1. Increasing Education at the Farmer’s Market
Saturday, APRIL 2, 2016
Increasing Education at the Farmer’s Market
Mayra Ramirez
Metro Denver Program Associate
Cooking Matters Colorado

2. Cooking Matters
In Colorado… More than 16 million children are at risk of hunger in America. In Colorado, 1 in 5 children are at risk for hunger and malnutrition. We are a nutrition education program that helps families by teaching them how to prepare healthy low-cost meals. We partner with community agencies serving low-income families across the state. Those agencies host our programming and refer participants. In 23 years, we’ve served nearly 86,000 participants through -Cooking & nutrition courses -Grocery store tours -Other education projects
Cooking Matters Colorado is part of Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign, which focuses on ending childhood hunger in America.
Share Our Strength works to make sure that children across the nation get the healthy foods they need to grow where they live, learn and play.
For CMCO, that mission drives us to end childhood hunger in CO by providing the participants with the nutrition education needed to make healthier, low-cost choices for their families.
Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

3. Cooking Matters Colorado Service Area by County w/Specific Partners
2015
Cooking Matters Colorado
Service Area by County w/Specific Partners
CMC Staff Coordinator
CMC Satellite Staff and Contract Coordinators
South Central Contract Coordinators
Western Slope Contract Coordinator
San Luis Valley Contract Coordinator
Garfield Co. Contract Coordinator
Weld Co. Contract Coordinator
Full-Time SOS Coordinators
Train-the-Trainer model
Polka Dot = Shared counties Full-time & T-t-T
Potential T-t-T partners
Full-time Satellite Contractors
Sedgwick
Logan
T-t-T Partners
Larimer
19.
Moffat
Weld
G & 20.
Jackson
Phillips
Routt
Morgan 5.
Grand 1.
(Broomfield) 4
Boulder
Yuma
7. & 6.
Rio Blanco
Adams
Gilpin
Washington 9.
Clear
Denver 67
Denver
Creek 4.
Arapahoe
Garfield F
Eagle
Jefferson 4.
Summit 2.
Kit Carson
13.
Elbert
Douglas
Pitkin 3.
Lake
Park 4.
Mesa D
Teller
11.
Delta
D & 21
Lincoln
El Paso
A & 17.
Cheyenne
Gunnison
18.
Chaffee
Fremont B
Kiowa
Montrose
D & 16 & 22
Crowley
12. & 15.
Ouray
16.
San Miguel
16.
Hinsdale
Saguache
C & 10.
Custer
Pueblo B.
Prowers 8.
Bent
12. & 15.
Otero
15. & 12.
Dolores
San
Juan
Huerfano
14.
Mineral C
Alamosa
C & 10.
Rio Grande
C & 10.
Montezuma E
Las Animas
14.
Baca
Costilla C
La Plata E
Archuleta
E &
Conejos C

4. Our Educational Approach:
Effective nutrition education…
Cooking Matters…
Focuses on behaviors (not knowledge)
Requires active participation
Takes into account the needs of specific population groups
Includes self-assessment and feedback
Applies an appropriate theoretical framework
Teaches healthy food preparation and budgeting skills
Provides hands-on food prep and skills practice
Trains instructors to engage participants in active dialogue and tailor the course to their group
Weekly lessons allow participants to reflect on learning; receive feedback and reinforcement from instructors and peers
Is built around tenets of Social Cognitive Theory
Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

5. Our Educational Approach
Hands-on Learning
Allows participants to learn while they cook or participate in nutrition education activities!
Team Teaching
Creates an engaging learning experience for both the participants and the instructors.
Facilitated Dialogue
Method of group teaching that involves active participation of both the learner and the educator. Meets the participants where they are and creates an environment to develop realistic solutions to shared challenges.
Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

6. Our supporters:
Cooking Matters Colorado programming is generously supported by:
USDA Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance
Program-Education (SNAP-Ed)
Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

7. Pop Up Event at Produce and Health Fair
Pop-Up Event Tours
As you can see, each tent is a different station that participants travel to at their own place.
The black table is the registration table where participants fill out their waiver, surveys, and receive their incentives.
Pop Up Event at Produce and Health Fair
Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

8. Nutrition Education Station at Operation Free Bird 2014
Pop-Up Event Tours
This is one of the nutrition education stations at one of our pop-up events in the Denver Metro Area.
You can see that there are 2 facilitators at the station to provide the participants with education, visual props to clarify explanations and for participants to practice the skills they are learning.
Depending on the size of your tour, you might need 1-2 facilitators per nutrition education station.
CMATS facilitators can be trained online and using the Pop-Up Toolkit that now has been enhanced by including instructions on how to implement a tour to fit the needs of a Farmer’s Market.
In some cases, we are able to provide samples of a Cooking Matters recipe using ingredients fitting the station: ProduceSW corn and bean salad, GrainsWIC approved cereal mix, Dairylower fat & alternative milk options.
Nutrition Education Station at Operation Free Bird 2014
Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

9. Nutrition Education Stations
Produce
Fresh/Frozen/Canned
Unit pricing
Seasonality
Convenience vs. whole
Grains
Whole vs. refined
Label reading: ID whole grains & serving sizes
Benefits of fiber
Sugar content
Proteins
Added ingredients
Unit pricing: frozen, fresh & convenience
Low fat & lean options
Dairy
Label reading: serving size
Unit pricing: bulk
Low-fat options
North West Apple Salad or a “flight”
SouthWest Black Bean & Corn Salad
WIC-approved cereal mix
Low-fat & alternative milk options
Use the seasonality chart from participant book
We have resources to build your own toolkit bin and equipment materials
-have talking points exclusive to farmer’s market.
Good food on a budget guide
Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

10. Pop-Up Tour at the Farmer’s Market
La Plata County (Durango)
Growing Partners of Southwest Colorado

11. Steps Prior to Event Recruitment of participants through:
Partner agencies like Family Resource Association, WIC, Subsidized Housing
Past/present cooking class participants
Preparation:
Funding: - from Farmers Market Promotion Grant
Farmer’s Market partnerships – Farmers Market Manager, Chef Volunteer, Growing Partners, Cooking Matters
Spoke to farmers ahead of time
Who is willing to share about their farm, food and cooking tips?
Who speaks Spanish?
Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

12. Event Day: Farmer’s Market Education
Coordinated to meet at a specific spot/time
Started with Managers booth to discuss EBT machine
Moved from booth to booth, plus mock store
Ended with survey, cooking demo samples and recipes
Participants received $10 - $25 of FM bucks
Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

13. Farmers Market Education
Successes
Brought many first-time shoppers
Educational for regularly attending shoppers as well
Farmer – Consumer Connections
Visibility of food insecurity
Visibility for Cooking Matters (new volunteers, partners)
Received grant funding
Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

14. Farmers Market Education
Challenges
Attendance was not as good as hoped
Busy environment
Varying farmer’s market rules and structure
Concerns that participants will not return after the event
Lots of coordination (participants, curriculum, food, etc)
Finding funding
What benefits do you see to having a CMATS popup tour at your market? Any barriers?
-WIC
-SNAP
-Transportation
-Hours of operation
-How does the consumer find your FM? How could we leverage the CO Farm Fresh Directory?
How to engage kids at your FM:
-Chefs and Kids
-Exploring Foods Togethers
-Part of the plant
Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

15. Contact Information
Mayra Ramirez
Denver, CO
Thank you!
Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters