FRESA: Food Access Success Story

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FRESA
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The Timeline

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  • The Idea for Building a Food Access Coalition was Born

    After attending a CalFresh Healthy Living, UCCE – County of San Luis Obispo event in which they shared the economic impact of CalFresh food access programs, local food advocate Alhan…

  • FRESA is Formed and Holds their First Meeting

    A coalition of organizations (including the Community Environmental Council, Route One Farmers Market, Rooted Language Services, SBC-Public Health Dept., Fund for Santa Barbara, FSA-Little House by the Park, FoodBank of…

  • July-September 2020: Conducted Research and Shared Information

    Throughout the summer of 2020, the working group conducted outreach to raise awareness about the economic benefits of increasing access to CalFresh, and of making it possible to spend CalFresh…

  • Drafted a Survey to Develop Community Based Strategies

    In the fall of 2020, FRESA drafted a community survey to ensure their next steps and strategies were informed by the community. Their goal was to find out how comfortable…

  • Began Surveying the Community

    From December 2020 to the spring of 2021, FRESA surveyed food-insecure families at Santa Barbara County FoodBank distribution sites to learn how they could better serve residents and improve food…

  • Received a Grant from the Fund for Santa Barbara

    The Fund for Santa Barbara awarded the SBCFAN working group $6,000 which allowed FRESA to hire paid language interpreters at each meeting.

  • Finished Conducting Surveys

    FRESA closed their community surveys and began analyzing the data. By then, they had received over 500 responses and had a number of languages represented including English, Mixteco dialects, Zapoteco,…

  • Received Funding from Santa Barbara County CalFresh Office

    The Santa Barbara County CalFresh Healthy Living program allocated around $25,000 to support the work of FRESA.

  • Developed Mission Statement and Vision

    FRESA crafted a mission statement, created materials, logos, and published their survey analysis. The working group developed infographics to communicate and present their findings to funders, organizations, and community members.

  • Hosted a Language Justice Training

    During the fall, FRESA hosted language justice training in partnership with Rooted Language Services. “When we talk about food access we are not only talking about supporting programs like CalFresh,…

Future plans for activation:

Scaling Up

  • The working group is currently seeking opportunities to launch a Farmers’ Market in Guadalupe. They hope to host at least one pop-up market for the community.
  • FRESA will be providing policy recommendations on increasing CalFresh access in North County.

FRESA Local Survey Results
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KEY METRICS

Over5
Meetings
Over10
dollars joint-funded
over0
hours of volunteer time
over0
hours of language justice training for community members
100
partners working together

NOTABLE SUCCESSES

  • “FRESA seeks to increase food access and address food insecurity by building a coalition and strategizing to equitably change the policies of these Farmers’ Markets.”
  • “Our root concern is access to healthy food and to develop a farmers’ market that shares and welcomes vendors and consumers that are multilingual. Our project aims to address food insecurity by changing Farmers’ Market policies.”
  • “Although our County is one of the most agriculturally productive in the state, there is a dramatic disconnect between the food produced in our region, and a significant portion of people in our county that are unable to benefit from it. This project will bring heightened awareness to food insecurity that will hopefully lead to social change.”

Activating Food Action Plan goals

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