What else
Reducing Consumption of Sugar -
Sweetened Beverages
Profiles of 2019 –2021 Programs and Services
Supported by Sugar -Sweetened Beverage Tax Funding
June 10, 2022
Ruchir Karmali, Mindy Hu, Raga Ayyagari, Aimee Lansdale, Gillian Giudice, Cindy Hu, Hannah Strong
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Reducing Consumption of Sugar-Sweetened
Beverages
Profiles of 2019 –2021 Programs and Services
Supported by Sugar -Sweetened Beverage Tax
Funding
June 10, 2022
Ruchir Karmali, Mindy Hu, Raga Ayyagari, Aimee Lansdale, Gillian Giudice, Cindy Hu, Hannah Strong
Submitted to: Submitted by:
Office of the City Administrator
City of Oakland
1 Frank Ogawa Plaza
Oakland, CA 94612
Attention: Michael Akanji
Mathematica
505 14th Street, Suite 800
Oakland, CA 94612-1475
Phone: (510) 830-3700
Fax: (510) 830-3701
This page has been left blank for double-sided copying.
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Contents
Acronyms ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .... 7 I. Introduction ................................ ................................ ................................ .......................... 8 A. Background ................................ ................................ ................................ ................... 8 B. Data sources and limitations ................................ ................................ ....................... 10 C. Overview of the report ................................ ................................ ................................ . 12 II. Overarching findings across programs and services supported by the SSB tax ................. 13 A. Services and participants served ................................ ................................ ................. 13 B. Facilitators and barriers to implementing programs ................................ ..................... 13 C. Grantee feedback about SSB Community Grant requirements and contracting .......... 15 III. Agency Profiles ................................ ................................ ................................ .................. 17 A. Round 1 grantees (July 2019– June 2021) ................................ ................................ .. 18 Alameda County Public Health Department (Alameda County Public Health Department Office of Dental Health) ................................ ................................ ..... 19 Alameda County Department of Public Health–Nutrition Services (Rethink Your Drink Oakland) ................................ ................................ ............................. 21 Bay Area Community Resources, Inc. (Healthy Options at Point of Sale).................... 23 East Bay United Soccer Club (East Bay United Healthy Oakland Initiative) ................ 25 Fresh Approach (Veggie Rx Program for Healthy Food and Beverages) .................... 27 Hope Collaborative (Healthy Food Education for Young People) ................................ 29 La Clίnica de La Raza, Inc. (H2Oakland Program) ................................ ...................... 31 Mandela Partners (Mandela Hubs for Health Community Produce Stands) ................ 33 Native American Health Center, Inc. (Healthy Oakland Families) ................................ 35 Oakland Lacrosse Club (East Oakland Lacrosse Outreach and Team Experience Program) ................................ ................................ ........................... 37 Planting Justice (Planting Justice) ................................ ................................ ............... 39 Roots Community Health Center (East Oakland Food Matters) ................................ .. 41 Service Opportunity for Seniors (Health Improvement for Homebound Seniors) ................................ ................................ ................................ ................ 43 The Youth Employment Partnership, Inc. (Peer-to-Peer Nutrition) .............................. 45 B. Round 2 grantees (October 2019–December 2020) ................................ .................... 47 18 Reasons (Cooking Matters Series and Training) ................................ ................... 48 Reducing Consumption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
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Alameda County Community Food Bank, Inc. (Community Nutrition Worker Program) ................................ ................................ ................................ .............. 50 Alameda Health Consortium (Diabetes Prevention and Oral Health Initiative) ............ 52 Asian Health Services (Health Education and SSB Screenings for Youth) .................. 54 Eden I&R, Inc. (Community Education) ................................ ................................ ....... 56 Mandela Partners (East Oakland Healthy Retail) ................................ ........................ 58 Mercy Retirement and Care Center (Mercy Brown Bag Program) ............................... 60 Service Opportunity for Seniors (Meal Delivery and Safety Checks) ........................... 62 Spectrum Community Services, Inc. (Nutritious Meals for Seniors) ............................. 64 Urban Strategies Council (Nutrition Education and Cooking Classes) ......................... 66 Young Men’s Christian Association (Family Nutrition and Physical Activity Education) ................................ ................................ ................................ ............ 68 C. April 2021 grantees (April 2021–June 2022) ................................ ............................... 70 InAdvance (Sugar Freedom Project) ................................ ................................ ........... 71 Mandela Partners (Healthy Grocery Initiative Expansion) ................................ ............ 73 Saba Grocers (Saba Grocers Initiative) ................................ ................................ ....... 75 D. City agencies (July 2019–June 2021) ................................ ................................ .......... 77 Oakland Workforce Development Board (Summer Youth Employment Program) ................................ ................................ ................................ .............. 78 Human Services Department ................................ ................................ ...................... 80 Oakland Unified School District ................................ ................................ ................... 84 IV. Recommendations ................................ ................................ ................................ ............. 88 A. Recommendations for SSB tax investments in programs and services ....................... 88 B. Recommendations for grant management................................ ................................ ... 88 V. Conclusion ................................ ................................ ................................ ......................... 89 References ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................... 90
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Acronyms
FY Fiscal year
HSD City of Oakland Human Services Department
SSB Sugar-sweetened beverage
OPRYD Oakland Parks, Recreation & Youth Development
OUSD Oakland Unified School District
OWDB Oakland Workforce Development Board
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I. Introduction
A. Background
Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) has increased in recent decades, with SSBs now contributing more than 10 percent of children’s energy intake (Wang, Bleich, and Gortmaker 2008). The rise in SSB consumption coincides with the rise in childhood and adult obesity (Putnam and Allshouse 1999; Ogden et al. 2006). A study by Tate et al. (2012) demonstrated that soft drink consumption causes weight gain in adults. To reduce consumption of SSBs and improve health outcomes, some U.S. policymakers have proposed taxes on SSBs. Effective July 1, 2017, Oakland’s Measure HH set a tax of 1 cent per fluid ounce on the distribution of SSBs in Oakland, and established a Community Advisory Board to make recommendations to the City Council on how to allocate the revenues generated by the tax. The Community Advisory Board is committed to “achieving the highest level of health and well- being for Oakland children and families, particularly those who are most affected by the impacts of SSBs” (SSB Community Advisory Board 2019).
