The Family Nutrition Program’s Food Security Project is designed to respond to the high levels of food insecurity reported by SNAP-Ed participants and low-income Virginians in general. The project focuses on eliminating “food deserts,” as this lack of access to healthy foods both exacerbates the effects of food insecurity and represents an opportunity for supporting the vitality Virginia’s communities with the creation of a market for locally grown produce.
Project activities include:
- Recruiting volunteers to perform at-market low cost, healthy meal demonstrations
- Assisting market managers with their outreach to SNAP families through training and creating marketing materials
- Orienting adult FNP participants to shopping at farmers markets
- Assisting market managers with creating mobile markets to serve food deserts
- Educating families about the opportunity to use SNAP to purchase seeds and the benefits of kitchen gardens
For more information, please contact Meredith Ledlie Johnson, FNP project associate.