Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/16

Outputs
Target Audience:The Map the Meal Gap 2015, from Feeding America's Hunger in America Study, estimates there are 245,480 food insecure residents living in Sacramento County and 156,260 food insecure individuals living in Sacramento's urban core. As the primary Food Bank serving all of Sacramento County, SFBFS serves families and individuals throughout Sacramento County. However, zip codes 95815, 95817, 95820, 95824, 95832 and 95838, respectively North Sacramento, Oak Park, Central Sacramento, South Sacramento, Florin/Meadowview and Del Paso Heights, are the neighborhoods where the majority of the 156,260 food insecure reside. 100% of the families and individuals served are low-income and experience some of the most-extreme rates of poverty in Sacramento and California, as determined by recent U.S. Census Bureau data: North Sacramento - 44.2% Oak Park -- 41.6% Central Sacramento - 34.9% South Sacramento - 44.7% Florin/Meadowview - 56.4% Del Paso Heights - 41.5% These deep-rooted, multi-generational levels of poverty go hand-in-hand with high levels of food insecurity. Consequently, most of these families, men, women and children do not have the resources they need to support healthy diets for themselves and their families - a distressing dichotomy in the most productive agricultural region in the world. This population in Sacramento's urban core is ethnically diverse, consisting of approximately 35% Caucasian, 25% Hispanic, 25% African-American, 10% Asian and 5% Native-American/Pacific Islander or other. A typical family is a single mother with two to three children with no adult male in the home. Gender is 55% female, 45% male. Age breakdown is approximately 47% adults other than seniors, 45% children, 8% seniors, with an estimated 3% of the adults identified as veterans. 55% have received a high school diploma and 32% have never finished high school. Through its 225+ partner agencies, SFBFS presently (November 2016) distributes 1.5 million pounds of fresh produce and healthy staples every month to nearly 130,000 unduplicated men, women and children, representing 53% of all food insecure individuals in Sacramento County and 83% of all food insecure individuals in the City of Sacramento. Changes/Problems:On September 15, 2014, USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture notified SFBFS that it would receive a multi-year $300,000 grant, allocated over three federal fiscal years. $125,000 for each of the first two fiscal years beginning on September 1, 2014 and 2015 and $50,000 for the final fiscal year, beginning September 1, 2016. Subsequent to that award and long after Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services (SFBFS) submitted its grant application, Senior Gleaners, Inc. (SGI), the largest food provided in Sacramento County, merged with SFBFS on December 15, 2014, with SFBFS absorbing SGI's facilities, staff, vehicles, administrative and operational functions and its 150+ partner agencies in its food distribution network. With this merger, SFBFS has gone from providing 5.8 million pounds of food annually, feeding 30,000+ people per month (when grant was originally submitted), to providing 18 million pounds of food annually, feeding nearly 130,000 people per month (current rate in November 2016). SFBFS now has 225+ partner agencies that operate food pantries and food closets, or provide food to subsidized housing complexes, senior villages and senior centers. SFBFS continues to study local demographics to identify neighborhoods that are characterized as food deserts that could become mini-hubs from which an existing or newly designated partner agency could distribute fresh produce to smaller partner agencies. This would reduce travel time and expenses for the cooperating partners, allowing them to better utilize their resources to feed more people. The completion of the Sacramento County emergency food distribution assessment will provide a framework to accomplish this objective. On June 17, 2015, in a letter to Dr. Jane Clary, SFBFS formally requested a reprogramming of the USDA/NIFA grant funds for cold storage and infrastructure upgrades to the former SGI facility. Although this is no longer a renovation, it is similar in scope (capacity building and infrastructure support) to what SFBFS proposed for the Arata Brothers building in its original grant request. Included with this letter was a revised budget and line item narrative outlining SFBFS' revised expenditure plan. On July 28, 2015, Adam Anderson, USDA/NIFA Grants and Agreements Specialist, notified Blake Young, SFBFS President/CEO, that SFBFS' request for reprogramming of funds was approved and that the funds had been forwarded to ASAP (Automated Standard Application for Payment) for release. On August 26, 2015, SFBFS received the USDA/NIFA Award Face Sheet authorizing SFBFS to draw down the funds for infrastructure improvements in accordance with the revised budget. