Multiplying fresh food buying power for low-income shoppers

The Washington City Paper declared it a way to loosen the “yuppie stranglehold” at farmers markets. The Washington Post titled it “a fresh break for the needy.”  The Crossroads Farmers Market christened theirs coupons that come with "Fresh Checks," and around FRESHFARM Markets, they’re known as “double dollars.”

However you label them, initiatives to increase low-income patrons’ buying power at farmers markets have set the community buzzing lately—and sent more produce home with people who need it.

At FRESHFARMS’ H Street NE and Silver Spring markets, a program matches money spent from these supplemental nutrition programs dollar for dollar. At the Crossroads, all individuals or families who exchange government food assistance credits for "Fresh Checks" to use at the market qualify for a $5 token for more fresh food. At all three markets, the offer is good for anyone using government-provided Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) stamps, Women and Infant Coupons (a.k.a. WIC) or coupons from the Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program.

“From the outset, a primary object of the market was to increase access to fresh, local produce within a limited-resource community (specifically the Takoma/Langley Crossroads),” said Michelle Levy, a Crossroads market manager, in an email. When patrons enter the market, the first table they pass is the one that handles SNAP questions, processes electronic balance transfer coupons, and gives out the Fresh Check vouchers. The program that provides the $5 boost--or $10 to patrons the first time they stop by the market--is one more step following the major leap that brought fresh local produce to the Crossroads area in 2007.

The Crossroads market draws its funding from a combination of sources, including the City of Takoma Park, the Takoma/Langley Crossroads Development Authority, the Wallace Genetic Foundation, the National Watermelon Promotion Board, and the Wholesome Wave Foundation.

Funding for the program at the FRESHFARM Markets also comes from the Wholesome Wave Foundation, which sponsors similar programs in other parts of the country, with additional support pending to expand the offerings. “This grant is greatly significant to FRESHFARM Markets as it provides us with an opportunity to provide additional benefits to residents who might not normally shop at our markets,” said Bernadine Prince, co-director of FRESHFARM Markets, according to a press release.

At the Crossroads market, the initial support has sustained the program so far, but cannot cover it for long. Levy saw a three-fold increase in Fresh Checks distributed this June, compared to the same month last year, and the managers are actively seeing more funding to keep up with the demand.

While providing more food each week is a boon, Prince said in the release, the initiative goes beyond that. “National research has shown that people who have access to affordable, healthy food from the markets will continue to shop there,” Prince said, once they see how the benefits add up.

More information:
The Crossroads Farmers Market, at New Hampshire Avenue and Holton Lane in Takoma Park, is open Wednesdays from 3 to 7 p.m. through October 28.

The H Street NE FRESHFARM Market, at 625 H St. NE (across from the H Street Self Storage) is open on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon through November 21, and the Silver Spring FRESHFARM Market, on the pedestrian mall on Ellsworth Drive, is also open Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. May through December 19.

Photo: Crossroads Farmers Market staff show the "wooden nickels" and other methods of payment on a recent market day. Picture by the author.