Between fiscal year1 (FY) 2019 and FY 2021, the City Council allocated funding for three rounds of grants to local organizations to promote community health and address the health impacts of SSBs (Figure I.1).2
Figure I.1. Reducing Consumption of SSBs Community Grants, FY 2019–2021
The request for proposals (RFP) for the Reducing Consumption of SSBs Community Grants (SSB Community Grants) was released in late 2018. The RFP prioritized funding for programs that reach neighborhoods that are (1) disproportionately impacted by SSB consumption and (2) experiencing health disparities relative to the general population; this included West Oakland, East Oakland, San Antonio, and Fruitvale (SSB Community Advisory Board 2019). It also prioritized programs that provide services for children and their families; pregnant mothers and family members; households with limited resources; individuals at risk of health impacts of SSBs; groups with a higher-than-average risk of diabetes, obesity, and tooth decay; and groups disproportionately affected by marketing from the beverage industry. The RFP identified four funding areas:
1 Fiscal years begin on July 1 and end on June 30 of the following year. 2 City Council allocations of SSB tax funds before July 2019 are not discussed in this report.
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1. Prevention through education and promotion
2. Healthy neighborhoods and places
3. Health care prevention and mitigation
4. Policy and advocacy
Along with providing SSB Community Grants, the City Council allocated funding to several City agencies to promote the health and well-being of Oakland residents through programs, services, and public works projects. Figure I.2 illustrates program strategies and intended outcomes supported through SSB Community Grants and City agencies’ programs and services funded through the SSB tax; it does not include public works.
Figure I.2. Conceptual model of SSB tax-funded programs and services
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This report profiles the programs and services grantees provided with their Reducing Consumption of SSB Community Grants, along with the programs and services three3 City agencies provided between FY 2019 and FY 2021 with SSB tax funding. Figure I.3 summarizes the SSB tax funding allocations through Rounds 1 and 2 of the SSB Community Grants and the programs and services provided by four City agencies during this period. Three additional grants were awarded in April 2021 to community organizations that received earlier funding from the SSB tax, and those three are profiled in this report even though the grants are ongoing in 2022.
Figure I.3. SSB tax funding allocated for programs and services provided through SSB Community Grants and by City agencies, FY 2019–2021
Source: City Council resolutions, grant contracts, and supplemental data from City agencies Note: Figure does not include SSB tax funding for public works and maintenance projects. April 2021 grants will be completed in 2022 and were ongoing at the time of data collection for this report.
OWDB = Oakland Workforce Development Board; HSD = City of Oakland Human Services Department; OPRYD = Oakland Parks, Recreation & Youth Development; OUSD = Oakland Unified School District.
B. Data sources and limitations
Information for this report came from publicly available City Council resolutions and presentations to the Community Advisory Board, and from data provided by grantees and City agencies (Table I.1). The study team also interviewed staff from all grantees and City agencies.
As defined in their contracts, grantees were required to submit quarterly narrative reports describing their program activities, demographic characteristics of program participants (that is, age, race/ethnicity, and gender) and the City Council district participants lived in. City agencies were not required to submit the same quarterly data as agencies receiving SSB Community Grants. The study team therefore requested that City agencies submit supplemental information similar to what the grantees provided.
In addition to data submitted during grant program implementation, staff from all grantees and City agencies participated in interviews with the study team to clarify their programs, goals, and accomplishments; changes to the programs due to COVID; and feedback on challenges, successes, and
3 Oakland Parks, Recreation & Youth Development is not profiled because data collection c ould not be completed by the time of this draft report.
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opportunities for SSB tax-funded programs and services. When the quarterly reports or supplemental information submitted by grantees and City agencies did not define program activities or the characteristics of program participants thoroughly enough, the study team asked clarifying questions during interviews and follow-up emails with grantee and City agency staff. All data for this report were collected between December 2021 and May 2022.
Table I.1. Data sources for the profiles of SSB tax-funded programs and services, FY 2019–2021
Funding
amounts
Program
background
and goals
Program
implementation
Demographic
and geographic
data
City Council resolutions X
City agency presentations to
Community Advisory Board
X X
Grant proposals X X
Grant contracts X
Grant quarterly reports X X X
Interviews with grantee and City
agency staff
X X
Supplemental data from grantees
and City agencies
X X X X
The data used for this report have several limitations:
• Changes in quarterly report formats. The quarterly reporting format for grantees changed over multiple rounds of grant funding. Therefore, quantitative data from these reports could not always be aggregated across quarters or years. These data include participant counts, demographic characteristics, and percent of goals completed. When counts reflect partial years’ data or other estimates, it is noted in the figures of individual profiles. • Participant counts may not show unduplicated individuals. Some grantees served the same group of participants over time, and therefore their profiles show unduplicated counts of participants served.
However, some grantees served the public more broadly, and so it is possible that the counts of participants served includes some of the same individuals participating multiple times over the course grant implementation.
• Lack of demographic data. In some instances, grantees could not collect participant demographic information, which was also true for most City agency programs. Where possible, we show the location of services to convey the programs’ geographic area. • Turnover in grantee staff. Because nearly all grants had ended by the time of the data collection for this report, some grantees no longer employed the staff who had been involved in implementing the funded programs and services. Therefore, the new staff were limited in their ability to provide feedback about the program and characteristics of participants beyond what was described in the quarterly reports.
• Multiple sources of program funding. Several City agencies and grantees used SSB tax funding to improve or expand programs and services that were also funded through other sources. Therefore, it Reducing Consumption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
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was not possible to separate those served with the SSB tax funding from the total population served by those programs. This is noted on the individual profiles.
C. Overview of the report
The rest of this report is organized into the following sections:
• Section II presents the overarching findings across funded programs and services, and includes the characteristics of participants served across agencies, as well as common implementation successes and challenges. It also describes grantees’ feedback specifically about the SSB Community Grant requirements and contracting process.
• Section III profiles the grants and programs, and is presented in four subsections. First, in Section III.A, we present profiles for each of the 14 grants funded between July 2019 and June 2021.4 Section III.B profiles the 11 grants funded between October 2019 and December 2020. Section III.C has profiles of the three April 2021 grants, awarded between April 2021 and June 2022 to organizations that had previously received a grant from SSB tax funds. In Section III.D, we profile programs and services of the three City agencies, reflecting the funding period between July 2019 and June 2021. • Section IV includes recommendations from grantees and City agencies about the future of the SSB tax investments, as well as potential improvements grantees identified for administering SSB Community Grants.
• Section V concludes with a summary.
4 These contracts were initially intended to run for a 12-month period, which was later extended to two years.
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II. Overarching findings across programs and services supported by the SSB tax
Using SSB tax funds, the 26 grantees and three City agencies profiled in this report planned and implemented programs to promote health and wellness, mostly focusing on populations that are disproportionately affected by adverse health outcomes. Nearly all grantees and City agencies adapted their programs to accommodate the challenges brought on by COVID and continued serving the Oakland community during the pandemic.
A. Services and participants served
The most common services provided by grantees and City agencies were those that (1) increased access to healthy foods and beverages, and (2) promoted healthy lifestyles. Almost half of community grantees and City agencies expanded the reach of food distribution to Oakland residents. Similarly, about half reported their programs promoted healthy lifestyles. For example, they said SSB programming helped participants reflect on and improve their eating behavior, including eating more fruits and vegetables, decreasing consumption of SSBs, and drinking more water or other beverage alternatives to SSBs. Some grantees reported participants understood more about the issues with SSBs, and cooked more meals at home. Programs also helped participants socialize, which improved the mental health of people feeling isolated due to the pandemic.
Several grantees and City agencies noted how SSB funds expanded economic opportunities, giving programs the capacity to hire new staff and pay community members, especially youth. A few reported that the programs helped the participants gain new skills and become leaders. These programs provided trainings for staff and participants to increase subject matter knowledge and develop skills in leadership, research, presentation, or implementation of virtual programming.
Using SSB funds, grantees and City agencies served a diverse population of Oakland residents across various age and racial or ethnic groups. Demographic data were not available from all grantees and City agencies. Based on reported participant demographics and staff interviews, most grantees served participants of different age groups. Some grantees focused primarily on one age group. For example, at least three grantees focused primarily on youth ages 16–20; at least three focused on people ages 55 and older; and at least five focused on children and their families. Eighteen grantees reported serving mostly Hispanic or Latinx, African American, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, and/or Middle Eastern or North African residents.
B. Facilitators and barriers to implementing programs
Most grantees and City agencies reported that partnerships with organizations that had also received SSB funding, along with other community partners, were key resources in implementing the programs. About half of the grantees described partnering with another SSB grantee. Partnerships helped grantees and City agencies expand their reach in delivering supplies and services (11 grantees and City agencies), fuel learning across agencies (4 grantees), recruit and conduct outreach for educational programming (3 grantees), and gain expertise to implement the grant (3 grantees). Some reported that grantees met regularly to share lessons learned and advocate for SSB tax revenues to go to community organizations.
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For a few grantees, working with partners brought challenges. Eight grantees noted that partners had difficulties transitioning the programs to virtual formats during COVID, and some partners had to temporarily shut down sites or services. In some cases, grantees relied on partners to implement key components of their programs, but partners were overburdened with COVID-imposed priorities, which hindered grantees’ ability to implement the activities for the SSB grant within the grant period. Two grantees had issues working with partners because of different visions and work styles.