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?[Training activities are those in which individuals with advanced professional skills and experience assist others in attaining greater proficiency. Training activities may include, for example, courses or one-on-one work with a mentor.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ SFBFS passed all operational and administrative requirements, including financial audits, to become a Feeding America Partner Distribution Organization (PDO). As a PDO, SFBFS is now responsible for ensuring its 225+ partner agencies are in full compliance with USDA and Feeding America food safety regulations, data collection and reporting requirements. One of the food safety regulations is a requirement for all partner agencies to have at least one certified ServSafe® (or equivalent) food handler employee or volunteer, who is involved in the preparation, storage or service of food. SFBFS' Agency Relations Manager, Rosie Cerna, is a highly qualified food safety expert with the following credentials: Master's Degree in Public Health. Bachelor's Degree in Organizational Behavior. 15 years as a certified food safety instructor for National Registry of Food Safety Professionals and ServeSafe®. 11 years' experience as an Environmental Health and Safety Engineer, LevelIV. 10 years as a board certified food safety professional through the National Environmental Health Association. Through Rosie's training programs, all partner agency food handlers now have ServeSafe® certifications and all SFBFS food handling employees have had ServeSafe training and certifications. Rosie also conducted two of the workshops during the Partner Agency Training Conference in July, 2016: Building a Healthy Food Pantry Food Safety Review --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Professional development activities result in increased knowledge or skill in one's area of expertise and may include workshops, conferences, seminars, study groups, and individual study. Include participation in conferences, workshops, and seminars not listed under major activities. If the research is not intended to provide training and professional development opportunities or there is nothing significant to report during this reporting period, click the "nothing to report" box. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The professional development of SFBFS Food Bank employees and senior staff continues to be a very high priority. Among the many activities SFBFS participated in for which best practices and shared experiences among national food system leaders promoted professional growth were: Attending several California Association of Food Banks forums Attended Closing the Hunger Gap symposium in Portland, OR. SFBFS' Director of Food Bank Services, Erik Kintzel (Project Director) attended the USDA / NIFA conference in Washington, D.C. Other food banks that were visited to share best practices were Alameda County Community Food Bank and Redwood Empire Food Bank in California, the Atlanta Community Food Bank in Georgia and Philabundance, which serves 90,000 hungry men, women and children every week in the nine-county, two- state (Pennsylvania and New Jersey) Philadelphia region. Forthcoming are visits to Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona (Tucson), Second Harvest Food Bank (Watsonville, CA) and quarterly visits to regional food banks in the Feeding America Northern California Cluster. SFBFS maintains a strong partnership with the Food Bank of Contra Costa & Solano, with leadership staff of both organizations meeting regularly to exchange best practices and learned experiences and SFBFS also participates in regular food cluster meetings with regional food bank partners from northern California and Nevada. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?On September 16, 2015, Sacramento landed in the Guinness Book of World Records for hosting the largest fresh produce drive in a single day. The goal to beat: 25,000 pounds of fresh fruits and veggies in a 24-hour period. The final tally: 170,923 pounds. On October 27, 2015, SFBFS hosted a Food Revolution Celebration at its Food Bank Services campus to showcase how SFBFS is transforming the Sacramento County food system and to depict how SFBFS' 8 Food Bank Services programs act as a gateway to SFBFS' 7 Family Services programs to assist low-income, ethnically diverse families along a path toward self-sufficiency and financial independence. In attendance were the SFBFS Board of Directors, executive staff from Valley Vision, Sacramento Area Council of Governments, Sacramento Region Community Foundation, local print and television media and 200+ members of the public. As a prelude to this celebration, Blake Young, SFBFS President/CEO, wrote an Op-Ed piece, Let's Break Another World Record, about the "Food Revolution" taking place in Sacramento