A day with Just Harvest an learning about EBT and farmer's market management

This week I visited with Just Harvest A center for action against hunger is a non-profit organization working towards justice through both economic and food access equality. They hope to beat challenges of hunger and poverty in the greater Pittsburgh area. They play a strong role in community activism and the mobilization of the anti-hunger movement in PGH through strong policy work, community service and outreach.

My first encounter with the organization was at a demonstration they were staging in front of the PPG building (a large corporation building and distributing glass) that was to bring awareness to how the large corporation is currently advocating to the state government for special interest tax breaks while the state struggles to devise a state budget and cuts are being proposed to human services (i.e schools and hospitals). Just harvest is one of a few local non-profits that works with the state to support programs that provide safe and livable environments for people.

Just harvest does this by providing welfare rights activism, individual consulting around welfare rights, free tax help and education, nutritional support and education and other access benefits. The organization also works very hard to help the welfare department provide food stamps to people living below the margin. 

Just Harvest is also playing a leading role in Pittsburgh food policy (as well as other policy initiatives). They helped put in order the first food policy charter for the city  in 1991, a charter that todays new, re-established Food Policy Council is working with to revamp and restore. The 1991 charter worked with PGH Port Authority to transport citizen in under served neighborhoods to grocery stores. 

They also formed the Farmer's Market Alliance in PGH, a program to help centralize farmer's markets in PGH in order to make them easier to manage and to provide a source where food stamps could be exchanged for fresh food. The food stamp aspect of Farmers Market Alliance was only a 3 yr pilot in which 5 food stamp (EBT) machines were purchased for individual farmers to run and manage. The program had difficulties succeeding because of the difficulties farmers had trying to manage their farm stand as well as the machine. It was also difficult for EBT shoppers to only have 1 out of 30 vendors to choose from when they went to the farmer's market. The program also lacked transparency between the bank, the state department, and the farmers (owners of the machines) making it difficult for technical assistance and program evaluation and improvement.

PASA eventually absorbed the Farmers Market Alliance with hopes to re-build it and make it stronger. But do to lack of time and staff needed in the western offices the program plan for a new Farmer's Market Management system in PGH has sat idle. Corinne Ogrodnik a local foodie, farmer and grad student at CMU that will be working with a few other students on a project that analyzes EBT access at the Farmer's Markets in PGH and how a more strategic program can be implemented to help make fresh local food more accessible to people living with low incomes. Helping conduct preliminary research on existing models of market management systems and food access policies along with conversations with farmer's and vendors in the PGH area will help provide a solid framework to give  the Farmer's Market Alliance a second chance.

The Lawrenceville Farm Stand!

This week I've been helping the Lawrenceville farm stand with community outreach and lending a hand at the Thursday farm stand. The farm stand is part of The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. With eleven stands allover the Pittsburgh area the Farm Stand Project helps connect low-income marginalized communities access fresh local produce. 

Each neighborhood that hosts a farm stand recieves their produce from various farmers, distributed through the  Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank. The stands are run by local community groups and neighbors. The Lawrenceville farm stand is located at the top of Main st. at the Steven Foster Center which hosts lots of events geared toward the seniors citizens of the Lawrenceville Community. Having just moved to Lawrenceville I was pleased to participate in something that would give me the oppurtunity to meet my neighbors.

I was also pleased to learn more about how the unique "Farm Stand" system works. They except Cash, EBT/Food Stamps, WIC and FMNP at all of their locations. At the Lawrenceville stand each customer takes a number apon arrival, when it is their turn they come up and choose their produce. Baskets are set out in allready bundled quantities to ensure equal distribution. They set aside a table of non-local produce since FMNP vouchers are not accepted with non-local produce. The Farm Stand atendee writes up a receipt that distinguishes cash from voucher and a person posted at the money box completes the transaction. I saw a relatively divers group of shoppers the stand however the elderly were by far the most frequent shopper in Lawrenceville particularly. I have helped distribute flyers to spread the word about the stand so hopefully the numbers will continue to grow.

