1. Neighbourhood Markets Evaluating our Efforts Building Healthy and Supportive Communities CHNET – Works! Fireside chat May 7, 2009

2. Neighbourhood Market Pictures

7. Community Food Security Available – food supply Accessible – physical and economic Acceptable – nutritionally and culturally adequate Appropriate – ecologically sustainable Agency – enabling policies

8. Why Neighbourhood Markets? April 2007 – community suggests investigating mobile farmers' markets Realization that campaigns promoting fruit and vegetables have met with limited success Food environment is key to influencing people’s food choices

9. Evaluation Framework First year – process evaluation – what could we learn from the process of setting up the markets?

10. Evaluation Framework Second year – outcome evaluation – were the markets resulting in the changes we were hoping for?

11. Expected Outcomes Increase consumption of fresh produce (acceptable) Increase access to fresh local produce in neighbourhoods with limited food access (accessible) Increase social connections (agency) Support local farmers (available, appropriate)

12. Evaluation methods End-of-market survey Interviews and focus groups Pre and post interviews Participant observation Tracking forms

13. What did we learn about changes in consumption? 90% of regular customers eating more vegetables each week 53% of regular customers eating more fruit each week 74% had tried a new vegetable 51% had tried a new fruit

14. What did we learn about changes in consumption? (cont'd) Eating more fruit and vegetables Eating healthier Getting outdoors Learning to cook some unfamiliar vegetables Having more variety in their homes Being more creative

15. Food Access "We don't have a grocery store. I know that some people in the area use the variety store for grocery necessities, but you can't get vegetables there, so it is next to impossible to buy fresh fruit and vegetables in this neighbourhood."

16. What did we learn about geographic access? 100% of regular customers having better access to fruits and vegetables Comments –"Closer to home" –"Convenient" –"Saves time and gas" –"Don't need to use my car"

17. What did we learn about economic access? For some households the markets did make it easier to afford to buy fruit and vegetables This was not the case for the majority of people coming to the markets

18. What did we learn about social interactions? Community building "Neighbourhood barber shop" Learning about neighbours Learning about community centres

19. What did we learn about supporting local farmers? 100% of farmers and farm retailers felt the markets supported local farmers 96% of customers said it was important to support local farmers

20. Final questions Does changing the food environment actually result in people eating more fruit and vegetables? Can neighbourhood markets support local farmers while at the same time improve food access for people on fixed and low incomes? Do neighbourhood markets increase social connections within neighbourhoods?

21. Thank you for your interest Both evaluation reports are available on the Region of Waterloo Public Health website Waterloo Public Health website