Will fund new Virginia Fresh Match Medicaid Incentive Pilot Program at local farmers’ markets
Local Environmental Agriculture Project (LEAP), the organization that works to equitably connect local farmers and consumers, has just been awarded a $24,988 grant from Wholesome Wave, the national nonprofit working to help Americans in poverty afford fruits and vegetables. The grant, one of just 9 that Wholesome Wave has awarded nationally, chosen from over 100 applications, will specifically fund LEAP’s pilot of a new Virginia Fresh Match Medicaid Incentive Program in two regions of Virginia.
The Virginia Fresh Match Medicaid Incentive pilot program builds on LEAP’s Healthy Food Incentive program that makes fresh, local foods more affordable and accessible to people throughout Roanoke City. For this program, every dollar spent on food at a LEAP Community Market, Medicaid recipients will receive an additional dollar to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. The Medicaid Incentive pilot builds on successful programs, like Healthy Roanoke Valley’s Fresh Foods Rx implemented at New Horizons and Carilion Clinic SE and Roanoke-Salem, which provides “prescriptions” for fresh produce for patients who have diet-related illnesses.
In Roanoke City, 41% of Medicaid recipients (over 10,000 residents) do not receive SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps). This means that a large number of low-income Roanoke residents may not be able to afford the fresh fruits and vegetables needed to maintain a healthy diet and are not currently eligible for programs like LEAP’s SNAP Double Value program ($1 SNAP at market = $2 to spend on fresh food).
LEAP markets include the Grandin Village Community Market, West End Community Market, and LEAP Mobile Market. All markets are made up of vendors who grow or make food within 100 miles of Roanoke. As a partner in this grant, The George Washington Regional Commission/The Farmers Market.co will serve residents of Fredericksburg with the same Virginia Fresh Match Medicaid Incentive pilot. Virginia Fresh Match is a network of farmers markets working to improve fresh food access across the commonwealth.
Fellow awardees across the country will launch and grow innovative pilots that creatively use “nutrition incentives,” bonus dollars for fresh produce, to address food insecurity with access to nutritious food. Winning projects include produce prescriptions from physicians, mobile markets, and projects serving Medicaid patients and soup kitchen clients and even the development of a brick-and-mortar store specifically offering affordable healthy options to low-income shoppers.
