Recipient Organization
YOLO, COUNTY OF
625 COURT ST STE 102
WOODLAND,CA 95695
Performing Department
Service Centers Branch
Non Technical Summary
Many studies have shown that there is a relationship between income and obesity ultimately contributing to poorer health outcomes for low-income households in communities all over America. A barrier low-income households face that inadvertently contribute to these outcomes, which this project aims to remove, is effective nutrition and healthy eating education coupled with an easy and accessible incentive to turn that education into affordable practice. The health of low-income households directly impacts overall community health, well-being, and residents' quality of life. Furthermore, the implications are enormous when considering the potential impact to our healthcare industry should this and all similar future efforts successfully contribute to healthier eating habits thereby decreasing occurrences of dietary-related illnesses and diseases.The Bonus Bucks program will specifically target Yolo County households participating in SNAP, households already determined by program guidelines to be under 130% of the federal poverty level. The project will be administered by Yolo County's Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA), an integrated agency with an overarching goal of providing comprehensive services around the individual, ensuring residents are healthy, safe and economically stable. Bonus Bucks leverages both financial and non-financial support from Public Health and the private sector, partners with a shared goal of improving the health of the community by increasing access to nutritional foods for low-income households. The program will provide health and nutrition education along with a financial incentive to increase participants' purchase of qualifying food and vegetable products. All SNAP households in the county will have the opportunity to redeem incentives at participating retailers with a Bonus Bucks card which will give a 50% discount off qualifying products when purchased with SNAP benefits. For the consumer, this incentive will be realized immediately at the point of sale. At regular intervals throughout the course of the project, surveys will be completed to assess the overall effectiveness of outreach, education efforts, and availability of incentives to make healthy options more affordable. It is anticipated that SNAP households participating in this project, when educated and incentivized, will increase their purchase and consumption of fruits and vegetables.
Animal Health Component
10%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
80%
Applied
10%
Developmental
10%
Goals / Objectives
The Yolo Bonus Bucks program's primary goal is to test innovative, promising, and scalable strategies to increase the purchase and consumption of fruits and vegetables in low-income households, a goal that at the same time helps to increase food access for residents of Yolo County. It is our hope that project outcomes can inform future efforts on the issue. Program objectives are:To increase the purchase and consumption of fruits and vegetables for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) households residing in Yolo County by providing a discount incentive, to be redeemed at point of sale. Incentivized foods will be fresh, canned, dried and frozen fruits and vegetables without any added sugar, salt, fats and oils. Making healthier food options more affordable to low-income households participating in SNAP with incentives that can be immediately realized is fundamental to our project.To increase residents' understanding of important health/nutrition information while building awareness of the Bonus Bucks program to as much SNAP participants as possible. Our project will launch outreach efforts aimed at reaching SNAP households in Yolo County at every feasible avenue to ensure the best possible participation in the program.
Project Methods
The project will launch with a mailer to all SNAP households in Yolo County. This correspondence will include information about the project goal, health and nutrition education information emphasizing the importance of eating fruits and vegetables, information on where and how to redeem incentives and have a Bonus Bucks discount card attached. Ongoing, Yolo County's Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA), retailers, and community partners will market and educate SNAP participants of the project and provide outreach materials in person, over the telephone, and online. Bonus Bucks cards will be issued to newly approved SNAP households weekly and be available for replacement should cards get lost or damaged. At approved retailer locations, SNAP participants can redeem incentives immediately at the point of sale by using SNAP benefits along with the Bonus Bucks discount card.Nutrition education in combination with financial incentives are intended to encourage SNAP participants to increase their purchase and consumption of fruit and vegetable products. Annual surveys will be sent to SNAP households to collect data on their awareness of the project, use of incentives, and changes in habits surrounding purchase and consumption of fruits and vegetables due to the availability of incentives. Specifically, the project will be looking at whether the outreach efforts utilized were successful in reaching and educating the target audience and whether the immediate availability of incentives resulted in the subjects' increased purchase and consumption of fruits and vegetables, as per the project's objectives and expected outcomes. Collection and analysis of the survey responses, particularly in the areas of outreach, awareness, education, and point of sale incentive availability can help to inform future efforts that are focused on increasing nutritional foods intake and improving health outcomes of low-income households.