Celebration Corner

Seven people pose at a farmers market table

CalFresh at Farmers Markets partners. From left, Leo Ontiveros of San Luis Obispo County Public Health; Venessa Rodriguez of SLO Food Bank; Eustolia and Rosario, farmers market navigators of Promotores; Mishelle Costa, UCCE SLO; Andrea Keisler of SLO Food Bank; and Ellen Burke of Cal Poly SLO.

CSAC honors CalFresh at Farmers Markets project in SLO

CalFresh Healthy Living, UCCE San Luis Obispo County and the CalFresh at Farmers Markets cross-sector working group received the 2023 CSAC Challenge Award for creating more equitable access to healthy foods and supporting local farmers in San Luis Obispo County. The project was one of 389 entries to the California State Association of Counties awards, which honored 14 programs from 11 different counties.

In San Luis Obispo County, 8.4% of residents and 9.7% of children are food insecure, which is defined as lacking consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. Nutrition incentives such as CalFresh can increase access to healthy food in low-income communities. With Market Match, for every $1 of CalFresh redeemed a person can buy $2 of food at the farmers market.

In 2017, UCCE staff formed the CalFresh at Farmers Markets work group. Members represent agriculture, government, schools and community-based organizations such as food banks.

Their goals were to increase the number of markets that accept CalFresh and offer Market Match, provide a more consistent and welcoming experience for CalFresh customers across markets, and increase the visibility of farmers market nutrition incentives.

They developed the Farmers Market Navigator program. Launched in 2022, navigators are leaders from the community who address the language, culture, knowledge, trust and discriminatory barriers to shopping at farmers markets that low-income clientele often face. The multilingual (Spanish, Mixtec, English) navigators began conducting outreach in the community and attending north county markets to answer CalFresh questions.

A young woman speaks with a man holding a lime green shopping bag

A farmers market navigator talks with a shopper. Photo courtesy of Center for Family Strengthening

Of the 13 certified farmers markets in San Luis Obispo County, the number of markets that offer Market Match has increased from four in 2016 to nine in 2023. Since launching the project, they have seen a 463% increase in benefit redemption comparing the summer months (March-August) of 2016 and 2022 ($21,073 and $118,569, respectively) and a 537% increase in CalFresh customers (478 and 3,046, respectively).

Since 2017, there has been over $550,841 in CalFresh and Market Match redemptions at SLO County markets, leading to $917,000 in local economic activity (based on an economic multiplier of 1.9 for Market Match and 1.5 for CalFresh). At markets where the navigators work, there was a 172% increase in new CalFresh customers and a 171% increase in CalFresh and Market Match redemption in the first six months alone. Surveys conducted across the state by the Ecology Center show that 79% of participants say they buy more fruits and vegetables due to the Market Match program.

“These results show that cross-sector partnerships can increase access to healthy food and support for local agriculture,” said Shannon Klisch, UCCE youth, families and communities academic coordinator in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.

Graham Knaus, CEO of the California State Association of Counties, congratulated the group on winning a prestigious 2023 Challenge Award, saying, “All counties applaud UCCE in San Luis Obispo County for their innovation and dedication.” He added, “This year's recipients were among the best of the best, and we are proud to honor their efforts with this distinction.”

Headshots of two women, positioned side by side.

Cristina Murillo-Barrick (left) and Chandra Richards (right).

Murillo-Barrick, Richards receive $1.7M for climate action project

Cristina Murillo-Barrick, BlPOC (Black, indigenous and people of color) community development advisor for Alameda County, and Chandra Richards, agricultural land acquisitions academic coordinator for Riverside and San Diego counties, have received a $1.7 million grant from the California Department of Conservation's Climate Smart Land Management Program.

Murillo-Barrick and Richards are the co-principal investigators of a project designed to increase climate resilience on the state's natural and working lands.

The project is aimed at building capacity and technical assistance for climate smart implementation by collaboratively developing plans centered on two of the most pressing climate action issues: equitable land access and land management diversification.

The funding will help UC ANR identify barriers and opportunities through engagement with historically underrepresented communities through coalition building, capacity assessment and climate-action planning.? More information about the project will be shared in early 2024.

Details about the Climate Smart Land Management Program and other projects funded can be found at https://www.conservation.ca.gov/index/Pages/News/California-award-8-5-million-climate-action-natural-working-lands.aspx.

UCANR employees give shout-outs to colleagues

For the Winter Faire, ANR employees submitted notes of gratitude for colleagues. Roxana Price, UCCE adult nutrition community educator in San Bernardino County, assembled the shout-outs below.