Learning about the Farm Stand will hopefully help me learn more about Pennsylvania's EBT/WIC and FMNP distribution and acceptance methods. PASA is currently brainstorming ideas to make a market management program that will help vendors and shoppers have quick and affordable access to EBT at local farmer's markets. Leah and I are currently looking to meet with the Food Trust in Philadelphia to see where they are at in access to EBT and if there is anyway the organizations and Philadelphia and the organizations in Pittsburgh working towards food Jstice can form an alliance to build a stronger system in PA. Checkout the Food Trust's Farmer's Market Program at www.thefoodtrust.org or New York's Farmer's Market wireless EBT project at www.nyfarmersmarket.com to learn more.

Pittsburgh Food Policy Council

The food Policy council here in Pittsburgh is comprised of 20-30 members all coming from various backgrounds, there are members from The Pgh Food Bank, Just Harvest, The East End Food Co-Op, PASA, Pittsburgh Garden Experiment, PSU Extension Cooperative etc... The front runner of the council is Danae who runs Allegheny Greenworks and is also spearheading the Communities on Health Commission (COH) in the Urban Green Growth Collaborative (UGGC).

The Food Policy Council meets Bi-weekly and designs clear agenda goals before each meeting gathering. the goal of the council are to create local food policies that will help secure food access in Pittsburgh. The group is currently working on  writing charters on how this may happen, but motivation has been arising to start making the group more active in Pittsburgh politics. The group is also brainstorming ideas for a Healthy Corner Store Initiative, to help small bodega's in low income communities at risk of becoming "food deserts" have access to fresh wholesome food and whatever resources and store improvements they may need to make this possible.

I'm currently working on a collaboration of food policies that have passed in other cities and states to create a manual of references on how these policies can translate to Pittsburgh. In my search I continuously stumble upon The Food Trust in Philadelphia and would like to collaborate on possibly doing a case study of this organization, I feel they have already got the ball rolling in Philly around food security and being from the same state there are a lot of geographical strengths in collaborating with them. 

Like many Food Policy groups motivation, attendance and organization can be a challenge, along with group diversity. This groups is well aware of the pre-dominant social locations present in the room and is coming up with solutions, like rotating meeting space and times as well as outreach to communities and organizations in closer relation with the target food insecure communities.

Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank

On July 17 ~ I went out to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and Met with a number of people to discuss my internship and how PASA may be able to collaborate with them. Joyce the CEO of the organization gave me a tour of the very productive facility along with a little history and the Food Banks involvement with food sovereignty both locally and nationally. Joyce also filled me in on workers benefits at the Food Bank, where they pick up and distribute their food and how the Food Bank has been involved with the union and teamsters.

After a couple of hours working in "re-pack" (the area where food that is donated re-packed into efficiently organized boxes for distribution) I had a telephone meeting with Cindy Moore about Community Garden plans being made for Addison Terrace Housing Authority community in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. There is a Food Bank managed farm stand there run completely by volunteers from the community that hope to build there own garden so that they may sell/have there own source of fresh vegetables. This project is very valuable and I hope to meet with other non-profit community gardening organizations in the area that might be able to support it (Landslide Community Farm and Grow Pittsburgh are two)

Afterwards I met with Kathryn Robinson the Glean Coordinator who discussed with me the importance of farm fresh gleaning projects for the food bank and ideas she has for Bike to Glean event as part of PASA's Local Food Month. I will also be organizing a Urban farm/garden awareness event for Local Food Month and hope to collaborate with Kathryn more. I also helped her connect with Mia and Leah who connect with a lot of local farmers at PASA so she can hopefully build her gleaning site list.

I then met with Vicki Lish who is the Food Bank's farm stand coordinator. She explained to me a little about the farm stand project which is a project designed to help bring fresh produce into distressed and/or marginalized communities. The stands are run by local community organizations or neighborhood volunteers. I hope to help Vicki with community outreach by visiting the farm stands an assessing ways they might be able to get more people from the community shopping at the stands. I also hope to connect the farm stands with PASA's long term Market Management project which will hopefully help make EBT machines and WIC easily accessible at more Farmer's Markets and Farm Stands. They are already accepted at all of the Food Bank farm stands but hopefully buy collaboration we can improve the situation in Pittsburgh as a whole. Giving EBT and WIC holders less to think about when they seek access to fresh and affordable produce.