Office of Food Systems Resilience Quarterly Newsletter (September 2024)

Office of Food Systems Resilience | Quarterly Newsletter | September 2024

This summer, the Office of Food Systems Resilience (OFSR) launched several new programs aligned with the Strategic Plan to End Childhood Hunger that build connectivity in our local food system. The OFSR team had the opportunity to host and attend a variety of community events, meetings, and site visits that connected diverse community perspectives and insights to our programs and initiatives. We continue our work this fall with a spirit of collaboration and innovation as we continue to learn from our food system partners and residents.

• FY25 School-Based Food Assistance Grant Program
• MC Groceries Program
• OFSR Site Visit to CHEER Community Gardens
• Pictures from OFSR in the Community

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FY25 School-Based Food Assistance Grant Program

The OFSR, in partnership with the Office of Grants Management (OGM), launched the FY25 School-Based Food Assistance Grant in July, with 13 applicants submitting funding requests totaling over $2 million. The program supports connections between food assistance provider organizations and Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) sites to ensure that children and their families have regular access to healthy food in a convenient, accessible format. The OFSR worked closely with the MCPS Offices of Student Services and Student and Family Support and Engagement to develop and circulate a survey to school sites to identify school-based food security needs and gaps. The survey responses were used to establish partnerships between 60+ school sites and 11 awarded applicants.

The matches between the schools and grantees are based on the compatibility of the school’s needs and location and the grantee’s geographic and programmatic capacity and performance history. The awarded organizations are:

• AfriThrive, Clifton Park Baptist Church, Cross Community, Inc., Manna Food Center, Nourish Now, Nourishing Bethesda, Rainbow Community Development Center, Shepherd’s Table, Small Things Matter, So What Else, The Upcounty Hub

These organizations will provide weekly, biweekly, or monthly food assistance services to their partner schools from September 2024 through June 30, 2025, including pre-packed boxes or bags of shelf-stable, culturally relevant pantry items, fresh produce, and prepared meals. This grant program will support an estimated 6,000 households.  

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MC Groceries Program

The MC Groceries Program began supporting families in Montgomery County in July, by offering access to fresh and non-perishable food items through an online shopping service powered through Instacart Health Fresh Funds. The OFSR collaborated with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to develop eligibility criteria and enroll nearly 600 households with approximately 1,250 children to participate in the first cohort of the program. Participating households receive $100 per month in Fresh Funds for each eligible child aged 0-18, up to a total of $400.  The program empowers families to choose which retailer to shop from and which grocery items to purchase based on their unique tastes, budget, dietary and health needs and cultural preferences:

• Families can use their Fresh Funds stipends to purchase a wide selection of food and beverages from local retailers, including fresh and frozen produce, meat, dairy and pantry essentials.
• Participants can select from delivery or pick-up options, helping to mitigate time and transportation barriers that impact food security.
• The County has also rolled out a custom Virtual Storefront on Instacart to encourage healthy choices.

The development and implementation of this program have required close coordination and partnership with DHHS as families are connected to case managers through their participation in programs with Children, Youth, and Family Services, Linkages to Learning, or the Navigation Unit.

Sprouts Farmers Market in Burtonsville hosted an MC Groceries launch event on Thursday, August 29th. The event included remarks from County Executive Marc Elrich, Instacart's Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs Casey Aden-Wansbury, and Montgomery County Councilmembers Gabe Albornoz, Will Jawando, and Kristin Mink.

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OFSR Site Visit to CHEER Community Gardens 

In September, the OFSR collaborated with CHEER (Community Health and Empowerment through Education and Research) to host a site visit to the Long Branch community garden plots supported by the OFSR’s Resident and Community Gardening Grant Program. County Executive Marc Elrich, Councilmember Gabe Albornoz, and representatives from Adventist Healthcare, the DHHS Asian-American Health Initiative, and Montgomery Parks attended. CHEER’s gardening activities engage approximately 50 total residents including adult gardeners and youth participants, and the harvested food supports food security for close to 100 total households in the Long Branch community.

The gardening program focuses on growing culturally relevant crops that are unique to the preferences of the gardening participants. These crops are produced in the residential gardens of various community members who have donated their private land to support community food production and assistance efforts through CHEER.

CHEER has also received funding through the OFSR’s Food as Medicine Grant to provide nutrition education on a weekly basis to approximately 50 clients through a contracted partnership with Adventist Healthcare, and to support 50 total students/households receiving care through the School-Based Health Centers at Rolling Terrace ES and New Hampshire Estates ES. CHEER’s unique model demonstrates the value of food sovereignty and of leveraging private-public partnerships to address the root causes of hunger through paired public health interventions.

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OFSR in the Community:

Manna Food Center coordinated a series of site visits this summer featuring Farm to Food Bank partners. At Chirandu Farm, two sisters, Marcey and Precious, cultivate a variety of culturally relevant crops that are donated through the Farm to Food Bank program throughout the harvest season to support the needs of County residents, particularly those with African backgrounds.

One Acre Farm tour, hosted by the Montgomery County Food Council, highlighted the Compost Crew’s on-farm composting initiatives. Representatives from the Maryland Departments of Agriculture and the Environment, Montgomery County DEP, Master Gardeners, community groups including Capital Area Food Bank, Manna Food Center, Zero Waster Montgomery, and more discussed opportunities for improving food waste infrastructure in Montgomery County.

In July, the MCPS Division of Food and Nutrition Services production facility tour, which included representatives from the Montgomery County Food Council, Montgomery County Office of Agriculture, and USDA Food and Nutrition Services, focused on opportunities to support farm-to-school procurement in partnership with County food farms.

This is an Open House for the REACH Hub at A. Mario Loiderman Middle School, a project led by the Charles Koiner Conservancy for Urban Farming. Production on this urban farm will begin this fall, supporting students and neighbors with access to food production education and healthy, culturally relevant food items.

Nourishing Bethesda hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new Choice Market, which has been introduced to support a more dignified, flexible food access experience for residents. Council President Andrew Friedson, Councilmember Gabe Albornoz, and a variety of community partners attended the event.

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Questions? Please contact Catherine Nardi at catherine.nardi@montgomerycountymd.gov.