COASTAL FOODSHED INC
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Mission Statement
Coastal Foodshed is a MA based non-profit that works to make healthy local food more available, more accessible and more familiar by connecting local growers with local consumers as well as provides education around local food, nutrition and regenerative agriculture.
About This Cause
Coastal Foodshed grew out of a state-funded, municipally led public health initiative, Mass in Motion New Bedford. In order to be able to better address direct food access and education, Coastal Foodshed was created as a non-profit organization in 2017. By providing nutritious options alongside practical and engaging education, Coastal Foodshed seeks to empower the Greater New Bedford community to make healthier choices that positively impact their lives. Our long-term vision is for the Southcoast region to support a robust local food economy where residents are healthy and our regional farmers are thriving. Our organization targets the City of New Bedford, a mid-size, Gateway City in MA that is remarkably diverse - socioeconomically, racially, and linguistically. Nearly 30% of residents living in New Bedford receive SNAP benefits; roughly 20-25% do not own vehicles and 27% of residents speak Spanish or Portuguese. According to the 2017 Community Commons data: 23.4% of residents live below the federal poverty level; further, 9.16% of residents live at or below 50% of the federal poverty level and within certain neighborhoods that number is even greater - 12.12% in the city’s south end and 15.26% in the city’s near north end. Eighteen percent of New Bedford residents are Hispanic, 21% of residents are foreign born, 34% of residents are of Portuguese descent and 9.7% are of Cape Verdean descent. Almost twelve percent of residents live in a limited English household. New Bedford is a community rich in history and diverse cultures, surrounded by almost 200 farms but, these statistics are indicators of the significant barriers many residents need to overcome to access this abundant local healthy food. Eating local can also be more expensive than eating the heavily processed food that is pervasive in these neighborhoods where there are many corner stores and fast food offerings. For the 20% of residents who do not own vehicles, eating locally grown, healthy food is practically impossible. These factors help explain why despite local food being plentiful, there has been a lack of demand in our region. Coastal Foodshed works to remove these barriers by better connecting farmers and their products to underserved, low-income residents living in New Bedford, through the following programs: 1. New Bedford Farmers’ Markets: We operate four Farmers Markets (three outdoor and one indoor) working with 25 vendors who directly sell their products weekly to hundreds of customers. Our markets accept cash, credit, SNAP (food assistance) and receive Massachusetts Healthy Incentive Program (HIP) benefits. Our senior citizens and young families can redeem WIC/Senior coupons at all market locations. We currently reach over 15,000 community members annually. Since the implementation of the Massachusetts Healthy Incentive Program our SNAP sales have skyrocketed from $2900 (2016, pre-HIP) to over $65,000 (2018, with HIP). This MA based benefit is a financial matching program for SNAP participants who purchase local produce from local food outlets only, which makes our programs uniquely positioned to generate a greater impact and reach more underserved, low-income populations. 2. Mobile Farm Stands: Because so many New Bedford residents lack reliable, affordable transportation, we began operating multiple farm stand locations throughout New Bedford in 2018 (plus various pop-up community events) to reach the highest-need neighborhoods. The farm stand purchases from 15+ farmers and local food producers at wholesale costs and resells within underserved neighborhoods, allowing us to reach a greater number of low-income, food insecure residents while also supporting local farmers who do not have the time or capacity to sell their produce at multiple farmers markets. Like our markets, customers can pay with cash, credit, SNAP (and receive HIP benefits), and WIC/Senior coupons. In our first year, we made 57 stops and sold over $7,800 worth of fresh produce in 14 weeks. In our second year with a full-time Farm Stand Manager and improved infrastructure, we have made over 100 stops (since June 2019), reaching over 3,000 customers who have purchased over $33,000 worth of local goods (including produce, meat, eggs, honey, maple syrup and baked goods). 3. Education and Outreach: We provide educational cooking demonstrations at the Farmers’ Markets and at the Mobile Farm Stand. Our demonstrations and tastings focus on culturally diverse foods and easy-to-replicate affordable recipes that highlight seasonal produce readily available from our markets/stands. Last year, we conduced 30 demonstrations and this year, we are expected to conduct close to 60 Learn to Love Local education sessions. 4. Food Hub (Currently in the planning phase): This long-term project involves acquiring a physical structure where the Coastal Foodshed team will be involved in aggregating and distributing local food products to larger institutions. The food hub feasibility process has been positively impacted by the recent formation of a partnership with the New Bedford Public Schools to help supply local food to their foodservice as they return to scratch cooking and healthy offerings at all the elementary schools. This effort is particularly impactful in a community such as New Bedford where 100% of students receive free breakfast and lunch.