More than one-third of grantees and City agencies credited the technology that enabled them to transition in-person programming to virtual settings, expanding their program’s reach; yet in some cases technology issues hindered program implementation. Seven grantees reported that social media expanded the reach of their programs. At the same time, grantees and City agencies described a variety of issues with technology that created barriers for program participants and staff:
• Participants in programs from 12 grantees and City agencies had no access to devices or lacked sufficient Internet bandwidth. This was a lesser issue for staff (reported by just 2 grantees). • Seven grantees and City agencies reported low technological literacy among participants, and one grantee reported staff had limited technological literacy. • Participants of three grantees expressed fatigue with videoconferencing platforms. • Lack of experience implementing activities in a virtual format required three grantees and City agencies to train staff.
• Two grantees had difficulty choosing an appropriate virtual platform for their activities.
About half of SSB community grantees described challenges adapting their programs to meet COVID safety protocols. Nine grantees could not conduct in-person recruitment and outreach or build new relationships with participants because of COVID. Although several used digital outreach strategies such as social media posts to reach the community, four grantees said digital outreach was not always as effective at reaching people with a higher risk of experiencing SSB health impacts. Consequently, they used flyers, phone calls, referrals, and word-of-mouth to reach those populations.
Almost half of the SSB community grantees and City agencies said programs had to be continuously adapted as guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Alameda County shelter-in- place orders changed, which often meant pausing in-person activities and training staff on new safety measures when in-person services could take place. Five grantees and City agencies had problems coordinating the delivery of supplies. Others noted lower rates of program participation or difficulty finding a facility that could accommodate in-person programs while meeting COVID safety guidelines.
Several grantees said the skills, expertise, and buy-in of staff and community members were crucial to implementing their programs; however, COVID strained staff capacity. For example, grantees noted that expertise in translation and community outreach helped address language barriers and make education accessible to ethnically diverse communities. For grantees serving youth, staff experience working with youth helped them engage participants, build relationships with them, and support them to overcome technological and emotional challenges so they could keep participating. Grantees praised staff for being flexible and creative in modifying their programs, especially in the face of the pandemic. In some cases, grantees built on experience to scale up their programs, and existing workflows helped them implement the expanded services.
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However, COVID also affected staff capacity to implement the programs. Almost one-third of the grantees reported that staff changes and understaffing negatively affected program delivery. Turnover of staff disrupted delivery of services and created workload imbalances. Hiring additional staff took longer than expected for three grantees, and some grantees could not hire any additional program staff. Four grantees and City agencies reported staff were frequently out of the office, furloughed, working from home, or re-directed to work related to COVID. Two grantees had to find new volunteers when some volunteers could not continue because of the risk of exposure to COVID.
C. Grantee feedback about SSB Community Grant requirements and contracting The process for distributing funds and requirements for reporting differed for grantees and City agencies that received SSB tax funding. The City executed contracts with grantees to distribute the funding from SSB Community Grants, and required them to submit quarterly reports on progress toward goals and the demographic characteristics of participants. For the City agencies, two received SSB tax funding simply through City budget allocation, and one received grant funding via a contract with the City that was not an SSB Community Grant. None of the City agencies were required to report quarterly progress and participant demographic characteristics in the same way as the SSB Community Grant recipients.
Therefore, this section focuses solely on feedback from grantees about the funding structure and process for the SSB Community Grants.
Twelve grantees credited the SSB Community Grant funds with giving them the flexibility to pay for supplies and services that other funding sources did not cover. This flexibility allowed 10 grantees to buy a variety of supplies such as water bottles, educational materials, meals and groceries, equipment for stores, and incentives for participants. Although many grantees used the funding to support staff time, four grantees mentioned that the funding was especially helpful for giving stipends to program participants who were involved in program implementation—by leading education and outreach, for example—demonstrating that their time and contributions were valued. One grantee reported the grant was easy to implement.
Many grantees had problems collecting data required by the SSB Community Grant, especially demographic data. Fifteen grantees reported difficulties collecting demographic data, and said these data were not always appropriate to collect given their program activities. For example, collecting demographic data was especially challenging for the six grantees implementing activities that were open to the public, as opposed to those offering activities like youth internships that involved sustained participation. Some staff also believed asking for demographic information could alienate the communities the grantees were trying to engage. Two grantees said it was difficult to collect demographic data from third parties such as partners or parents and caregivers. Grantees also reported challenges submitting progress reports and data to the City for reasons such as lack of clarity in the guidance for submitting data (six grantees), burdensome formatting requirements for the reports (five grantees), and technical issues in submitting the data through the City’s data system (three grantees). Three grantees expressed concern that the expectations and reporting requirements for community-based organizations were much more extensive than the requirements for City agencies that received SSB tax funding. Two grantees said data reporting became easier when the City started using a web-based system.
Grantees had some issues communicating with the City during program implementation. For example, 10 grantees reported delays in receiving responses from the City or thought the communication they received was unclear. Six grantees noted that communication about the funding and deadlines Reducing Consumption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
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changed frequently. One grantee thought the City seemed inflexible about adjusting expectations for reaching program goals, even in the face of challenges related to COVID-19.
Delays in receiving SSB Community Grant funds put a strain on grantees’ ability to implement programs. Eight grantees, seven of which received funding in Round 1, reported confusion about the timeline for receiving funds and delays in payment, which were exacerbated by the pandemic. Five of those grantees continued to operate the program on existing funds while waiting for the City to send payments. The delays in funding resulted in delays in the hiring process and program implementation for two grantees. Three Round 1 grantees said the second contract year ended abruptly, and the programs received less funding than was originally awarded.
Delays in signing and finalizing the contract hindered program delivery. Six grantees reported contracts took three to four months to finalize and sign. Three noted that the delays led to challenges in allocating funds and staffing programs, a shortened timeline to implement the program and meet goals, or revisions to the budget and scope of the program.
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III. Agency Profiles
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A. Round 1 grantees (July 2019– June 2021)
Alameda County Public Health Department (Alameda County Public Health Department Office of Dental Health)
Alameda County Department of Public Health–Nutrition Services (Rethink Your Drink Oakland) Bay Area Community Resources, Inc. (Healthy Options at Point of Sale) East Bay United Soccer Club (East Bay United Healthy Oakland Initiative) Fresh Approach (Veggie Rx Program for Healthy Food and Beverages) Hope Collaborative (Healthy Food Education for Young People) La Clίnica de La Raza, Inc. (H2Oakland Program)
Mandela Partners (Mandela Hubs for Health Community Produce Stands) Native American Health Center, Inc. (Healthy Oakland Families) Oakland Lacrosse Club (East Oakland Lacrosse Outreach and Team Experience Program) Planting Justice (Planting Justice)
Roots Community Health Center (East Oakland Food Matters) Service Opportunity for Seniors (Health Improvement for Homebound Seniors) The Youth Employment Partnership, Inc. (Peer-to-Peer Nutrition)
19 Alameda County Public Health Department
(Alameda County Public Health Department Office of Dental Health) Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
5,406 July 2019 – June 2021 $264,198
SUMMARY
The Alameda County Public Health Department’s Office of Dental Health promotes oral health by assessing the community’s needs, providing dental health education and services, linking residents to resources, and collaborating with community partners. With its SSB Community Grant, the Office of Dental Health planned to provide preventive dental services to families with children ages birth to 5 at Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, & Children (WIC) clinics. The COVID pandemic caused a shift, with the agency instead providing oral health trainings and edu cational resources about reducing SSB consumption to ethnically diverse families through partner organizations and medical providers.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: The count of participants served shows the total with participant characteristics data in July 2020–June 2021 quarterly reports. Data on participants’ residence were not collected.
20 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Provided oral health trainings to four partner organizations: Lao Family Community Development, 4Cs of Alameda County, Alameda County WIC program, Lotus Bloom, and City of Oakland Head Start/Early Head Start.
• Conducted program assessments with staff who participated in oral health trainings. • Distributed oral health kits, educational materials, and materials encouraging people to drink more water to partner organizations and medical providers, who gave them to their clients. • Developed partnerships with and distributed oral health materials to organizations that serve families after COVID caused dental clinics to stop offering in-person services.
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for July 2020–June 2021, from quarterly reports.
Resources Challenges
• Partners helped the program reach
ethnically diverse communities.
• Translating materials into Farsi,
Tigrinya, and Burmese addressed
language barriers.
• When WIC clinics closed in-person services in response to COVID, the agency could not continue with its original plan to provide dental screening and preventive care.
• It was a challenge to transition oral health trainings for partners from in-person to virtual.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• The office strengthened relationships with partner organizations to promote oral health. • Through its partners, the office distributed thousands of oral health education kits to clients from ethnically diverse backgrounds.
• Staff participating in the oral health trainings said the information was helpful, and they intended to share the resources with their clients.
• Clients appreciated having oral hygiene kits and supplies, especially if they faced financial difficulties during the pandemic.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
With alternate funding sources, the Office of Dental Health is continuing activities such as building partnerships with community organizations and distributing educational materials about impacts of SSBs and nutrition on oral health.
21 Alameda County Department of Public Health–Nutrition Services (Rethink Your Drink Oakland)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
37,000 July 2019 – June 2021 $411,471
SUMMARY
Alameda County Department of Public Health–Nutrition Services promotes and supports healthy eating and physical activity through committed partnership with communities to reduce chronic diseases and improve long- term health. With its SSB Community Grant, Nutrition Services partnered with agencies serving the Oakland community to improve access to and promote consumption of water and healthy beverages through education and messaging campaigns at sites throughout Oakland (refer to map). The agency also partnered with Planting Justice, which provided leadership support for youth interns; gardening education; and kale smoothie distribution.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: Agency did not collect demographic data about participants. Best estimates were based on data from partner sites’ collection of demographic data and agency’s data collection from its education program. Data on participants served and participant characteristics are for July 2020–June 2021, provided in supplemental data from the grantee.
22 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Conducted Rethink Your Drink education program, which included (1) classes taught by program staff and community resident champions, and (2) health fairs and education events in various settings. • Conducted education, outreach, and promotion of water consumption through videos, art, photography, calendars, and billboards (refer to map).
• Conducted social media challenge and messaging campaigns to engage youth, including partnering with Oakland Unified School District and community-based organizations. • Sponsored kale smoothie pop-up outreach and education, partnering with Planting Justice to serve the Sobrante Park community.1
• Promoted availability of water and healthy food by supporting installation of public water dispensers; water bottle distribution; prominent placement of water in corner stores, senior centers, and public housing; and new refrigerators to sell local produce in corner stores (refer to map).
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for July 2020–June 2021, from quarterly reports.
Resources Challenges
• The SSB Community Grant
supported partnerships with
organizations in the community,
broadening program reach.
• Volunteers donated their time to
support the work.
• Staff were redeployed to COVID case investigation and contact tracing, and Rethink Your Drink education could not take place in person as planned. However, the staff provided information about water consumption and sent water filter pitchers to quarantining people with COVID or exposure.
