Real Food Safety Net Solution for People Who Need It

One of the essential aspects of Collective Roots' work is bringing real food to real people.

Assuring that real people have no trouble accessing healthy food is one aspect of what is referred to in social service jargon as "the safety net." This safety net is a tenuous network that is supported by service providers and services designed to assure that the poorest in our midst do not fall through the cracks of our social service system and suffer needlessly.

You may not be surprised to learn that this safety net is under considerable stress given current economic conditions. The headline of a recent article in the New York Times reads "Safety Net is Fraying for the Very Poor." The article highlights a study that reveals the fact that safety net programs such as Social Security and Food Stamps have been effective in pulling growing numbers of Americans out of poverty since the mid-1990s, but also notes that these programs are not reaching many of the most desperately poor, mainly nonworking families with children.

The current economic situation is eroding the safety net's ability to reach the poorest people in America; this erosion began prior to the current recession and is expected to worsen. The article and the study it highlights by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities emphasize the need for "expanding and modernizing the social safety net." Another article in the Wall Street Journal highlights the recent boost in food stamp funding.

Collective Roots is making progress in serving as an innovator in reinforcing the safety net and was recently awarded $15,000 of funding by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and the County of San Mateo to implement East Palo Alto (EPA) Fresh Checks, a program that increases the purchasing power of vulnerable low-income people whose access to fresh fruits and vegetables may be limited.  Thanks to this new funding, each person who purchases $5 of produce at the East Palo Alto Community Farmers' Market using an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card (food stamps), or who pays with WIC or Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) checks, will be eligible to receive one matching $5 EPA Fresh Check each market day to purchase additional produce. 

The State of California currently provides San Mateo County with Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) checks to be distributed at WIC Clinics and senior citizen programs, however they amount to only between $10 and $50 per year, hardly sufficient to provide adequate fresh produce throughout the year. EPA Fresh Checks will fill this gap by continuing to provide $5 EPA Fresh Checks to WIC Program and Senior FMNP participants who have exhausted their FMNP benefits, and to food stamp households whose monthly benefits often prohibit the purchase of sufficient quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables. The WIC Clinic in East Palo Alto will also directly distribute EPA Fresh Checks in the clinical setting to ensure maximum redemption.  

The EPA Fresh Checks program will also reach out to food insecure residents who are outside the government safety-net by providing EPA Fresh Checks to our community partner agencies, including the Ravenswood Family Health Center, Ecumenical Hunger Program, and El Concilio. Each of our partner agencies has committed to distributing EPA Fresh Checks to their clients most in need. 

EPA Fresh Checks is based on a proven model which has been used successfully in New York City since 2005, and resulted in a nearly 90% redemption rate for those distributed to EBT recipients at the market site.   Successful Fresh Checks programs have also been implemented in upstate New York, Maryland, Massachusetts, and most recently in San Diego, California-many in mixed income and ethnic communities like East Palo Alto.

Seed funding for this project came from the Brin Family Foundation and has been used to design the first round of EPA Fresh Checks for distribution at the market site, on a limited basis, to community agency partners, to ensure that the program is ready to promptly roll out upon the receipt of additional funding. Other foundations are considering this unique approach to strengthening the safety net.