65 years old and above and 7 of the counties have more than 25 percent of their population represented by children 18 years old and younger. An average of nearly 558,000 people received SNAP benefits each month in the counties with one or more participating locations during this reporting period. In May 2023, 40,859 households received SNAP benefits in the zip codes with participating firms (data provided by the Kansas Department of Children and Families and the Missouri Department of Social Services). These households represented 140,976 people. Changes/Problems:Internet/WIFI access continues to be a challenge for rural communities, causing problems with timely reporting, tracking, having machines work for sales, and other operations important for DUFB implementation. Staff turnover at participating locations of all types has also been a continuing challenge. For farmers markets, if the market manager applied for the market's FNS number using their identifying information, and they leave the position, a new market manager has to go through the application process. This transition can be disruptive to the Double Up Food Bucks program at that location. For grocery stores, staff turnover is most challenging for reporting. New store managers have to learn all the reporting systems of the store and for some stores, daily reports need to be saved each day in order to provide data that feeds into the DUFB Monthly Reporting requirements. New store managers also often get confused by data terms that our program asks about that are terms more aligned to farmers market operations. Staff turnover at MARC has also presented a challenge this reporting period. The staff person that had been working with the grocery stores took a different position at MARC in the fall of 2023. A new employee was hired in January 2024. It took a while to train and acclimate the new hire to the processes involved with the program. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The Double Up Heartland Collaborative provides training for all new firms coming onto the program, including information about the forms to be used for data collection, documentation required to be submitted with the forms for payment, and the process and timeline for seeking reimbursement. In addition, the Collaborative partners work with firms to create training materials which include general information about the Double Up Food Bucks incentive and also specific, tailored instructions regarding the implementation of the program. Members of the collaborative have had opportunities to attend workshops, conferences, and trainings related to their role and healthy food incentives in general. These training and professional development events for the staff involved in the collaborative include the following: Missouri Farmers Market Association Conference (February 2024) Kansas Food Action Network Food Advocacy Day USDA NIFA 2023 Community Nutrition Project Director Meeting, K-State University Research & Extension's Local Foods Town Halls Nutrition Incentive & Nutrition Education Community of Practice meeting SW Kansas Hunger Action Summit in Hays, KS Kansas Appleseed Hunger Action Statewide monthly meeting How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?An Annual Status Report 2023 has been created and distributed to the funders which provide match to this USDA grant and to partners who are either actively involved in implementing the Double Up Food Bucks program or who are involved in other efforts to improve the food system in Kansas and Missouri. State specific summary briefs have also been compiled in 2024 to communicate the impact of this program to elected officials and funders in Kansas and Missouri. In addition, each presentation given at conferences or workshops or meetings with community partners includes information about the number of locations offering the program, the amount of Double Up Food Bucks redeemed, and other information. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The Double Up Heartland Collaborative plans to continue implementing the Double Up Food Bucks program at the participating farmers markets, farm stands, mobile markets and grocery stores. The Collaborative will be working to develop a multi-pronged funding plan to sustain the Double Up Heartland program in the future. The Collaborative will continue to meet and discuss ways to improve our processes and awareness of the program.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1 and Objective 2: Between September 1, 2023 and August 31, 2024, the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program COVID Response and Relief (GusCRR) grant continued to support the Double Up Food Bucks program in 18 Kansas and Kansas City metro area grocery stores also supported in part by our 2020 GusNIP grant. The GusCRR funds have also supported 69 additional locations (23 farmers markets and 44 grocery stores) offering the program. Total, 85 locations offered Double Up Food Bucks with support from the GusCRR funding to their customers who receive SNAP. All of the farmers markets supported by this grant are located in Missouri. Of the 62 total grocery stores supported by GusCRR funding in this reporting period, 16 are in Kansas outside of the Kansas City metro area, 2 are in the Kansas City metro area, and 44 are in Missouri. Seven of the farmers markets and four grocery stores were new to the program during this reporting period. At the 85 participating locations during this reporting period, over 933,000 SNAP transactions were made totaling over $37,400,000 in sales. Over $1,105,000 in Double Up Food Bucks were distributed/earned related to those SNAP sales and over $890,000 of DUFB incentives were redeemed, an 81 percent redemption rate. Among the grocery stores, different methods are used to implement the incentive program including loyalty/reward programs, coupons and 50 percent discount models. The