Double Up Food Bucks, the Colorado program that allows Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program recipients to double the value of each dollar spent on locally grown produce, is at risk of running out of money.
Without more funding, the Food Bucks currency issued to, and sometimes stockpiled by, SNAP recipients would be rendered temporarily worthless.
However, the program’s facilitators are scrambling to scrape together funding and remain optimistic.
“We’re in a bit of a funding crisis – specifically, Durango Natural Foods,” said Caitlin Stuart, community engagement and navigator manager for Nourish Colorado, the nonprofit that facilitates the program. “... We are committed to not letting the funding run out.”
The program matches SNAP recipients’ spending with up to $20 per day in a currency accepted at participating partner vendors that can only be used to buy fresh produce. In Durango, the Durango Natural Foods Co-op and the Farmers Market are the only two vendors partnered with the program.
In a phone interview with The Durango Herald conducted while she stood in line to enter the U.S. Capitol building, Stewart said she and other Nourish Colorado employees have frantically made the rounds on the Hill this week, meeting with every Democratic Colorado legislator to try to secure more funding for the program.
All partnered stores dedicate administrative time to keep track of sales made with Food Bucks and invoice Nourish Colorado each month. Each partner has a cap on Food Bucks spending, and while the entire program is in need of funding, Stuart said Durango Natural Foods is most affected at this time.
If the allotment for the co-op dries up, the store would have to stop accepting Food Bucks until another allocation from which it could seek reimbursement was established. Duncan said the store likely has funding to continue accepting Food Bucks for several more months.
Durango Natural Foods is among the largest Food Bucks partners in the state. The store’s Front End Manager Jordan Duncan said the co-op does about $11,000 worth of business in Food Bucks each month.
Ever since SNAP emergency allotments, a pandemic-era policy that automatically gave each SNAP recipient the maximum allotment for their household regardless of income, ended in March, Duncan said Food Bucks redemption at the co-op has been up.
“Last month was actually our highest month as far as Double Ups we have taken in, and that was a little over $15,000,” Duncan said.
On average, each SNAP recipient’s benefits were reduced by $90.
Community partners that distribute food to anyone experiencing food insecurity have also reported large increases in demand since the emergency allotments ended. The La Plata Family Centers Coalition reported a 30% jump in food distribution in May.
Food Bucks do not expire and can be spent at any time. Some SNAP recipients have taken to stockpiling the bills for later use – which could be a problem, if funding falls short and the co-op has to stop accepting them.
“If we do have to stop at any point, there will be people that still have some leftover or stashed and they just won’t have anything that we can really do with them at the moment,” Duncan said.
Nourish Colorado was able to find some extra money to increase Durango Natural Food’s limit and enable the store to continue to accept Food Bucks as the nonprofit seeks a more sustainable funding stream.
Funding has been historically provided by the Gus Schumacher Nutritional Incentive Program, which is a part of the USDA Farm Bill. Stuart and other Nourish Colorado representatives have spent the last two weeks in Washington, D.C., pushing lawmakers to remove a provision of the grants requiring that Nourish Colorado match all grant funds dollar for dollar.
“Our team is a team of four and we do not have the time to fundraise to match dollar for dollar all of those funds,” Stuart said.
Stuart said lawmakers, specifically Sen. Michael Bennet and 8th Congressional District Rep. Yadira Caraveo, both of whom sit on the agriculture committee of their respective chambers, have been responsive to petitioning.
A spokeswoman for Caraveo said in an email to the Herald that the congresswoman’s office is aware of the funding issue and is looking to support a fix in the 2023 Farm Bill by increasing overall funds to the Gus Schumacher Nutritional Incentive Program.
“Our tone here is hopeful,” Stuart said.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