• Changing COVID safety protocols placed strain on Planting Justice staff distributing kale smoothies.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• Nutrition Services conducted wide-reaching education, health promotion, and outreach reaching thousands of people. The outreach approach was adapted in light of COVID, and program goals were met in both funding years.
• Youth engaged with the program by creating videos, music, and other media and giving feedback on the agency’s investments.
• Participants who received gardening support and training from Planting Justice said the program provided nutritious food and improved their emotional and mental health.
1 Planting Justice received SSB Community Grant funds as a subcontractor to Alameda County Department of Public Health–Nutrition Services and through its own separate grant.
23 Bay Area Community Resources, Inc.
(Healthy Options at Point of Sale)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
24 July 2019 – June 2021 $247,705
SUMMARY
Bay Area Community Resources (BACR) promotes the healthy development of individuals and families, encourages service and volunteerism, and builds community. With the SSB Community Grant, BACR involved youth community advocates in a community action research project, Healthy Options at Point of Sale (HOPS).
HOPS encouraged advocates to think about environmental changes to support public health, including influencing attitudes toward SSBs and implementing minimum nutrition standards for products stocked at store checkouts.
BACR partnered with the Center for Science and Public Interest (CSPI), which provided additional funding.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: Data on participants served and participant characteristics are for July 2019–June 2021, provided in supplemental data from the grantee. Thirteen percent of participants preferred not to say where they reside.
24 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Administered a pre-assessment to advocates about healthy eating behavior, perceptions of the retail environment and community health, skills they wanted to gain from the program, and safety and respect. • Trained advocates on topics including public speaking, facilitating meetings, finding your voice, analyzing data, and implementing surveys and interviews.
• Advocates led a community action research project, which involved conducting and analyzing interviews with retail store owners in Oakland. Advocates shared findings with community members and stakeholders via online presentations and social media. Advocates also completed a program post-assessment about skills and knowledge about healthy eating and the retail environment in Oakland. • Advocates gathered digital petition signatures to show support for proposed policy changes that emerged from the community action research project, such as improving the nutrition quality for items at store checkouts.
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for July 2019–June 2021, from supplemental data provided by the grantee.
Resources Challenges
• Funding was used to pay advocates so they did
not have to choose between participating in
HOPS or other employment options.
• Funding enabled BACR to purchase technology
and rent a workspace for advocates.
• Staff’s experience working with youth allowed
them to provide successful, mission-aligned
trainings for advocates.
• Staff were not trained for virtual engagement, and
getting youth access to technology took time.
• Unclear communication about and interruptions in
receiving grant funds delayed progress toward some
program goals and payments to advocates initially.
• Building new partnerships with community-based
organizations took time because BACR was new to
the food and nutrition policy arena in Oakland.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• Advocates presented their research findings to the Oakland Food Policy Council and City Council. • With funding from CSPI, advocates continue to work toward the goal of implementing minimum nutrition standards for products stocked at store checkouts.
25 East Bay United Soccer Club
(East Bay United Healthy Oakland Initiative)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
316 July 2019 – June 2021 $262,172
SUMMARY
East Bay United Soccer Club (EBUSC) seeks to develop youth players and coaches and offer soccer experiences to all players regardless of their soccer level or social or financial background. With its SSB Community Grant, EBUSC expanded opportunities for youth of various ages to participate in competitive and recreational soccer programs, and had planned to implement a public health education campaign, Drink Water Not Sugar. EBUSC also trained and supported the Oakland Parks, Recreation & Youth Development (OPRYD) Town Camp summer program staff.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: The count of participants served shows the total with participant characteristics data in July 2020–June 2021 quarterly reports.
Thirteen percent of participants preferred not to say where they reside.
26 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Gave scholarships to 164 youth to participate in a competitive soccer program. • Implemented the EBUSC recreational soccer program for 39 participants in fall 2020 and 104 participants in spring 2021. Offered online instruction and programming to help children stay active at home during COVID.
• Implemented the Juniors Soccer School for six participants under age 8 in winter 2020-2021 and 25 participants in spring 2021. The program relaunched in phases to finalize COVID safety protocols before being offered to younger children.
• Supported the OPRYD Town Camp program by developing curriculum and training materials for more than 40 OPRYD staff and coaches.
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for July 2020–June 2021, from quarterly reports. Staff changes at the agency meant interviewees could provide limited input on the program activities and counts.
Resources Challenges
• Convened local, national, and
international youth soccer
organizations to support OPRYD
staff.
• Delays in receiving park permits from the City of Oakland during the pandemic led EBUSC to work with Alameda and Emeryville to find space for classes and programming.
• Staffing needs increased during the pandemic to meet safety protocols. EBUSC had difficulties meeting this need, and some coaches were not comfortable working in person.
• Some coaches and youth could not access or use technology and had difficulty adapting to the online format. EBUSC held trainings for coaches about teaching online.
• Delays in receiving funding and issues caused by COVID prevented implementation of the Drink Water Not Sugar campaign.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• Provided opportunities to exercise during the pandemic through (1) an online training program for youth to stay active at home, and (2) new safety protocols so youth could play on the field. • OPRYD staff noted several staff used the training materials created by EBUSC to implement soccer activities and learned about additional support each site needed.
• Families said EBUSC provided support and resources when other social and academic programs were cancelled.
• Scholarship recipients appreciated financial aid so they could participate in competitive soccer programs.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
EBUSC is continuing its soccer programs and seeking funding sources for scholarships.
27 Fresh Approach
(Veggie Rx Program for Healthy Food and Beverages)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
162 July 2019 – June 2021 $103,868
SUMMARY
Fresh Approach connects underserved California communities with healthy food from local farmers and promotes knowledge about food and nutrition. Operating in Oakland since 2013, the agency’s VeggieRx program has offered nutrition and cooking workshops and provided vouchers for buying local produce at farmers markets.
Fresh Approach scaled up the VeggieRx program with its SSB Community Grant.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: The count of participants served shows only those who participated in educational activities from July 2019–July 2021, provided in supplemental data from the grantee. It does not show the number of people who received VeggieRx vouchers. Seventy-four percent of participants preferred not to say where they resided.
28 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Distributed VeggieRx vouchers for participants to use at farmers markets and for community supported agriculture (CSA) produce boxes from Mandela Partners.
• Hosted VeggieRx nutrition education workshops that covered healthy eating on a budget, whole grains and healthy fats, sugar content of sugary drinks, and preparation of healthier alternative beverages. • Conducted focus groups, interviews, and feedback surveys to obtain feedback on programming. • Conducted cooking demonstrations for healthy recipes and healthy beverages, transitioning from farmers markets to virtual videos during the COVID pandemic. • Distributed virtual education resources such as newsletters, articles, and video grocery store tours.
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for June 2019–July 2021, from supplemental data provided by the grantee.
Resources Challenges
• Staff shared their passion for the program with their communities; they were flexible and creative in adapting programming to a virtual setting.
• Partners helped reach members of the community. Fresh Approach partnered with the Oakland Library; Special
Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and
Children; and Native American Health Center to host classes and conduct outreach. With Akoma Market and Mandela
Partners, Fresh Approach connected participants to fresh produce at farmers markets.
• A lack of access to or facility with
technology was a barrier to reaching
some community members. To
overcome this challenge, Fresh Approach
worked with partners to post physical
flyers and posters at partner
organizations, in addition to sharing
information through phone calls, Zoom,
and pre-recorded videos.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• Improved food access and supported farmers and partners by distributing vouchers participants could use at farmers markets and for CSA boxes.
• In surveys and interviews, participants reported changing their shopping habits, practicing conscious eating, finding replacements for sugary beverages, purchasing healthy food at farmers markets, and transforming knowledge about healthy eating into actionable steps.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Fresh Approach is continuing to offer workshops and demonstrations at Akoma Market. To expand its reach, the agency plans to partner with local health clinics.
29 Hope Collaborative
(Healthy Food Education for Young People)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
4,747 July 2019 – June 2021 $264,198
SUMMARY
HOPE Collaborative builds resident leaders who engage in public processes and advocate for healthy and equitable investments in historically disadvantaged areas. With its SSB Community Grant, HOPE Collaborative educated young adults about the food system and its inequities, got youth involved in influencing behavior change in the community, increased accessibility of produce and water, and promoted healthy eating and water consumption.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: The count of participants served shows the total with participant characteristics data in June 2020–July 2021 quarterly reports. Data on participant residence, race, and ethnicity were not available for 99 percent of participants.
GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Hosted Food Justice Summer School classes on topics such as capitalism, justice, and activism. • Engaged 25 Youth Advisory Board members between July 2019–June 2020, who gave educational presentations in Oakland Unified School District schools, developed cookbooks, hosted livestream cooking events, and practiced self-care—exceeding the goal of engaging 12 members. Distributed cooking kits to families for the livestream cooking events.
• Partnered with corner stores to host food drives, increase produce options, promote water consumption and distribute water, and distribute personal protective equipment (PPE) during COVID. • Donated food to Town Fridge, a mutual aid network of free, publicly accessible refrigerators. Distributed more than 300 meals and 150 water bottles between April–June 2021, and 200 pounds of produce between January–March 2021 to people experiencing homelessness. • Created a mural showing the importance of access to safe drinking water and collaborated with 67 Sueños to unveil the mural at a community event.1
• Promoted healthy eating and water consumption by sharing videos, educational materials, and recipes.
Hosted a Healthy Living Contest in partnership with Alameda County Department of Public Health (DPH).
1 “Secret Cycles Mural.” Oakland Wiki. muralhttps://localwiki.org/oakland/Sacred_Cycles_Mural.
30 Resources Challenges
• Community members and local partners like Homies
Empowerment and Cocina del Corazon helped prepare and
distribute food.
• Collaboration with other SSB community grantees—for
example, with Alameda County DPH on a social media contest and PPE distribution to corner stores; with the Sugar Freedom Project to offer an educational workshop, and with OUSD schools to hold presentations.
• Youth Advisory Board members led program design, made presentations, and developed cookbooks with HOPE
Collaborative’s support.
• Technology purchases for Youth Advisory Board members and program staff allowed them to work from home during the pandemic.
• Stipends for Youth Advisory Board members helped their families financially during the pandemic.
• Collecting demographic data for
grant reporting was challenging.
HOPE Collaborative staff sometimes
felt uncomfortable asking for this
information, and some participants
declined to share it.
• Changes in grant reporting
processes and forms made it
difficult to collect required information.