stores using the 50 percent discount model had a 100 percent redemption rate. Those stores reported redemptions equaling over $471,000. The stores implementing the program through a coupon had an average redemption rate of 46 percent. During this reporting period those grocery stores collectively redeemed over $141,200 in incentives supported by the GusCRR grant. The grocery stores using a reward/loyalty program to implement the program had redemption rates over 86 percent. Their collective redemptions supported by GusCRR funds for this reporting time equaled nearly $120,000. Locally Grown Produce One of the aims of the Double Up Food Bucks - Heartland program is to support local farmers. The program does this by working with participating locations which sell locally/regionally grown produce. All the produce purchased with Double Up Food Bucks incentives at participating farmers markets is grown locally. In grocery stores, the program works with stores that have committed to offering locally grown produce as a part of their overall produce section at least during the local growing season. Some grocery stores supported by this grant can report how much locally grown product they purchase from local growers (wholesale). Of the stores which were able to report the purchases (either wholesale or retail) of locally grown produce, locally grown produce represented between 1.8 percent to 7.8 percent the total produce purchased. The smaller independent grocer stores generally had a greater percentage of their produce represented by locally grown products compared to the larger, chain grocery stores. Also they offered locally grown products year-round. During this reporting period, a total of 55 different produce items were purchased by grocers from local growers and available to customers for purchase. Together, the participating grocery stores purchased locally grown produce from over 35 different growers. Objective 3: Communicating to SNAP/food assistance participants about the program is key to the success of the Double Up Food Bucks program. During the past year, as people have continued to cope with and recover from the impacts of COVID as well as a challenging economy, program promotion and communication has been important. The following communications activities were implemented: signage at all participating firms, a mailing/text blast campaign directly to SNAP recipients, brochures distributed to community partners in the communities with a participating firm, print advertisements, radio advertisements, social media, streaming advertisements, on-line advertisements, commuter and transit advertisements, and outreach to community partners. Objective 4: The core partners in the Double Up Heartland Collaborative during this reporting period include: Mid-America Regional Council -- grant administration, communications coordination, and grocery store coordination. Cultivate KC -- Kansas City metro area farmers market and farms stand coordination. Kansas State University Research and Extension -- Kansas (outside of KC area) farmers market, farm stand and mobile market coordination. West Central Missouri Community Action Agency -- coordination of farmers market in western Missouri. The University of Missouri Extension - coordination of farmers markets in eastern, central and southern Missouri. University of Kansas Medical Center -- evaluation activities. These core partners have met virtually once a month to discuss communications and outreach opportunities, supply needs, evaluation activities, and the general status of the program. Only Mid-America Regional Council, the University of Missouri Extension, and the University of Kansas Medical Center are supported by the GusCRR funds. The Double Up Heartland Collaborative assists interested and participating firms in four areas: recruitment, capacity building, onboarding and technical assistance. Objective 5: Starting in September 2023 and continuing in the summer of 2024, evaluation activities led by the University of Kansas Medical Center and assisted by evaluator teams in St Louis and Springfield included environmental scans of locations chosen for the sampling plan, intercept surveys of SNAP customers, and interviews with store managers and farmers market managers. The number of customer surveys completed met the goal number of surveys requested by the National Technical Assistance and Evaluation center for the year (150 completed surveys). As of this report, the analysis of the surveys is still in process. At the 85 participating locations during this reporting period, over 933,000 SNAP transactions were made totaling over $37,400,000 in sales. Over $1,105,000 in Double Up Food Bucks were distributed/earned related to those SNAP sales and over $890,000 of DUFB incentives were redeemed, an 81 percent redemption rate. Among the grocery stores, different methods are used to implement the incentive program including loyalty/reward programs, coupons and 50 percent discount models. The stores using the 50 percent discount model had a 100 percent redemption rate. Those stores reported redemptions equaling over $471,000. The stores implementing the program through a coupon had an average redemption rate of 46 percent. During this reporting period those grocery stores collectively redeemed over $141,200 in incentives supported by the GusCRR grant. The grocery stores using a reward/loyalty program to implement the program had redemption rates over 86 percent. Their collective redemptions supported by GusCRR funds for this reporting time equaled nearly $120,000.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
" Valentine, H., Gibson, C.A. Bishop, E., Hamilton, M., Burton, S., Darrah, L., Aligeri Venkata, S.K., Desai, V., Maholland, M. Poster presentation at Nutrition 2024. Impact of a SNAP Nutrition Incentive Program on Farmers Market Vendors. American Society for Nutrition, Chicago, IL. (July 2024).
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Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:The Double Up Food Bucks - Heartland (DUFB) healthy food incentive is a program for people who receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The program is implemented at grocery stores, farmers markets, farm stands and mobile markets in Kansas and Missouri. The participating firms supported by GusNIP COVID Relief and Response funding are in 22 Kansas communities (15 counties) and 60 Missouri communities (37 counties plus the city of St Louis). These communities are in rural, suburban, and urban areas. Eight of the forty-eight counties served have more diverse populations, with greater than 15 percent of their population represented by racial or ethnic minority populations. Nineteen of the counties have more than 20 percent of their population represented by people who are 65 years old and above and 7 of the counties have more than 25 percent of their population represented by children 18 years old and younger. An average of nearly 558,000 people received SNAP benefits each month in the counties with one or more participating locations during this reporting period. In May 2023, 61,778 households received SNAP benefits in the zip codes with participating firms (data provided by the Kansas Department of Children and Families and the Missouri Department of Social Services). These households represented 127,480 people. Changes/Problems:Internet/WIFI access continues to be a challenge for rural communities, causing problems with timely reporting, tracking, having machines work for sales, and other operations important for DUFB implementation. Staff turnover at participating locations of all types has also been a continuing challenge. For farmers markets, if the market manager applied for the market's FNS number using their identifying information, and they leave the position, a new market manager has to go through the application process. This transition can be disruptive to the Double Up Food Bucks program at that location. For grocery stores, staff turnover is most challenging for reporting. New store managers have to learn all the reporting systems of the store and for some stores, daily reports need to be saved each day in order to provide data that feeds into the DUFB Monthly Reporting requirements. New store managers also often get confused by data terms that our program asks about that are terms more aligned to farmers market operations. Staff turnover at MARC has also presented a challenge this reporting period. The staff person that had been working with the grocery stores took a different position at MARC at the end of 2022. A new employee was hired at the end of February. It took a while to train and acclimate the new hire to the processes involved with the program. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The Double Up Heartland Collaborative provides training for all new firms coming onto the program, including information about the forms to be used for data collection, documentation required to be submitted with the forms for payment, and the process and timeline for seeking reimbursement. In addition, the Collaborative partners work with firms to create training materials which include general information about the Double Up Food Bucks incentive and also specific, tailored instructions regarding the implementation of the program. Members of the collaborative have had opportunities to attend workshops, conferences, and trainings related to their role and healthy food incentives in general. These training and professional development events for the staff involved in the collaborative include the following: Missouri Farmers Market Association Conference (February 2023) Nutrition Incentive Hub's Convening (June 2023) Nutrition Incentive & Nutrition Education Community of Practice meeting Economic Impact Calculator Pilot Participation How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?An Annual Status Report 2022 has been created and distributed to the funders which provide match to this USDA grant and to partners who are either actively involved in implementing the Double Up Food Bucks program or who are involved in other efforts to improve the food system in Kansas and Missouri. In addition, each presentation given at conferences or workshops or meetings with community partners includes information about the number of locations offering the program, the amount of Double Up Food Bucks redeemed, and other information. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The Double Up Heartland Collaborative plans to continue implementing the Double Up Food Bucks program at the participating farmers markets, farm stands, mobile markets and grocery stores. Three Springfield, Missouri farmers markets will be joining our program in 2024 and a couple of grocery stores are in the process of onboarding as well. If the budget allows additional new locations, we will add them in the first few months of 2024. Most of our efforts for this last year of the grant will be encouraging promotion of the program at all the locations so that each firm can utilize the existing funding. The Collaborative will continue to meet and discuss ways to improve our processes and awareness of the program.