County. It was published on October 23, 2015 in the Sacramento Bee, which has a daily circulation throughout the Sacramento region of 280,000. In Sactown Magazine's October/November 2015 issue, Wells Fargo, a major corporate contributor to Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services, sponsored an 8-page promotion piece, Cultivating a Path to Defeating Hunger, which again highlighted how SFBFS is transforming the Sacramento County food system. Sactown Magazine has a printed circulation of 40,000 with an estimated readership of 200,000. Sactown Magazine provided SFBFS with an additional 10,000 Cultivating a Path to Defeating Hunger inserts which SFBFS distributed during registration for its Run to Feed the Hungry on Thanksgiving Day and for distribution on thanksgiving race day. SFBFS will continue to host quarterly meetings with partner agencies to ensure they are fully informed of updates to the food systems as they occur. SFBFS works with partner agencies to conduct satisfaction surveys with the Food Bank of Contra Costa & Solano to measure our performance as a regional food bank and as a Feeding America Partner Distribution Agency. It also helps us ensure we are meeting agency needs relative to food sourcing and fresh produce distributions. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The ultimate goal of this USDA/NIFA grant is to increase the amount of fresh produce distributed and the number of clients served in SFBFS' greatly expanded food distribution network. Continue to support and build agency capacity to source more food including fresh produce to the population being served. Expand our direct drops and tailgate distributions to our partner agency network. Increase our direct produce distributions from 10 currently to 30 by December 2017. As mentioned in a previous section, and in conjunction with pursuing the goals of this USDA/NIFA grant, SFBFS is conducting a scientific assessment of the Sacramento County emergency food distribution system. This will: establish the framework for a Strategic Plan with a goal of eliminating food insecurity in Sacramento County. identify gaps in food access in areas of need. determine key distribution points for fresh produce to reach additional underserved populations. SFBFS' Food Bank Services' programs, Produce for All, Partner Agency Network, No Student Left Hungry, Food for Seniors, Nourishing Our Neighbors, Commodities for the Community, CalFresh and Health & Nutrition will: continue to increase the amount of healthy food staples and fresh produce sourced and distributed to low-income men, women and children. continue to enhance our Food Bank Services programs to expand outreach and serve greater numbers of food insecure. continue to enhance nutrition education materials through our Food Bank Services programs. SFBFS will maximize the use of the repack room to source healthy dry goods, which will: realize economies of scale by allowing purchases at discounted prices in large, bulk quantities, which can then be redistributed in smaller quantities to partner agencies. increase the amount of proteins in the form of healthy grains and legumes consumed by the populations served.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1. Increase cold storage capacity at the Oak Park facility. The original goal was to renovate SFBFS' Arata Brothers building, expanding the food processing square footage from 921 ft2 to 2,282 ft2 and upgrade cold storage capacity with new, larger energy efficient units. With the merger of Senior Gleaners, Inc. in December 2014, SFBFS acquired approximately 110,000 ft2 of warehouse and office space including 7,200 ft2 of cold storage units (in need of repair and upgrades). Goal 2: Increase the amount of produce entering the food bank through purchases and donations: FY 13/14* FY 14/15 FY 15/16 Pounds of produce distributed 1,766,138 4,166,559 5,775,249 *FY = SFBFS Fiscal Year (July-June) Goal 3: Increase the number of clients receiving fresh local produce on a monthly and yearly basis. FY 13/14 FY 14/15 FY 15/16 Average number of clients receiving fresh produce/month 90,458 98,012 123,117 Yearly total of number of clients receiving fresh produce 1,085,496 1,176,144 1,477,404 Goal 4: Expand markets for farmers from unlikely customers SFBFS' CalFresh outreach, extensive nutrition education efforts and significantly expanded sourcing of fresh produce have opened clients' nutrition habits to include greater amounts of produce consumption for themselves and their families. As a recently designated Feeding America PDO (Partner Distribution Organization - discussed in the next section), and as a new member of CAFB (California Association of Food Banks), SFBFS has significantly increased the sourcing of produce from larger farmers as evidenced by the over 300% increase in produce distributed in the last two years (1,766,138 pounds to 5,775,249 pounds). In July 2016, SFBFS' began a new Produce