Increasing Education at the Farmer’s Market Saturday, APRIL 2, 2016 Increasing Education at the Farmer’s Market Mayra Ramirez Metro Denver Program Associate Cooking Matters Colorado

Cooking Matters In Colorado… More than 16 million children are at risk of hunger in America. In Colorado, 1 in 5 children are at risk for hunger and malnutrition. We are a nutrition education program that helps families by teaching them how to prepare healthy low-cost meals. We partner with community agencies serving low-income families across the state. Those agencies host our programming and refer participants. In 23 years, we’ve served nearly 86,000 participants through -Cooking & nutrition courses -Grocery store tours -Other education projects Cooking Matters Colorado is part of Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign, which focuses on ending childhood hunger in America. Share Our Strength works to make sure that children across the nation get the healthy foods they need to grow where they live, learn and play. For CMCO, that mission drives us to end childhood hunger in CO by providing the participants with the nutrition education needed to make healthier, low-cost choices for their families. Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

Cooking Matters Colorado Service Area by County w/Specific Partners 2015 Cooking Matters Colorado Service Area by County w/Specific Partners CMC Staff Coordinator CMC Satellite Staff and Contract Coordinators South Central Contract Coordinators Western Slope Contract Coordinator San Luis Valley Contract Coordinator Garfield Co. Contract Coordinator Weld Co. Contract Coordinator Full-Time SOS Coordinators Train-the-Trainer model Polka Dot = Shared counties Full-time & T-t-T Potential T-t-T partners Full-time Satellite Contractors Sedgwick Logan T-t-T Partners Larimer 19. Moffat Weld G & 20. Jackson Phillips Routt Morgan 5. Grand 1. (Broomfield) 4 Boulder Yuma 7. & 6. Rio Blanco Adams Gilpin Washington 9. Clear Denver 67 Denver Creek 4. Arapahoe Garfield F Eagle Jefferson 4. Summit 2. Kit Carson 13. Elbert Douglas Pitkin 3. Lake Park 4. Mesa D Teller 11. Delta D & 21 Lincoln El Paso A & 17. Cheyenne Gunnison 18. Chaffee Fremont B Kiowa Montrose D & 16 & 22 Crowley 12. & 15. Ouray 16. San Miguel 16. Hinsdale Saguache C & 10. Custer Pueblo B. Prowers 8. Bent 12. & 15. Otero 15. & 12. Dolores San Juan Huerfano 14. Mineral C Alamosa C & 10. Rio Grande C & 10. Montezuma E Las Animas 14. Baca Costilla C La Plata E Archuleta E & Conejos C

Our Educational Approach: Effective nutrition education… Cooking Matters… Focuses on behaviors (not knowledge) Requires active participation Takes into account the needs of specific population groups Includes self-assessment and feedback Applies an appropriate theoretical framework Teaches healthy food preparation and budgeting skills Provides hands-on food prep and skills practice Trains instructors to engage participants in active dialogue and tailor the course to their group Weekly lessons allow participants to reflect on learning; receive feedback and reinforcement from instructors and peers Is built around tenets of Social Cognitive Theory Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

Our Educational Approach Hands-on Learning Allows participants to learn while they cook or participate in nutrition education activities! Team Teaching Creates an engaging learning experience for both the participants and the instructors. Facilitated Dialogue Method of group teaching that involves active participation of both the learner and the educator. Meets the participants where they are and creates an environment to develop realistic solutions to shared challenges. Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

Our supporters: Cooking Matters Colorado programming is generously supported by: USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

Pop Up Event at Produce and Health Fair Pop-Up Event Tours As you can see, each tent is a different station that participants travel to at their own place. The black table is the registration table where participants fill out their waiver, surveys, and receive their incentives. Pop Up Event at Produce and Health Fair Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

Nutrition Education Station at Operation Free Bird 2014 Pop-Up Event Tours This is one of the nutrition education stations at one of our pop-up events in the Denver Metro Area. You can see that there are 2 facilitators at the station to provide the participants with education, visual props to clarify explanations and for participants to practice the skills they are learning. Depending on the size of your tour, you might need 1-2 facilitators per nutrition education station. CMATS facilitators can be trained online and using the Pop-Up Toolkit that now has been enhanced by including instructions on how to implement a tour to fit the needs of a Farmer’s Market. In some cases, we are able to provide samples of a Cooking Matters recipe using ingredients fitting the station: ProduceSW corn and bean salad, GrainsWIC approved cereal mix, Dairylower fat & alternative milk options. Nutrition Education Station at Operation Free Bird 2014 Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

Nutrition Education Stations Produce Fresh/Frozen/Canned Unit pricing Seasonality Convenience vs. whole Grains Whole vs. refined Label reading: ID whole grains & serving sizes Benefits of fiber Sugar content Proteins Added ingredients Unit pricing: frozen, fresh & convenience Low fat & lean options Dairy Label reading: serving size Unit pricing: bulk Low-fat options North West Apple Salad or a “flight” SouthWest Black Bean & Corn Salad WIC-approved cereal mix Low-fat & alternative milk options Use the seasonality chart from participant book We have resources to build your own toolkit bin and equipment materials -have talking points exclusive to farmer’s market. Good food on a budget guide Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

Pop-Up Tour at the Farmer’s Market La Plata County (Durango) Growing Partners of Southwest Colorado

Steps Prior to Event Recruitment of participants through: Partner agencies like Family Resource Association, WIC, Subsidized Housing Past/present cooking class participants Preparation: Funding: - from Farmers Market Promotion Grant Farmer’s Market partnerships – Farmers Market Manager, Chef Volunteer, Growing Partners, Cooking Matters Spoke to farmers ahead of time Who is willing to share about their farm, food and cooking tips? Who speaks Spanish? Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

Event Day: Farmer’s Market Education Coordinated to meet at a specific spot/time Started with Managers booth to discuss EBT machine Moved from booth to booth, plus mock store Ended with survey, cooking demo samples and recipes Participants received $10 - $25 of FM bucks Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

Farmers Market Education Successes Brought many first-time shoppers Educational for regularly attending shoppers as well Farmer – Consumer Connections Visibility of food insecurity Visibility for Cooking Matters (new volunteers, partners) Received grant funding Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

Farmers Market Education Challenges Attendance was not as good as hoped Busy environment Varying farmer’s market rules and structure Concerns that participants will not return after the event Lots of coordination (participants, curriculum, food, etc) Finding funding What benefits do you see to having a CMATS popup tour at your market? Any barriers? -WIC -SNAP -Transportation -Hours of operation -How does the consumer find your FM? How could we leverage the CO Farm Fresh Directory? How to engage kids at your FM: -Chefs and Kids -Exploring Foods Togethers -Part of the plant Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

Contact Information Mayra Ramirez Denver, CO 303-801-0322 mramirez@strength.org Thank you! Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters