Progress 07/01/22 to 06/30/23
Outputs
Target Audience:PNV reached several thousand people during the reporting period, of whom the majority were Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) Southeastern San Diego residents. In particular, The People's Produce Mobile Farmers Market (MFM), which was planned and launched during the project period surveyed 2,302 customers who were 2.1% American-Indian/Alaskan Native, 14% Asian, 27.4% Black/African-American, .3% Middle Eastern, .7% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 19.5% of Spanish origin; 8.7% mixed race, and 6.5% other. 38.1% of customers surveyed reported that they were Hispanic. Only 3.3% of customers surveyed reported being under 18 years of age; 9.7% were 18-25, 13.7% were 26-33, 14.4% were 34-41, 12.3% were 42-49, and 1,047 were age 50 or older. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In addition to publicizing its activities via hundreds of Instagram posts, dozens of posters, and on PNV's website www.projectnewvillage.org, PNV shared its activities with the 15 residents who comprise its Community Table, an advisory group that provides community input into all of PNV's projects. PNV developed a PowerPoint presentation, or pitch deck providing information on plans for the The Village Community Food Hub, as well as a Business Plan for The Village Community Food Hub as part of our participation in Alliance Healthcare Foundation's Innovation Initiative (i2) grant competition. Copies of both the Pitch deck and Business Plan are available upon request. On April 2, 2023 local newstation NBC 7/39 aired a story on The People's Produce Mobile Farmers Market available at: https://www.nbcsandiego.com/in-your-neighborhood/project-new-village-sdsu-fight-food-insecurity-with-the-peoples-produce-a-mobile-farmers-market/3194584/#:~:text=In%20 October%202022%2C%20it%20 launched,within%20the%20Good%20Food%20District. 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: Plan for the optimization of MFM services to increase food security and alleviate food shopping constraints. PNV convened monthly Zoom meetings with nonprofit site partners (Thrive Lemon Grove, Mundo Gardens, Second Chance) for The People's Produce Mobile Farmers Market (MFM) to develop a weekly schedule for the program as well as plan the delivery of nutrition information sessions and administration of customer surveys with the assistance of nutrition and dietetics students from San Diego State University (SDSU). Between July and December 2022, PNV also held twice weekly, 1-hour Zoom meetings to plan the launch of MFM services, including: 1) learning about residents' needs and desires by developing specific questions; 2) operationalizing the MFM to make sales, including obtaining a Square point-of-sale device and receipt printer, required city and health permits/inspections; and 3) marketing the MFM. During August and September 2022 PNV conducted three outreach events after Sunday services at Bayview Baptist Church during which produce from the Mt. Hope Community Garden was sold and customers were questioned about what types of fruits and vegetables they wanted to buy. PNV developed purchasing relationships with a number of local farms and obtained authorization to accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits payments. In October 2022, PNV launched operations as of the MFM at the following sites: Mt. Hope Community Garden (92102 zip code), hosted by PNV weekly on Wednesdays, 11am-1pm Treganza Park (91945 zip code), hosted by THRIVE Lemon Grove, weekly on Thursdays, 4-7pm National City (91950 zip code), hosted by Mundo Gardens, weekly on Saturdays at Vision Culture Foundation 11am-2pm Second Chance Youth Garden (92114 zip code), initially weekly on Fridays, but now monthly on the third Friday of the month 3pm - 5pm "Four Corners of Life" (Intersection of Euclid Ave & Imperial Ave) (92114 zip code) , hosted by PNV - weekly Fridays 12pm-2pm San Diego College of Continuing Education (92113 zip code), weekly Thursdays 9am - 11am Joe & Vi Jacobs Center (92114 zip code), monthly the third Saturday of the month Champions for Health began providing COVID and flu vaccines once each month at MFM project sites. In November, PNV launched weekly Food Sharing Day; any produce that wasn't sold by the MFM the previous week is given away to the community on Tuesday. Goal 2: Promote access to healthy, locally-grown food amongst food-insecure populations via the MFM through innovative marketing materials and expanded partnerships. PNV's Marketing Consultant developed numerous campaigns and developed two Ideal Customer Profiles focused on where customers live, where they shop, and their financial situations. The Know Your Farmer Campaign put a face and name to a product, to reinforce the importance of buying locally-grown produce. PNV website and Instagram posts highlighted MFM partner farms, including: Sage Mountain Farms, San Gabriel Ranch, and Stehly Farm Organics. Weekly flyers and Instagram posts developed to promote the MFM can be viewed at: Project New Village (@projectnewvillage) • Instagram photos and videos. PNV also printed thousands of fliers promoting the MFM, some of which were also in Spanish, that were distributed through our partners and directly to the community during the grant term. PNV executed an Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) campaign through which fliers containing coupons redeemable for produce, which were funded by another grant, were mailed directly to area residents. PNV met with Federally Qualified Health Center partners, including San Ysidro Health, Family Health Centers, La Maestra as well as Champions for Health, Multicultural Health Foundation, and the PACE program. The consensus was that PNV should work to identify grant or sponsorship-funded subsidies, such as produce prescriptions with coupons to facilitate referral of clinic patients to the MFM. ? During the grant term, PNV secured $445,000 in grant funding to operate the MFM, including a $2,500 grant from Verizon Wireless, a 1-year $192,000 grant from UC San Diego's Center for Community Health, and a 3-year $250,000 grant from the USDA Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP). Goal 3: Support the long-term food sovereignty of the San Diego Promise Zone through planning of the Community Food Hub. Preliminary architectural renderings of The Village community food hub were shared at PNV's community breakfast on Saturday, August 27, 2022, attended by 15 residents who were asked to provide input on the use of space at the hub. PNV then broughtfour hub layoutscenarios to the Community Table, and after much deliberation, theyrecommended proceeding with the hub as a 2-story 12,000 square foot commercial building that includes multiple food chain uses (production, distribution, retail) realized via a grocery store, shared commercial kitchen, cold storage, prepared food vendor stalls, and health-focused office space, surrounded by a community garden & gathering spaces. PNV received a $1 million grant from Alliance Healthcare Foundation through their Innovation Initiative (i2) for the hub, which we are now using to complete pre-development work. Architecture group MW Steele is developing architectural plans for the hub. PNV is also receiving free architectural technical assistance from the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Services' Markets Facility Design Team, which has experience assisting entities with designing grocery stores and community food hubs. PNV isusing some of the $1 million grant to contract with Angel City Advisors to help move the project forward. They developed a project tear sheet and completed an analysis of area food businesses to identify gaps and opportunities for market development. PNV surveyed 25 local food businesses to gauge their interest in occupying hub space. PNV received a $200,000 grant via The Reinvestment Fund-administered Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI). This, with an anonymous $300,000 donation and many smaller donations enabled PNV to purchase of the land under the hub, which PNV now owns free-and-clear. PNV applied with 13 other co-applicants for a $29M a California Strategic Growth Council Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) grant. PNV will learn in December 2023 whether our request to use $2.5M in TCC funding to construct the hub is approved. Goal 4: Improve food distribution within the GSESD area by planning for new linkages between local growers and food businesses. Produce sold via the MFM is sourced directly from PNV's Mt. Hope Community Garden, neighborhood growers, local farmers, and other food justice-aligned suppliers. In addition to surveying 25 local businesses and establishing relationships with local farms for the MFM,PNV also began facilitating a Growers' Collective at the Mt. Hope Community Garden on the second Saturday of each month to cultivate neighborhood growers for the MFM and eventually for thehub. PNV was also selected to participate in the San Diego Food System Alliance's inaugural Pollinator Program to inform decisions about how to operate the hub's onsite grocery store. Goal 5: Develop Evaluation Plan & Begin Tracking Data PNV contracted with Amanda McClain, PhD, to develop the MFM survey, evaluate project data, and prepare the submission to SDSU's IRB Review Board. Dr. McClain also began having students in her SDSU Community Nutrition class gain field experience by developing nutritional health literacy materials specific to MFM offerings (e.g., spinach, winter squash, citrus, collard greens, etc.) and administering a brief, 5-minute survey. Nineteen (19) students worked on the project. The MFM served thousands of customers, and after the project received IRB-approval, gathered non-identifying demographic data from 2,302 MFM customers as detailed under the Target Population section.
Publications
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