for All program with an initial group of 8 partner agencies, which provide produce only distributions, with plans to add 12 Wellspace Health Clinics in the near future as produce only distribution sites. SFBFS estimates, through informal liaison and informal surveys, approximately 40% of clients now buy fresh produce (significantly aided by SFBFS' CalFresh outreach), which translates into nearly 50,000 emergency food assistance recipients (123,117 x 40%) purchasing fresh produce, compared to 18,000 recipients (90,458 x 20%) buying fresh produce at the beginning of this USDA/NIFA Community Food project grant. FY 13/14 FY 14/15 FY 15/16 Recipients of SFBFS emergency food distributions 90,458 98,012 123,117 Estimated percent of recipients purchasing produce 20% 30% 40% Estimated number of recipients purchasing produce 18,092 29,404 49,247 As discussed later in this report, and subsequent to SFBFS' USDA/NIFA grant, SFBFS received a $100,000 grant from Sacramento Region Community Foundation to conduct a scientific assessment of the Sacramento emergency food distribution system. An expected outcome is to establish a framework to source additional produce from larger farmer operations and expand distributions of fresh produce to partner agencies, resulting in increased demand for fresh produce and benefiting local farmers by expanding local markets for fresh produce. This is a nice complement to our overall Community Food Project, which will provide a baseline of metrics of overall need and identify other distribution points from which to increase food access to the food insecure in Sacramento County. Goal 5: Health & Nutrition Education and Outreach As a result of acquiring SGI's facility in northern Sacramento, SFBFS' renovation of its Arata Brothers building did not include a commercial kitchen and Health & Nutrition Center, which was approved by USDA/NIFA in SFBFS' revised Community Food Project budget. However, SFBFS continues to promote health and nutrition education and outreach through its seven Family Services and eight Food Bank Services programs. This includes expanded SNAP (CalFresh) and SNAP-Ed services and the hiring of Karen Strach, a full-time Food Access Program Manager, who works with partner agencies to identify capacity improvements and provides health and nutrition training for partner agency personnel, who then export their knowledge into the client population. In addition to external outreach to agency personnel, develop similar materials, customized to promote healthy eating, among SFBFS' 2,200+ ethnically diverse parents and guardians in Parent Education and 450+ K-12 and pre-school youth in Youth Education.

Publications

Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/15

Outputs
Target Audience:The Map the Meal Gap 2015, from Feeding America's Hunger in America Study, estimates there are 245,480 food insecure residents living in Sacramento County and 156,260 food insecure individuals living in Sacramento's urban core. As the primary Food Bank serving all of Sacramento County, SFBFS serves families and individuals throughout Sacramento County, but primarily in zip codes 95815, 95817, 95820, 95824, 95832 and 95838, respectively North Sacramento, Oak Park, Central Sacramento, South Sacramento, Florin/Meadowview and Del Paso Heights, where the majority of the 156,260 food insecure reside. 100% of the families and individuals served are low-income, experiencing some of the most extreme rates of poverty in Sacramento and California, as determined by recent U.S. Census Bureau data: North Sacramento - 44.2% Oak Park -- 41.6% Central Sacramento - 34.9% South Sacramento - 44.7% Florin/Meadowview - 56.4% Del Paso Heights - 41.5% These deep-rooted, multi-generational levels of poverty go hand-in-hand with high levels of food insecurity. Consequently, most of these low-income, ethnically diverse families, men, women and children do not have the resources they need to support healthy diets for themselves and their families - a distressing dichotomy in the most productive agricultural region in the world. This population in Sacramento's urban core is ethnically diverse, consisting of approximately 35% Caucasian, 25% Hispanic, 25% African-American, 10% Asian and 5% Native-American/Pacific Islander or other. A typical family is a single mother with two to three children with no adult male in the home. Gender is 55% female, 45% male. Age breakdown is approximately 47% adults other than seniors, 45% children, 8% seniors, with an estimated 3% of the adults identified as veterans. 55% have received a high school diploma and 32% have never finished high school. In December 2014, Senior Gleaners, Inc. (SGI), the largest emergency food provider in northern California, merged with SFBFS, with SFBFS absorbing SGI's facilities, vehicles, staff, administrative and operational functions and its food distribution network of 150+ partner agencies (food closets, food pantries, senior centers, subsidized housing units and faith based organizations). As a result of this merger, SFBFS distributes 1.5 million pounds of Emergency Food Assistance to nearly 135,000 unduplicated food insecure individuals every month through 210+ partner agencies, with that number projected to reach 175,000 by November 2016. These hungry people served represent 55% and 71% of all food insecure individuals in Sacramento County. SFBFS has been a major presence in the Sacramento community since 1976. Its infrastructure and capacity continue to expand to meet the ever-increasing needs of Sacramento County. In the fiscal year just completed on June 30, 2015, with the assistance of interns and volunteers, SFBFS conducted 244 SNAP (CalFresh) visits and 436 SNAP-Ed visits, resulting in 249 SNAP applications submitted to the State, with 137 applications approved. Using the Feeding America SNAP Impact Calculator, the estimated SNAP benefits generated were $366,684, the local economic impact was $656,364 and the number of SNAP meals attributed to SFBFS' SNAP outreach is 143,798. Using U.S. Census Bureau data and GIS overlays, SFBFS' Food Bank operations is analyzing optimum locations for its partner agency network to best serve those in need. Consolidation of existing agencies and recruitment of other agencies, will result in a more efficient operation, reaching the maximum number of people, while conserving resources. On October 26, 2015, SFBFS received a $100,000 grant from Sacramento Region Community Foundation to conduct a scientific assessment of the Sacramento County emergency food distribution system. Two major milestones are: Assess initial findings of issues, concerns, challenges and emerging needs of providers Assess refined findings, discuss initial framework of evolving systems and discuss initial system and investment needs. SFBFS will work with Valley Vision, Sacramento Area Council of Governments (representing a six-County region) and a consultant from Crossroads Resource Center to conduct the assessment. Changes/Problems:On September 15, 2014, USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture notified SFBFS that it would receive a multi-year $300,000 grant, allocated over three federal fiscal years. $125,000 for each of the first two fiscal years beginning on September 1, 2014 and 2015 and $50,000 for the final fiscal year, beginning September 1, 2016. Subsequent to that award and long after Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services (SFBFS) submitted its grant application, Senior Gleaners, Inc. (SGI), the largest food provided in Sacramento County, merged with SFBFS on December 15, 2014, with SFBFS absorbing SGI's facilities, staff, vehicles, administrative and operational functions and its 150+ partner agencies in its food distribution network. With this merger, SFBFS has gone from providing 5.8 million pounds of food annually, feeding 30,000+ people per month (when grant was originally submitted), to providing an estimated 17 million pounds of food annually, feeding over 135,000 people per month (current rate), projected to reach 20 million pounds of food annually, feeding 175,000 per month by November 2016. SFBFS has 210+ partner agencies that operate food pantries and food closets, or provide food to subsidized housing complexes, senior villages and senior centers, while SFBFS continues to operate its own 10 direct food distributions. The Distribution Center acquired from SGI has considerably more cold storage and warehouse space than SFBFS' Arata Brothers building, the renovation of which was the subject of SFBFS' original grant request. Consequently, SFBFS has relocated all of its food processing and food distribution to the newly acquired Distribution Center. However, these facilities are outdated and need repairs and upgrades. On June 17, 2015, in a letter to Dr. Jane Clary, SFBFS formally requested a reprogramming of the USDA/NIFA grant funds for cold storage and infrastructure upgrades to the Distribution Center. Although this is no longer a renovation, it is similar in scope (capacity building and infrastructure support) to what SFBFS proposed for the Arata Brothers building in its original grant request. Included with this letter was a revised budget and line item narrative outlining SFBFS' revised expenditure plan. On July 28, 2015, Adam Anderson, USDA/NIFA Grants and Agreements Specialist, notified Blake Young, SFBFS President/CEO, that SFBFS' request for reprogramming of funds was approved and that the funds had been forwarded to ASAP (Automated Standard Application for Payment) for release. On August 26, 2015, SFBFS received the USDA/NIFA Award Face Sheet authorizing SFBFS to draw down the funds in accordance with the revised budget. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Early efforts in year 1 focused on SNAP (CalFresh) outreach, increasing access to healthy foods and building relationships with existing and newly recruited partner agencies. Year 2 is on track for hiring a Registered Dietician, after which partner agency training will intensify (see previous section of this report). SFBFS has passed all operational and administrative requirements, including financial audits, to become a Feeding America Partner Distribution Organization (PDO). Official recognition is forthcoming. As a PDO, SFBFS is responsible for ensuring its partner agencies are in full compliance with USDA and Feeding America food safety regulations data collection and reporting requirements. One of the food safety regulations is a requirement for all partner agencies to have at least one certified ServSafe® (or equivalent) food handler employee or volunteer, who is involved in the preparation, storage or service of food. SFBFS' Food Manager, Rosie Cerna, is a highly qualified food safety expert with the following credentials: Master's Degree in Public Health. Bachelor's Degree in Organizational Behavior. 15 years as a certified food safety instructor for National Registry of Food Safety Professionals and ServeSafe®. 11 years' experience as an Environmental Health and Safety Engineer, LevelIV. 10 years as a board certified food safety professional through the National Environmental Health Association. Through Rosie's training programs, all partner agency food handlers now have ServeSafe® certifications and all SFBFS food handling employees have had ServeSafe training and certifications. The professional development of SFBFS Food Bank employees and senior staff continues to be a very high priority. Among the many activities SFBFS participated in for which best practices and shared experiences among national food system leaders promoted professional growth were: Attending several California Association of Food Banks forums Attended Closing the Hunger Gap symposium in Portland, OR. SFBFS' Director of Food and Operations, Erik Kintzel (Project Director) attended the USDA / NIFA conference in Washington, D.C. Other tours to share best practices conducted at Alameda County Community Food Bank, Redwood Empire Food Bank and Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano. Planned for year 2 are visits to Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona (Tucson), Second Harvest Food Bank (Watsonville, CA) and quarterly visits to regional food banks in the Feeding America Northern California Cluster. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?On September 16th, Sacramento landed in the Guinness Book of World Records for hosting the largest fresh produce drive in a single day. The goal to beat: 25,000 pounds of fresh fruits and veggies in a 24 hour period. The final tally: 170,923 pounds. On October 27, 2015, SFBFS hosted a Food Revolution Celebration at its Distribution Center to showcase how SFBFS is transforming the Sacramento County food system and depict how SFBFS' Food Bank acts as a gateway to its 13 other family services to assist low-income, ethnically diverse families along a path toward self-sufficiency and financial independence. In attendance were the SFBFS Board of Directors, executive staff from Valley Vision, Sacramento Area Council of Governments, Sacramento Region Community Foundation, local print and television media and 200+ members of the public. As a prelude to this celebration, Blake Young, SFBFS President/CEO, wrote an Op-Ed piece, Let's Break Another World Record, about the "Food Revolution" taking place in Sacramento County. It was published on October 23rd in the Sacramento Bee, which has a daily circulation throughout the Sacramento region of 280,000. In Sactown Magazine's October/November 2015 issue, Wells Fargo, a major corporate contributor to Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services, sponsored an 8-page promotion piece, Cultivating a Path to Defeating Hunger, which again highlighted how SFBFS is transforming the Sacramento County food system. Sactown Magazine has a printed circulation of 40,000 with an estimated readership of 200,000. Sactown Magazine provided SFBFS with an additional 10,000 Cultivating a Path to Defeating Hunger inserts which SFBFS will use to distribute during registration for its Run to Feed the Hungry on Thanksgiving Day and for distribution on race day. SFBFS will continue to host quarterly meetings with partner agencies to ensure they are fully informed of Food Bank updates to the food systems as they occur. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The ultimate goal of this USDA/NIFA grant is to increase the amount of fresh produce distributed and the number of clients served in SFBFS' greatly expanded food distribution network. As mentioned in a previous section, and in conjunction with pursuing the goals of this USDA/NIFA grant, on October 26, 2015, SFBFS received a $100,000 grant from Sacramento Region Community Foundation to conduct a scientific assessment of the Sacramento County emergency food distribution system. Two major milestones are: Assess initial findings of issues, concerns, challenges and emerging needs of providers Assess refined findings, discuss initial framework of evolving systems and discuss initial system and investment needs. SFBFS will work with Valley Vision, Sacramento Area Council of Governments (representing a six-County region) and a consultant from Crossroads Resource Center to conduct the assessment. Ultimately, more people will have access to fresh produce and local farmers will benefit from increased demand. SFBFS will hire a part-time Registered Dietician to develop curricula for healthy eating classes and to prepare nutrition materials for distribution to partner agencies and clients of SFBFS Parent Education and Youth Education. SFBFS also seeks to increase the number of individuals receiving Emergency Food Assistance to 175,000 per month by November 2016 and increase the number of partner agencies to 225+.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1. Increase cold storage capacity at the Oak Park facility. The original goal was to renovate SFBFS' Arata Brothers building, expanding the food processing square footage from 921 ft2 to 2,282 ft2 and upgrade cold storage capacity with new, larger energy efficient units. With the merger of Senior Gleaners, Inc. in December 2014, SFBFS acquired a Distribution Center with approximately 110,000 ft2 of warehouse and office space including X,XXX ft2 of modern cold storage units. Goal 2: Increase the amount of produce entering the food bank through purchases and donations: FFY 13/14* FFY 14/15 OCT-SEP OCT-SEP Pounds of produce purchased 172,262 1,408,504 Pounds of produce donated 1,600,264 4,023,028 Totals 1,772,526 5,503,532 *FFY = Federal Fiscal Year Goal 3: Increase the number of clients receiving fresh local produce on a monthly and yearly basis. FFY 13/14 FFY 14/15 OCT-SEP OCT-SEP Number of clients receiving fresh produce monthly average 37,182118,577 Number of clients receiving fresh produce 446,181 1,422,921 Goal 4: Expand markets for farmers from unlikely customers SFBFS' CalFresh outreach, extensive nutrition education efforts and significantly expanded sourcing of fresh produce have opened clients' nutrition habits to include greater amounts of produce consumption for themselves and their families. In a very short time SFBFS has increased the sourcing of fresh produce from farmer partners by 70% as indicated in the below table. SFBFS' estimates, through informal liaison and informal surveys, approximately 40% of clients now buy fresh produce, also reflected in the below table, which will increase the markets for locally grown produce. SFBFS anticipates even greater consumption of produce in the forthcoming years as clients adopt healthier nutrition choices. June 2014 June 2015 Number of farmer partners 10 17 Estimated number of clients purchasing fresh produce 14,900 47,400 As discussed later in this report, subsequent to SFBFS' USDA/NIFA grant, SFBFS received a $100,000 grant from Sacramento Region Community Foundation to conduct a scientific assessment of the Sacramento emergency food distribution system. Expected outcomes are to expand both direct and indirect distributions of fresh produce to clients and partner agencies, resulting in increased demand for fresh produce, benefiting local farmers by expanding local markets for fresh produce. Goal 5: Health & Nutrition Education and Outreach As a result of the merger with SGI, SFBFS' attention has been applied to consolidating fiscal management systems, operational and administrative functions, staffing, vehicle fleets and policy and procedures criteria. Because SFBFS is no longer renovating the Arata Brothers building, the construction of a commercial kitchen and Health & Nutrition Center is no longer in the revised budget, recently approved by USDA. With the development of the Health & Nutrition Center SFBFS' was not able to create and conduct the health and nutrition classes as originally planned. However, SFBFS is going forward with hiring a part-time Registered Dietician (RD) in May/June 2016, converting that position to full-time by May/June 2017. The RD will develop curricula for a professional program of nutrition classes and outreach materials to train partner agency personnel, who will then export their knowledge into the client population. In addition to external outreach to agency personnel, the RD will develop similar materials, customized to promote healthy eating, among SFBFS' 2,000+ ethnically diverse parents and guardians in Parent Education and 650+ K-12 and pre-school youth in Youth Education. Eventually, the larger commercial style kitchen at the Distribution Center will become the centerpiece for the creation of the Health & Nutrition Center, both as a laboratory for evaluating culturally appropriate food choices and potentially as a venue for cooking classes focused on preparation of fresh foods.

Publications