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Date: 10/3/2023
SPRINGFIELD — A group of community partners have come together to provide Springfield families with increased access to healthy food, through a collaboration known as Springfield EATS.
Springfield EATS, which stands for equity, advocacy, transformation, system change, is a newly formed collaborative focused on equitable access to healthy food and increased awareness of the Healthy Incentives Program.
The Healthy Incentives Program is a program in Massachusetts that provides recipients of SNAP benefits — formerly known as food stamps — with additional assistance when they use SNAP to purchase fruits, vegetables and food-producing plants at farmers markets, farm stands, community supported agriculture and mobile markets.
The Springfield EATS partnership includes the Springfield Policy Food Council, Square One and Fertile Ground. On Sept. 26, the group gathered at Gardening the Community on Walnut Street to celebrate its kickoff. Other community partners including the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, Martin Luther King, Jr. Family Center and Trinity Health Systems, according to Square One.
Gardening the Community Chair Liz Wills-O’Gilvie explained that the collaboration is centered on equitable access.
She went on to say that less expensive food contributes to higher weights.
Wills-O’Gilvie noted that Massachusetts is a leader in the Healthy Incentive Program, which is embedded in its SNAP program.
When people stop in at the farm stand, Wills-O’Gilvie said most of them are utilize nutrition assistance programs like SNAP.
“Even if my SNAP is $5, if I go to the food stand, I will make money because they are [giving] money back,” explained Square One President and CEO Dawn Forbes DiStefano.
An example provided by Mass.gov on how the Healthy Incentive Program works is, “You have $50 in your SNAP balance. A [Healthy Incentive Program] vendor charges you $10 in SNAP for tomatoes and strawberries. The $10 you spend in SNAP is instantly replaced on your [electronic benefits transfer] card. Your receipt will show that your SNAP balance is still $50 and that you have used $10 of [Healthy Incentive Program] toward your monthly cap.”
“We’re basically paying people to get food,” Wills-O’Gilvie added.
Gardening the Community purchased three urban lots throughout the city, including the one on Walnut Street, which is student run. Everything planted in the gardens was done by the youth.
Wills-O’Gilvie said that all the lots were “nothing” and “basically pits before we started.” With high expenses such as bringing in soil, the group has received some funding but most of it is donor supported.
Health and Human Services Commissioner Helen Caulton-Harris recognized the Food Policy Council for the foundational work on this collaboration.
She said this project is important in all components because it involves youth.
Looking at the data for Springfield, Caulton-Harris said there are substantial health disparities, so a project like this is “critical” for the residents.
Moving forward, Caulton-Harris shared that she would continue working on this initiative and is happy to be a collaborator.