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1 and Objective 2: Between September 1, 2022 and August 31, 2023, the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program COVID Response and Relief (GusCRR) grant continued to allow for the Double Up Food Bucks program to be offered in 29 Kansas and Kansas City metro area grocery stores year round (our original GusNIP grant is able to support a partial year). The GusCRR funds have also supported 69 additional locations (21 farmers markets and 48 grocery stores) offering the program. Total, 99 locations offered Double Up Food Bucks to their customers who receive SNAP. All of the farmers markets (21) supported by this grant are located in Missouri. Of the 78 total grocery stores, 17 are in Kansas outside of the Kansas City metro area, 18 are in the Kansas City metro area and western Missouri, and 43 are in Missouri. Seven of the farmers markets and four grocery stores were new to the program during this reporting period. At the 99 participating locations during this reporting period, over 1,086,000 SNAP transactions were made totaling over $46,700,000 in sales. Nearly $1,359,000 in Double Up Food Bucks were distributed/earned related to those SNAP sales and over $1,147,000 of DUFB incentives were redeemed, an 84 percent redemption rate. Among the grocery stores, different methods are used to implement the incentive program including loyalty/reward programs, coupons and 50 percent discount models. The stores using the 50 percent discount model had a 100 percent redemption rate. Those stores reported redemptions equaling over $526,000. The stores implementing the program through a coupon had an average redemption rates 36 percent. During this reporting period those grocery stores collectively redeemed over $86,600 in incentives supported by the GusCRR grant. The grocery stores using a reward/loyalty program to implement the program had redemption rates over 95 percent. Their collective redemptions supported by GusCRR funds for this reporting time equaled over $495,000. ?Locally Grown Produce One of the aims of the Double Up Food Bucks - Heartland program is to support local farmers. The program does this by working with participating locations which sell locally/regionally grown produce. All the produce purchased with Double Up Food Bucks incentives at participating farmers markets is grown locally. In grocery stores, the program works with stores that have committed to offering locally grown produce as a part of their overall produce section at least during the local growing season. Some grocery stores supported by this grant can report how much locally grown product they purchase from local growers (wholesale). Of the stores which were able to report the purchases (either wholesale or retail) of locally grown produce, the larger chain stores generally had locally grown purchases between 1-5% of their total produce. They also primarily purchased locally grown in August, September and October. Three larger stores (one in eastern Kansas and two in southeastern Missouri) had higher percentages of locally grown product, between 9-25% of their whole produce department, and they offered locally grown product year-round. Five smaller grocery stores in Kansas and Missouri offer between 14-89% of their total produce as locally grown product. During this reporting period, a total of 66 different produce items were purchased by grocers from local growers and available to customers for purchase. Together, the participating grocery stores purchased locally grown produce from 48 different growers from 39 different zip codes in Missouri and Kansas. Objective 3: Communicating to SNAP/food assistance participants about the program is key to the success of the Double Up Food Bucks program. During the past year, as people have continued to cope with and recover from the impacts of COVID as well as a challenging economy, program promotion and communication has been important. The following communications activities were implemented: signage at all participating firms, a mailing/text blast campaign directly to SNAP recipients, brochures distributed to community partners in the communities with a participating firm, print advertisements, radio advertisements, social media, streaming advertisements, on-line advertisements, commuter and transit advertisements, and outreach to community partners. Objective 4: The core partners in the Double Up Heartland Collaborative during this reporting period include: Mid-America Regional Council -- grant administration, communications coordination, and grocery store coordination. Cultivate KC -- Kansas City metro area farmers market and farms stand coordination. Kansas State University Research and Extension -- Kansas (outside of KC area) farmers market, farm stand and mobile market coordination. West Central Missouri Community Action Agency -- coordination of farmers market in western Missouri. The University of Missouri Extension - coordination of farmers markets in eastern, central and southern Missouri. University of Kansas Medical Center -- evaluation activities. These core partners have met virtually once a month to discuss communications and outreach opportunities, supply needs, evaluation activities, and the general status of the program. Only Mid-America Regional Council, the University of Missouri Extension, and the University of Kansas Medical Center are supported by the GusCRR funds. The Double Up Heartland Collaborative assists interested and participating firms in four areas: recruitment, capacity building, onboarding and technical assistance. Objective 5: Starting in September 2022 and continuing in the summer of 2023, evaluation activities led by the University of Kansas Medical Center and assisted by evaluator teams from the University of Missouri and St. Louis University included environmental scans of locations chosen for the sampling plan and intercept surveys of SNAP customers. 103 grocery store environmental scans and 34 farmers market environmental scans were completed. Evaluation activities are continuing into the fall of 2023. Preliminary results from the intercept surveys include the following: 89 intercept surveys completed. 38 (43%) had used DUFB; 51 (57%) were SNAP beneficiaries who had not used DUFB at the time of the survey. Primarily female (75%) respondents. Average age 48 years. Race/ethnicity: American Indian or Alaska Native (3%). Black or African American (15%). Other Pacific Islander (1%) White (80%). Hispanic, Latino/a or Spanish origin (2%). Most survey respondents (62%) have been SNAP beneficiaries for more than one year. About 61% were classified as food insecure (34% low food security, 27% very low food security) 40% indicated fair or poor health. Comments about the DUFB program are generally positive with most indicating that using the program has allowed them to eat more fruits and vegetables and that they would like to see DUFB expanded to additional sites.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
SNAP Customers Who Fail to Use the Nutrition Incentive Program
- Type:
Other
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Market Managers Perspectives on a SNAP Nutrition Incentive Program at Farmers Markets
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Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The Double Up Food Bucks - Heartland (DUFB) healthy food incentive is a program for people who receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The program is implemented at grocery stores, farmers markets, farm stands and mobile markets in Kansas and Missouri. The participating firms supported by GusNIP COVID Relief and Response funding are in 19 Kansas communities (12 counties) and 54 Missouri communities (36 counties). These communities are in rural, suburban, and urban areas. Eight of the forty-eight counties served have more diverse populations, with greater than 15 percent of their population represented by racial or ethnic minority populations. Nineteen of the counties have more than 20 percent of their population represented by people who are 65 years old and above and 7 of the counties have more than 25 percent of their population represented by children 18 years old and younger. An average of nearly 558,000 people received SNAP benefits each month in the counties with one or more participating locations during this reporting period. In May 2022, 54,989 households received SNAP benefits in the zip codes with participating firms (data provided by the Kansas Department of Children and Families and the Missouri Department of Social Services). These households represented 116,038 people. Over 47,000 unique SNAP customers are estimated to have used the Double Up Food Bucks program during this period. With this estimate of the unique SNAP customers participating in the program, the total number of people who are benefitting from the program is likely over 101,000. Changes/Problems:No major changes or problems were experienced requiring a change in approach for the program. In general, limited or intermittent internet/WIFI access presents significant challenges for rural communities, causing problems with timely reporting, tracking, having machines work for sales, and other operations important for DUFB implementation. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?T The Double Up Heartland Collaborative provides training for all new firms coming onto the program, including information about the forms to be used for data collection, documentation required to be submitted with the forms for payment, and the process and timeline for seeking reimbursement. In addition, the Collaborative partners work with firms to create training materials which include general information about the Double Up Food Bucks incentive and also specific, tailored instructions regarding the implementation of the program. Members of the collaborative have had opportunities to attend workshops, conferences, and trainings related to their role and healthy food incentives in general. These training and professional development events for the staff included in the collaborative include the following: The Power of Food Forum: Cultivating equitable policy through collective action. (September 20-22, 2021) Success: Philanthropy in an Era of Social Change (October 28) Nutrition Incentive Hub National Convening (January 18-20, 2022) National Grocer Association Show (February 27 - March 1) National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference (March 15-17) Universities Fighting World Hunger Summit (March 17-18) Humanities and Food: Sustenance & Sustainability in our Communities (April 20-21) How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results from this reporting period are being summarized in an annual progress report document and an evaluation reportwhich will be shared with the private funders of the program as well as community partners or other interested parties.All of the presentations delivered during this past year have included information about the results/impacts of the Double Up Food Bucks- Heartland program thus far. Other ways the awareness about the program and its results have beenshared include the following: DUFB featured in WH Koch's stores weekly circular (Central MO) DUFB featured in Harps stores weekly circular (KC area and southern MO) DUFB featured on the Mid-America Regional Council blog, detailing the program launch event at the Town & Country stores in southern Missouri Program staff participated in an interview about DEIJ efforts with the podcast Real Talks, part of the MSU Center for Regional Food Systems An article about the Double Up Food Bucks Heartland program published in FEAST magazine, a publication related to The St Louis Post Dispatch Food Safety Specialist and Principal Investigator for DUFB for University of Missouri Extension Dr. Londa Nwadike released a Press Release announcing the program and MU Extension's new role on the GusCRR grant. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The Double Up Heartland Collaborative will continue to implement the Double Up Food Bucks incentive program at firms already participating in the program. The Collaborative is working with additional firms to bring them onto the program during the next reporting period. In addition, the Collaborative will build on the diversity, equity and inclusion work that has been started. The Collaborative will also seek ways to learn about challenges and barriers experienced by SNAP recipients trying to use the program.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1 and Objective 2: Between September 1, 2021 and August 31, 2022, the portion of the Double Up Food Bucks - Heartland program supported by the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program COVID Response and Relief (GusCRR) grant expanded the number of months 29 Kansas and Kansas City metro area grocery stores could offer the program to their SNAP customers. The GusCRR funds also have been used to bring 57 new locations (14 farmers markets and 43 grocery stores) onto the program in Missouri. The addition of the new locations substantially increased the geographic scope of the Double Up Food Bucks - Heartland program. At the eighty-six participating locations during this reporting period, over 538,000 SNAP transactions were made totaling over $25,600,000 in sales. Nearly $731,000 in Double Up Food Bucks were distributed/earned related to those SNAP sales and nearly $540,000 of DUFB incentives were redeemed, a 74 percent redemption rate. Among the grocery stores, different methods are used to implement the incentive program including loyalty/reward programs, coupons and 50 percent discount models. The stores using the 50 percent discount model had a 100 percent redemption rate. Those stores reported redemptions equaling nearly $164,000. The stores implementing the program through a coupon had redemption rates between 24 and 29 percent. During this reporting period those grocery stores collectively redeemed over $54,000 in incentives supported by the GusCRR grant. The grocery stores using a reward/loyalty program to implement the program had redemption rates over 80 percent. Their collective redemptions supported by GusCRR funds for this reporting time equaled over $310,000. One of the aims of the Double Up Food Bucks - Heartland program is to support local farmers. The program does this by working with participating locations which sell locally/regionally grown produce. All the produce purchased with Double Up Food Bucks incentives at participating farmers markets is grown locally. In grocery stores, the program works with stores that have committed to offering locally grown produce as a part of their overall produce section. Some grocery stores supported by this grant can report how much locally grown product they purchase from local growers (wholesale). Since almost all the grocery