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<b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black"></span><span style="color:black">For Immediate Release<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<b><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:10.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black">Contact: <b>Jennifer Zaso</b></span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:10.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto">
<b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black">(406) 926-1625 office<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:10.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto">
<b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black">(585) 704-5905 cell<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:10.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto">
<a href="mailto:jenny@missoulacfac.org"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt">jenny@missoulacfac.org</span></b></a><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black"> </span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:10.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:0in">
<b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black">November 12, 2020</span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<b>NIFA<span style="color:red"> </span>INVESTS $500,000 IN MONTANA’S DOUBLE SNAP DOLLARS PROGRAM<o:p></o:p></b></p>
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<b><span style="color:black">MISSOULA, MT – The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced a $27.9M investment toward encouraging low-income families to purchase healthy food this week. The Missoula-based Community Food and Agriculture
Coalition (CFAC)</span></b><span style="color:black"> is one of 30 organizations nationwide to receive this funding. CFAC will receive $500,000, given through the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP), to expand equity and food access through
the statewide Double SNAP Dollars (DSD) program that CFAC has been administering since 2015. Each dollar will be matched by 1:1, resulting in a total of $1M toward the program over the next four years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black">Since 2015, the DSD program has served over 6,400 customers, leading to increased fresh fruit and vegetable consumption by SNAP customers.
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in;background:white">During that time, $500,000 has been spent through the DSD program on local foods, boosting Montana farmers’ income.</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in;background:white"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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The Double SNAP Dollars (DSD) program doubles individual’s SNAP benefits for fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers markets.
<span style="color:black">For every $1 spent with a SNAP benefit card on fruits and vegetables, customers are matched another dollar $1 free in fruits and vegetables with DSD.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black">Currently DSD is being offered at 26 sites across Montana: 22 farmers markets, two CSAs, one farm stand, and one grocery store. Three farmers markets in Missoula, Bozeman and Hamilton
and Camas Organic Market in Hot Springs will offer DSD this winter. </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#1D1C1D;background:white">This new funding will focus on sustaining the DSD network through 2024 and will bolster
opportunities for pilot programs in rural and Native communities in addition to several retail grocery locations. Sites will be equitably distributed across the state, creating more and easier access points to extra fruits and vegetables and generating more
income for Montana's local farmers year-round.</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black;background:white">"Nutrition incentives are a win-win for everyone involved.” Ian Finch, the food access programs manager at the Coalition, explained. “They’re a win for low income
families who can access more nutritious food, a win for local businesses and a win for our local farmers who are able to sell more produce to more members of the local community.”</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background:white"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black">CFAC established the Double SNAP Dollars Network, a statewide coalition of 12 organizations, that helps to set the priorities and direction of the DSD program each year. The Network
includes National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), Farm Hands - Nourish the Flathead, Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, Montana Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Tribal Health Department, Rural Dynamics,
Inc., Montana Food Bank Network, MSU Extension Nutrition Education Program, Hi-Line Kitchen Processing and Garden Center, Fort Peck Community College Wellness Center, American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, Kalispell Regional Healthcare, and
Open and Local. </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black">The GusNIP funding is incredibly helpful in Montana, yet the need for additional food assistance programs is growing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black;background:white">The Double SNAP Dollars Network is working to encourage additional investment from Montana State Legislature to fund expansion into more farmer’s markets
and retail spaces. The Network will work with lawmakers during the upcoming legislative session to advance this goal and get nutritious food into more Montana SNAP households.
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background:white"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black">To do this, “We have initiated consultation with tribal members of Blackfeet Nation, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation, and the Fort Belknap
Indian Community, to explore objectives and discuss food sovereignty efforts already in motion among Native communities in Montana,” said Lauren Tobias, Wellness Director at Fort Peck Community College and DSD Network member. “We aspire to connect in a similar
fashion with each tribe within Montana’s borders. Excitingly, we have just formalized a partnership between CFAC and Fort Peck Community College’s Good Health & Wellness in Indian Country program, a 5-year CDC grant-funded initiative. To kick off this partnership,
we are preparing to hire a team of local food-systems leaders on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, to examine together how the DSD Network can most appropriately stand with the ongoing efforts of the Fort Peck Tribes to self-govern their local food systems,
while also supporting immediate access to healthy food and food security.”</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black">CFAC will start work immediately identifying new rural and Native communities in Montana to work with and retail locations, farmers markets and other business owners to establish
new Double SNAP Dollar (DSD) locations across the state. </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">###<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black">About Community Farm and Agriculture Coalition (CFAC)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.6pt;background:white"><span style="color:black"><a href="http://www.missoulacfac.org"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">CFAC</span></a></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#333333">
is a non-profit organization with the mission to develop and strengthen Missoula County’s food system and that of the surrounding region by promoting sustainable agriculture, building regional self-reliance, assuring that all have equal access to nutritious,
affordable and culturally appropriate food, and advocating for local, state and national policies that promote our local food system.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:14.7pt;background:white">
<span style="color:black"><a href="https://nifa.usda.gov/funding-opportunity/food-insecurity-nutrition-incentive-fini-grant-program?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term="><span style="color:#0070C0">GusNIP</span></a> is a
joint program between NIFA and USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, which oversees SNAP and is responsible for evaluating the impact of the variety of types of incentive programs being deployed by GusNIP grantees. These grantees represent a variety of peer-reviewed
projects, including small pilot projects, regular projects, large-scale projects, produce prescription projects, and one training, technical assistance, evaluation, and information center project. GusNIP brings together stakeholders from different parts of
the national food system to improve the nutrition and health status of SNAP households.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Nunito",serif;color:black">Ian Finch | he/him/his</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Nunito",serif;color:#538135">Food Access Programs Manager</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:#538135"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Nunito",serif;color:black">Community Food & Agriculture Coalition</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Nunito",serif;color:#538135"><a href="http://missoulacfac.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color:#538135">missoulacfac.org</span></a></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Nunito",serif;color:#1155CC">
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Nunito",serif;color:black">|</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> 406.439.5331 (cell) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><img border="0" width="128" height="49" style="width:1.3291in;height:.5125in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D6B8FC.80B05F00" alt="CFAC_Logo_Acronym_FullColor"><o:p></o:p></p>
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