Nonprofit organizations expanding efforts to make fresh produce more affordable for low-income consumers
by Jim McLean, KHI News Service
Local food advocates say a bill approved by Kansas lawmakers that restricts the authority of cities, counties and school districts to regulate junk food no longer constitutes a threat to their efforts to expand access to fresh fruits and vegetables.
They were plenty concerned in March when the House passed House Bill 2595.
Supporters of that bill, mostly Republicans, said it was needed to stop local governments from interfering with private businesses by regulating the labeling or nutritional content of food and drinks sold in restaurants, grocery stores and vending machines. But others worried it could threaten a host of initiatives under way in Kansas and the Kansas City area to encourage healthier eating.
In particular, organizers were concerned how language in the bill that prohibited incentives might affect “Double-Up Food Buck” programs, which essentially double the purchasing power of people in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. For every $1 they spend on locally grown fruits and vegetables, they get another dollar’s worth of fresh produce free, up to a daily limit of $25.
Five Price Chopper stores and 17 farmers markets in the Kansas City area are participating in a pilot project operated by the Mid-America Regional Council and Cultivate KC.
Also, the Market Match program doubles the purchasing power of SNAP recipients at farmers markets in five Kansas communities: Atchison, Iola, Lawrence, Manhattan and Pittsburg.
“We were very concerned about protecting those programs,” said Ashley Jones-Wisner, policy director for KC Healthy Kids, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving community health.
But advocates had time to work on a solution, thanks to the Senate Commerce Committee, which throughout April took no action on the House-passed bill.
When the bill resurfaced in a House-Senate conference committee at the end of the session, Jone-Wisner and lobbyist Kathy Damron were ready. They convinced members of the committee to include protective language in the final version of the bill.
“We cleared the language with a couple of different legal teams,” Jones-Wisner said. “I think it covers the bases.”
The change clears the way for a $5 million expansion of double-up programs in Kansas and Missouri.
Marlene Nagel, MARC’s director of community development, said organizations partnering to expand the double-up program plan to fund it with a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and matching funds from several area foundations.
Final word on the USDA grant is expected by the end of the month, Nagel said.
In the meantime, Nagel said, surveys done by researchers at the University of Kansas Medical Center indicate that the pilot programs are producing the intended results.
“They have surveyed a number of SNAP customers and are finding that they are purchasing more fresh produce and using it to help feed their families and eat healthier,” Nagel said.
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