Nominees

The Monadnock Food Co-op in Keene, NH opened its doors for the first time on April 3, 2013.  One of our store’s founding visions is to create an accessible, community-owned downtown food market that welcomes and connects community.  Providing access to healthy, local and organic food is a core value and critical component to our Co-op’s success, along with fostering a healthy, thriving community.

In our region, 33% of students qualify for the federal government’s free and reduced school lunch program.  At the same time, fifty-nine percent of adults are overweight or obese, and about 11% of residents get food from the Community Kitchen of Keene.  The Monadnock Food Co-op wants to contribute to community solutions around these issues of hunger and obesity in our region.

With these goals and realities in mind, the Monadnock Food Co-op launched its Healthy Food for All Program (HFFA) this fall, an initiative that makes healthy, local and organic food options more affordable.  The Program gives a 10% discount to people receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, reducing the financial barrier to choosing healthy food options.

The HFFA Program was developed with technical support from the Cooperative Fund of New England and the Neighboring Food Co-op Association.  It is an innovative alternative to an aged-based discount (senior discount) and awards benefits to those who are most in financial need: http://monadnockfood.coop/healthy-food/.

• Support local efforts to end hunger and ensure that all children and families have access to healthy, affordable foods by collaborating with our community partners on future projects, programs and policies.
• Increase our Healthy Food for All Program enrollment through outreach to local and state level human service organizations.
• Build a more local, sustainable food system in our region, diverting sales from non-local sources to local sources at our store. 

Our supporting data for the Healthy Food for All Program includes:

The program uses best practices in healthy food access research and demonstrates an innovative new approach to serving our community -- illustrating how we can address food insecurity and ultimately make our community stronger.

• 34 Healthy Food for All Program participants are already benefiting from this program, allowing individuals and their families to eat healthier.  Our goal is to reach 200 participants by this time next year. 
• Program participants received $300 in discounts to date and we plan to grow this number by 10% each month over the next year, more than doubling its impact in a year’s time. 

~ Michael Faber, Monadnock Food Co-op General Manager

~ Barrie McClune, Senior Program Coordinator, Active Voice

The Monadnock Food Co-op in Keene, NH opened its doors for the first time on April 3, 2013.  One of our store’s founding visions is to create an accessible, community-owned downtown food market that welcomes and connects community.  Providing access to healthy, local and organic food is a core value and critical component to our Co-op’s success, along with fostering a healthy, thriving community.

In our region, 33% of students qualify for the federal government’s free and reduced school lunch program.  At the same time, fifty-nine percent of adults are overweight or obese, and about 11% of residents get food from the Community Kitchen of Keene.  The Monadnock Food Co-op wants to contribute to community solutions around these issues of hunger and obesity in our region.

With these goals and realities in mind, the Monadnock Food Co-op launched its Healthy Food for All Program (HFFA) this fall, an initiative that makes healthy, local and organic food options more affordable.  The Program gives a 10% discount to people receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, reducing the financial barrier to choosing healthy food options.

The HFFA Program was developed with technical support from the Cooperative Fund of New England and the Neighboring Food Co-op Association.  It is an innovative alternative to an aged-based discount (senior discount) and awards benefits to those who are most in financial need: http://monadnockfood.coop/healthy-food/.

• Support local efforts to end hunger and ensure that all children and families have access to healthy, affordable foods by collaborating with our community partners on future projects, programs and policies.
• Increase our Healthy Food for All Program enrollment through outreach to local and state level human service organizations.
• Build a more local, sustainable food system in our region, diverting sales from non-local sources to local sources at our store. 

Our supporting data for the Healthy Food for All Program includes:

The program uses best practices in healthy food access research and demonstrates an innovative new approach to serving our community -- illustrating how we can address food insecurity and ultimately make our community stronger.

• 34 Healthy Food for All Program participants are already benefiting from this program, allowing individuals and their families to eat healthier.  Our goal is to reach 200 participants by this time next year. 
• Program participants received $300 in discounts to date and we plan to grow this number by 10% each month over the next year, more than doubling its impact in a year’s time. 

~ Michael Faber, Monadnock Food Co-op General Manager

~ Barrie McClune, Senior Program Coordinator, Active Voice