Quest, WIC payments worth double at Brown Deer Farmers Market
People who buy groceries with government assistance can now get more bang for their buck at the Brown Deer Farmers Market.
A new partnership with Children’s Community Health Plan allows the market to offer dollar-fordollar matching for Quest, WIC and senior voucher purchases up to $60. That means someone can purchase $60 of groceries with only $30 of government assistance.
Brown Deer is one of five markets in Milwaukee County that matches government assistance payment, according to the Milwaukee County Farmers Market Coalition. The Tosa Farmers Market, Oak Creek Farmers Market, Near West Side Farmers Market and Fondy Farmers Market also match government assistance payments.
However, the dollar-matching program was so popular at the Fondy Farmers Market that funds have already been depleted for the season. As a result, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield will
provide match funding for the market on Sept. 14.
“We’re hoping to raise more funds, as the demand is very high at our market,” said Katie Hassemer, director of the Fondy Farmers Market.
This is the third year the Brown Deer market has accepted Quest cards, a form of electronic benefits transfer (EBT) issued through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
For the first time this year, the Brown Deer Farmers Market has also added Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and senior vouchers to the list of acceptable payment methods.
Brown Deer is one of about 16 farmers markets in Milwaukee County to accept EBT, WIC or senior vouchers, according to the farmers market coalition.
Hunger Task Force also signs people up for Quest or EBT benefits at the farmers market.
Growing trend
The number of Wisconsin farmers markets accepting SNAP benefits more than doubled in recent years, jumping from 64 in 2012 to 162 in 2017, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
The biggest barrier to low-income people shopping at these farmers markets is the lack of knowledge that government assistance is an accepted form of payment, according to farmers market surveys conducted by UW Extension researchers Amber Canto and Rachel Glaza.
The Brown Deer Farmers Market is trying to raise awareness of its new benefit programs with help from Melissa Felix.
Felix, who used to receive EBT benefits, said she knows what it’s like to not be able to afford food.
“I know how to make a stretch,” she said.
Felix was hired in March to inform people in Brown Deer and the north side of Milwaukee that Quest, WIC and senior vouchers can be used at the farmers market from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. every Wednesday in front of the Burlington store, 9078 N. Green Bay Road.
Felix, who lives near the former Northridge Mall, said she reaches out to residents between Capitol Drive and Brown Deer Road all the way to the Milwaukee-Menomonee Falls border.
dollar
She said she visits apartment complexes, senior living centers and daycare centers, where each child is given $2 to spend at the market.
“The most important thing is to start them young and to get them to understand the importance of good nutrition,” Felix said.
Felix said she believes Facebook has been the most effective means of advertisement. The village also displays farmers market posters at all three of the village-owned bus shelters.
The added promotional efforts seem to be paying off.
The farmers market has generated $281 in Quest transactions this year. When adding in the $331 generated from WIC and senior vouchers, Children’s Community Health has provided $612 in matching funds this season.
That means farmers have generated $1,224 in sales from public assistance programs in the first month of the program. That’s more than double the $512 generated from EBT sales throughout the nearly five-month season last year.
“We have seen a huge uptick,” said Erin Hirn, Brown Deer’s assistant village manager.
Pilot program
Felix was hired on a temporary, parttime basis through a pilot program sponsored by a grant from American Family Insurance.
The program, designed by recent University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate Chloe Green, is titled “A Farmers Market for All: A look into the true accessibility of farmers markets.”
Green developed the pilot study as part of the Wisconsin Idea Fellowship she earned in 2018.
As part of her research, she gathered and analyzed data from Farm 2 Facts, an online data collection toolkit for farmers market managers. Farm 2 Facts was developed by Alfonso Morales, an urban and regional planning professor at UW-Madison.
Green said she was drawn to Brown Deer because of its diverse population.
Of the village’s 12,075 residents, 30.3% are black, 4.5% are Asian and 4.4% are Hispanic, according to U.S. Census data. About 6.2% of village residents are living in poverty, fewer than the statewide poverty rate of 11.3%.
As more people become aware that the farmers market accepts government assistance programs, the farmers market will be able to add more data about those customers’ shopping habits to the Farm 2 Facts database.
When the market finishes at the end of October, Green and other researchers will reach conclusions about the effectiveness of the various marketing efforts, as well as the factors that limit low-income individuals from accessing the farmers market.
The project will eventually develop best practices that could potentially be implemented at other markets in Milwaukee County, the state of Wisconsin or throughout the country.