By Kristen Houska, MS, Extension Educator, Lancaster Co.
Choose Healthy Here and Double Up Food Bucks are both statewide programs offered by Nebraska Extension with the help of program partners. Major partners who have given resources for these healthy programs to be carried out through Nebraska Extension are the Department of Health and Human Services, Community Health Endowment, Department of Agriculture, CHI Health and Children’s Center for the Child and Community.
Both Choose Healthy Here and Double Up Food Bucks are carried out by Extension’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) and Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) staff in Lincoln. SNAP-Ed and EFNEP staff help families and individuals on a limited budget make healthier food choices and choose physically active lifestyles by acquiring the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behavior changes necessary to improve their health. These programs aim to create healthy environments through policy, system and environmental changes for Lincoln residents by giving equitable access to healthy foods.
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CHOOSE HEALTHY HERE
Choose Healthy Here’s mission is to increase access to affordable, nutritious and safe foods while contributing to the viability of food retailers in high-need areas. Through smart marketing, nutrition education and careful evaluation, Choose Healthy Here increases both the supply and demand of healthful foods while decreasing the demand and supply of less healthful foods in Nebraska communities.
HOW DOES CHOOSE HEALTHY HERE WORK?
Extension’s Nutrition Education Program (NEP) staff work with participating convenience and grocery stores to follow the four categories of the statewide Choose Healthy Here program, which address the supply and demand of nutritious foods:
Find — Can I physically find healthful foods? All people deserve access to all five healthy food groups. NEP staff target stores in neighborhoods which have a low vehicle ownership according to Community Health Endowment of Lincoln Place Matters maps. These residents rely on their neighborhood convenience or grocery stores for their shopping needs.
Afford — Are healthy foods economical for me? Participation by the Lincoln community in nutrition programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) contributes to the affordability of healthy foods by our community members and increases buying power of neighborhood stores for healthy items, contributing to a better local economy.
Choose — Does the community culture encourage healthful foods? Stores that promote fresh, healthy foods create excitement and promote healthy habits which help to contribute to the store’s sustainability.
• NEP staff help promote healthy foods through Choose Healthy Here signage and prominent product placement.
• NEP staff work with store staff to display healthy foods in ways which make them appealing to the customer and also easy to locate with ‘Great Choice’ stickers on select items.
Use — Do I have the knowledge and skills to prepare healthy foods? Healthy store events — such as food preparation demonstrations presented by NEP staff — provide customers with the opportunity to try new, healthful foods while increasing demand for those foods.
WHERE CAN I FIND PARTICIPATING LOCATIONS?
• U-Stop locations: 33rd and Superior; 21st and K
• Stop ’N Shop locations: 48th and Randolph; 16th and Old Cheney
• Sun Grocery
• Amin’s Kitchen
COMMUNITY IMPACT
Chad Wollan, chief operating officer for Whitehead Oil Company, which owns the U-Stop stores, says, “We are experimenting, trying different things. Consumers say they want healthy options. The challenge is finding exactly what healthy choices they will buy.”
Andrea Koopman, Marketing Manager for Stop ’N Shop, says, “We love that we can offer better-for-you options for our health-conscious customers. This program has allowed us to brand those items and make them easier to locate throughout our stores. Customers are pleasantly surprised when they see our better-for-you options and variety.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
• Learn more about the statewide Choose Healthy Here program at
https://food.unl.edu/CHH.
• To become a participating retailer, go to the above website or contact Kristen Houska at 402-441-7180 or khouska2@unl.edu.
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DOUBLE UP FOOD BUCKS
Double Up Food Bucks is a way for SNAP participants to stretch their food dollars and buy more fruits and vegetables. Double Up Food Bucks was created to provide community members with more fresh, local produce and to support local farmers.
HOW DOES DOUBLE UP FOOD BUCKS WORK?
Nutrition Education Program (NEP) staff administer the program by working with farmers market and grocery store managers to promote the program and give participants vouchers. Staff also give healthy food samples at each participating location.
At participating grocery store locations, when a SNAP customer pays for fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs with their SNAP Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card, they will be given Double Up Food Bucks vouchers for fresh produce FREE — up to $20 — to spend that day or on a future visit.
At participating farmers market locations, when a SNAP customer purchases SNAP-eligible items, they will be given FREE Double Up Food Bucks vouchers to spend on fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs — up to $20 per market day.
Vouchers from the farmers market locations can be used at the grocery store locations and vice versa. Food Bucks are good through May 31, 2021.
WHERE CAN I FIND PARTICIPATING LOCATIONS?
The following grocery store locations are open year-round.
• Leon’s Gourmet Grocer, 2200 Winthrop Road.
• Open Harvest Co-op Grocery, 1618 South St.
The following farmers markets are open only during market season. For information on when they will open for 2019, please visit their websites or Facebook pages.
• Sunday Farmers’ Market at College View, 48th Street and Prescott Avenue.
• Fallbrook Farmers Market, 570 Fallbrook Blvd.
• Community Crops Veggie Van, location TBA.
COMMUNITY IMPACT
From 2017 to 2018, there was a 564 percent increase in families using Double Up Food Bucks (locations in Lincoln, Omaha and Beatrice).
In 2018, the participating farmers market locations saw an average of $32 spent by SNAP customers utilizing their SNAP and Double Up Food Bucks dollars together, a 51 percent increase from $21 in 2016.
Open Harvest was new to Double Up Food Bucks in 2018. From 2017, they saw a 35 percent increase in total SNAP EBT sales and a 15 percent increase in fresh produce SNAP EBT sales.
Amy Tabor, Open Harvest General Manager, says, “When this program started, they gave away about $4,000 in vouchers. Between last year in 2018 and to 2019 so far, just at Open Harvest, we’ve been able to distribute almost $9,000 in these vouchers.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
• Learn more about the Double Up Food Bucks program at https://food.unl.edu/DoubleUp.
• To become a participating retailer, go to the above website or contact Kristen Houska at 402-441-7180 or khouska2@unl.edu.
• To help support this program, go to https://food.unl.edu/DoubleUp