August 2024 Nutrition Notes
August 2024 Nutrition Notes
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A Message from our Executive Director
The Center for Nutrition & Health Impact, in collaboration with Fair Food Network and USDA NIFA, as part of our work on the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) Training, Technical Assistance, Evaluation, and Information Center (NTAE), recently released the GusNIP Year 4 impact findings and companion pieces.
As I reflect on the last four years of GusNIP, I am so proud of how the NTAE has assisted nutrition incentive (NI) and produce prescription (PPR) grantees in all possible ways so that they could concentrate on their most important task: to transform fruit and vegetable incentives into positive impacts for their participants and communities. We are so pleased with the continued positive results we saw in the Year 4 impact findings, including increased food and nutrition security among communities with limited income, along with a multiplier effect for economic impact within these communities. I am deeply grateful for the CNHI team, our Nutrition Incentive Hub partners and specialists, and most of all the grantees and practitioners working tirelessly to empower local communities and meet emerging needs every day.
Key findings from Year 4 include:
Participants redeeming $52.1 million worth of incentives for fruit and vegetable purchases compared to $41.6 million in Year 3.
69% total annual redemption rate for incentives across NI and PPR projects–the highest annual incentive redemption rate since 2019.
$107.4 million in local economic impact, a 25% increase from Year 3’s economic impact of $85.6 million.
The end of August also marks the end of our first cooperative agreement with USDA NIFA for the NTAE (2019-2023). Since 2019, the NTAE’s reach has grown and contributed to many exciting milestones.
Our efforts have demonstrated continued, collective success of nearly 200 NI and PPR projects.
224 total NI/PPR awards and 1 NTAE Center
43 states and Puerto Rico reached
Increased partnerships
We began our second cooperative agreement with USDA NIFA in 2023 (which we call GusNIP NTAE 2.0) for the next iteration of the NTAE and it runs until August of 2027. In the next four years, we will continue to work closely with GusNIP NI and PPR grantees and practitioners to continue to provide support for technical assistance, evaluation and more. It is an honor to continue transforming the nutrition security and food security landscape alongside our NTAE core partners Fair Food Network and the University of California San Francisco.
If Year 4 gives any indication of how GusNIP NTAE 2.0 will unfold, I am confident we will see even more encouraging and promising results with each year. We’re proud to share the GusNIP Year 4 results with you and hope you will explore the Year 4 report and companion pieces.