November 2019 - Florida Impact

Recruitment was a crucial element in the Healthy Corner Stores project. Not only did we have to recruit stores to be a part of our project, but we also had to recruit locations to support the distribution of our survey.

Since the survey is targeted toward residents of Miami Gardens, it was best to contact areas easily accessible to the residents, such as grocery stores, libraries, and health centers.

With a target of 5000 respondents, I was eager to contact as many locations as possible and to survey every opportunity I could. The distribution of the survey helped our organization build a lot of relationships with local institutions in Miami Gardens. It was great seeing how many locations were supportive of our current project and were also willing to help us in later projects. Furthermore, being able to survey at locations with a high traffic of Miami Garden residents also helped to spread awareness about the Healthy Corner Stores project and other Live Healthy Miami Gardens efforts. Many people were not aware of the projects that were going on in the city, so I am happy that I was able to share the news with them.

I have been spending my time surveying at the local Starbucks, 24 Hour Fitness, Betty T. Ferguson Recreation Center, and two chain grocery stores. Our survey responses have been increasing and have been matched with support from the general public. The residents and institutions of Miami Gardens are greatly anticipating the future of healthy corner stores throughout the city after learning more about the project and taking the survey.

– Shirbrina Jefferson

Florida Impact to End Hunger Intern

On a warm September morning in 2019, I joined some members of the food system community in north Florida during the North Florida Crop-Up event hosted by Feeding Florida to discuss ways to get fresh, local produce on dinner tables in our areas. Partners like Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Service’s Fresh From Florida and Food Recovery Program, UF-IFAS’s Family Nutrition Program, Red Hills Online Farmers Markets, Frenchtown Farmers Market, Florida Farmers Market Association, and farmers from around the panhandle gathered at the Leon County UF-IFAS extension office.

The Feeding Florida staff veggie-punned their way through a detailed agenda and provided a broad picture of the food system opportunities that could greatly benefit our community. From opportunities like Fresh Access Bucks at farmers markets that accept SNAP, to how to add the Fresh From Florida logo on products, to even discussing natural disaster recovery, no stone was left unturned.

A vegetable-packed lunch was served and gave time for connections to be made between community members. I was able to connect with a city employee serving with the Southside Farmers Market and discuss the need for healthy corner stores on the south end of Tallahassee. He was very interested in learning more about the project, and I have since reached out to his office in hopes to discuss a future project.

We broke out into groups of interest where I was paired with other community nonprofit/grant-funded folks where we discussed the Map the Meal Gap, a report on food insecurity and county food cost in the United States. Tools like these are very useful when speaking to our elected officials about needs in our communities, especially when programs could soon be cut, hurting the most vulnerable. The need for more advocates grows as the proposals for more cuts are written.

Will you work with us to insure access to fresh, local, nutritious food in our communities?

– Kelli Greene

Administrative Coordinator

Florida Impact to End Hunger

BUILDING HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE MIAMI GARDENS COMMUNITY

THE NORTH FLORIDA CROP-UP LOW-DOWN