Administered by Hope Enterprise Corporation in partnership with The Food Trust, the Mid South Healthy Food Financing Initiative is a regional healthy food financing program that offers flexible financing for new store development and renovations, as well as training with retailers to promote healthier choices projects across three states in the Mid South region.

This set of 4 one-pagers introduces the rationale behind and benefits of a comprehensive approach to the retail environment. Use the sample talking points in each of the conversation starters below to identify shared goals and make the case for collaboration.

This case study profiles the Healthy Corner Store Program (HCP) developed as part of The Health Trust’s Good. To Go. (G2G) campaign, a community-based campaign aimed at increasing the purchase of produce and quality foods through a network of on-the-ground, trusted community vendors, including corner store retailers, Fresh Cart mobile produce vendors, farmers’ market managers, and urban farmers. The case study documented key efforts working with corner store retailers in San Jose over the course of two years (2013-15). 

This report focuses on state legislation in all 50 states enacted between 2012 and 2014 that aimed to strengthen various components of local food systems (see Table 1 on page 2). The report is organized into chapters focused on six policy areas with the most state legislative action: local food system approaches; farm to school; farmers’ markets; community gardens and urban agriculture; healthy grocery retail; and food policy councils. The report was created using NCSL bill and law searches; communication with established and new local food system contacts; analysis and synthesis of existing research and case studies; and numerous interviews with state lawmakers, state agency staff, relevant nonprofits and other stakeholders. 

This report shares how our Double Up Food Bucks program grew from a small pilot in Detroit to a statewide success story that supported more than 200,000 low-income families and more than 1,000 farmers in 2013 alone, and has had a greater than $5 million effect on Michigan’s economy.

The eight Get Healthy Philly (GHP) markets—opened between 2010 and 2011 in partnership with the Department of Public Health—and The Food Trust’s other farmers’ markets continue to grow along various measures of success: SNAP sales, Philly Food Bucks redemptions, customer and farmer survey data, WIC and Senior FMNP sales, customer counts, and number of operating market days. This report summarizes and evaluates the impact, reach and key lessons learned from the 2013 farmers’ market season and the fourth season of the Philly Food Bucks program.

This resource provides a guide for those interested in working with local Kansas governments to use local laws to enhance and support the growth and vitality of local farmers’ markets. Please consider the questions posed in the guide in order to understand how to move forward and develop, refine, and enhance your community’s farmers’ market.