stores started in 2022 most of the data regarding local produce is from May through August 2022. In October 2021, one store reported purchasing over 72 percent of its produce from local growers. This store is a small co-op which typically purchases very high percentages of its produce locally. Between May through August 2022, over 40 more grocery stores reported their wholesale purchases for locally grown produce which ranged from 1.9 percent (May) to just over 6 percent (July). For all the months reported, over 4 percent of produce purchased by the stores was locally grown. During this reporting period, a total of 61 different produce items were purchased by grocers from local growers and available to customers for purchase. Together, the participating grocery stores purchased locally grown produce from 37 different growers. Objective 3: Communicating to SNAP/food assistance participants about the program is key to the success of the Double Up Food Bucks program. During the past year, as people have continued to cope with and recover from the impacts of COVID as well as a challenging economy, program promotion and communication has been important. The following communications activities were implemented: signage at all participating firms, a mailing/text blast campaign directly to SNAP recipients, brochures distributed to community partners in the communities with a participating firm, print advertisements, radio advertisements, social media, streaming advertisements, on-line advertisements, commuter and transit advertisements, and outreach to community partners. Objective 4: The core partners in the Double Up Heartland Collaborative during this reporting period include: Mid-America Regional Council -- grant administration, communications coordination, and grocery store coordination. Cultivate KC -- Kansas City metro area farmers market and farms stand coordination. Kansas State University Research and Extension -- Kansas (outside of KC area) farmers market, farm stand and mobile market coordination. West Central Missouri Community Action Agency -- coordination of farmers market in western Missouri. The University of Missouri Extension - coordination of farmers markets in eastern, central and southern Missouri. University of Kansas Medical Center -- evaluation activities. These core partners have met once a month virtually to discuss communications and outreach opportunities, supply needs, evaluation activities, and the general status of the program. Only Mid-America Regional Council, the University of Missouri Extension, and the University of Kansas Medical Center are supported by the GusCRR funds. The collaborative of partners has continued to build on and improve the resources that have been developed for the program over the last five years. Work included: Maintaining a diversity, equity and inclusion subcommittee with representation from three of the partnering organizations. The subcommittee developed a work plan for 2022 which has been implemented throughout the reporting period Continued to utilize new technologies to streamline reporting and improve Collaborative communication. The Double Up Heartland Collaborative assists interested and participating firms in four areas: recruitment, capacity building, onboarding and technical assistance. Objective 5: Starting in the summer of 2022, evaluation activities led by the University of Kansas Medical Center and assisted by evaluator teams from the University of Missouri and St. Louis University included environmental scans of locations chosen for the sampling plan and intercept surveys of SNAP customers. 111 grocery store environmental scans and 23 farmers market environmental scans were completed. Evaluation activities are continuing into the fall of 2022. Preliminary results from the intercept surveys include the following: 115 intercept surveys completed 56 (49 percent) have used DUFB; 59 were SNAP beneficiaries who have not used DUFB. Primarily female (90 percent) respondents. Average age 47 years. Race/ethnicity: White (74 percent). Black or African American (19 percent). American Indian or Alaska Native (6 percent). Asian (1 percent). 6 percent of Hispanic, Latino/a or Spanish origin. Most survey respondents (80 percent) have been SNAP beneficiaries for more than one year. About 66 percent were classified as food insecure (30 percent low food security, 36 percent very low food security) 45 percent indicated fair or poor health. Comments about the DUFB program are generally positive with most indicating that using the program has allowed them to eat more fruits and vegetables and that they would like to see DUFB expanded to additional sites.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Valentine, H., Mercier, R., Gibson, C. A qualitative analysis of a SNAP nutrition incentive programs impact on eating habits and self-perceived health. Poster presented at: American Public Health Association National Conference, Food and Nutrition program. 2022, Nov 6-9; Boston, MA.
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