• Staff capacity and turnover at the
beginning of the grant period initially
limited outreach events; after hiring
and promoting staff, HOPE
Collaborative returned to full
operating capacity.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• Youth grew as leaders and spoke at meetings with board members and City Council. Youth were grateful for staff’s willingness to support their well-being and mental health during the pandemic. • Cooking classes and self-care workshops provided emotional support to Youth Advisory Board members. • Community members said the cook-along events inspired them to cook a healthy meal and drink water.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
HOPE Collaborative is continuing to distribute food and share prepared meals with people who may not have access to cooking spaces. HOPE Collaborative also acquired freezers and vacuum sealers to preserve food.
31 La Clίnica de La Raza, Inc.
(H2Oakland Program)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
213 July 2019 – June 2021 $160,201
SUMMARY
La Clínica de la Raza, Inc., a federally qualified health center, provides comprehensive, culturally responsive health care to the East Bay. It used its SSB Community Grant to provide nutrition education to students at Urban Promise Academy and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) youth clinic, develop online health education modules for Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) teachers and staff, and facilitate screening and referrals to OUSD School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs) for health services, including nutrition counseling.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: The count of participants served shows the total with participant characteristics data in July 2020–June 2021 quarterly reports. Ten percent of participants preferred not to say where they resided.
32 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• SSB-focused workshop to peer health educators in OUSD middle and high schools, including content about how racially discriminatory political structures impact the food and beverage landscape. • Asynchronous online modules and educational materials about SSBs and nutrition for teachers and staff. • Pre- and post-surveys to inform modifying and improving the curriculum. • Virtual Food & Fitness workshop series, a bilingual nutrition education curriculum for physical education classes at Urban Promise Academy and students at the UCSF youth clinic. La Clίnica de la Raza also held a healthy beverage art contest.
• Connected youth to SBHCs with adolescent screening visits, assessment of health care needs including nutritional counseling, and facilitating referrals to SBHCs. • Foodie Fridays Instagram segment shared information about resources such as pop-up food distribution locations and food pantries with a broad audience.
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for July 2020–June 2021, from quarterly reports.
Resources Challenges
• The skills and dedication of the La Clínica de
la Raza health educator were critical to the
success of the nutrition education program. She
was bilingual, familiar with Oakland, had used
technology and social media to engage youth,
and adjusted the curriculum to be culturally
relevant.
• OUSD administrators and teachers helped
with virtual implementation, and the district
gave students access to technology.
• Some youth lacked access to technology and
internet.
• COVID caused temporary closures of several
SBHCs and created operational challenges at clinics.
• Paperwork, such as workshop consent forms and
grant expense summaries, was time-consuming.
• Staff turnover paused program activities until a
replacement health educator was hired.
• Scheduling conflicts delayed workshops initially.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• The workshops reached all the students in Urban Promise Academy, and the number of Foodie Fridays Instagram followers grew to more than 400 by spring 2021, with some videos having over 1,000 views. • Relationships and social support grew between youth and the trusted La Clínica de la Raza health educator, who served as a bridge between schools and clinics.
• Students consistently rated the Food & Fitness workshops highly and found them culturally relevant. Staff reported high levels of student engagement and more knowledge about healthy eating. • Program staff reported that teachers and school administrators were enthusiastic about the program and thought it was helpful to have screening and connection to services, especially during the pandemic.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
La Clínica de la Raza continues to provide educational content on Instagram. New health educators use the materials developed with this grant.
33 Mandela Partners
(Mandela Hubs for Health Community Produce Stands)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
500 July 2019 – June 2021 $264,092
SUMMARY
Mandela Partners works with local residents, family farmers, and community-based businesses to improve health, create wealth, and build assets through local food enterprises in limited-resource communities. With its SSB Community Grant, the agency sought to expand its Community Produce Stand program of pop-up farmers markets throughout Oakland. Stands at local schools (refer to map) provided nutrition education and offered local, sustainably grown, subsidized produce to communities in East and West Oakland. During COVID, Mandela Partners stopped operating stands, instead distributing subsidized community supported agriculture (CSA) boxes at schools. The program primarily served families in schools with large populations of students eligible for federal nutrition assistance, and in neighborhoods considered low access on the USDA Food Environment Atlas.1
Note: The count of participants served is for July 2019–June 2021, provided in supplemental data from the grantee.
1 “Food Environment Atlas.” USDA Economic Research Service. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-environment-atlas/.
34 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• July 2019–March 2020:
– Identified and trained parent assistants to support produce stand operations and inform community outreach strategies.
– Conducted pre/post surveys on healthy habits for food and beverage consumption with parents and corner store customers.
– Conducted nutrition education at five produce stands and selected corner stores. – Operated five produce stands at schools, three of which were inaugurated during this time period. • March–June 2020:
– Operated subsidized CSA box pick-up sites when schools shut down for COVID and could no longer serve as sites for community produce stands.
– Transformed a warehouse into a CSA assembly site and worked with additional partners to donate food through no-contact food drop-offs.
– Assessed CSA customer preferences at community produce stands and partner community organizations. Provided discounts to the first 25 new customers who signed up for the CSA box. Delivered subsidized CSA boxes to more than 500 customers.
– Convened planning meetings with program staff to coordinate ordering and delivery logistics, customer engagement strategy, and marketing strategy.
– Created an ordering system using an online marketplace platform.
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for July 2019–June 2021, from supplemental data provided by the grantee.
Resources Challenges
• Relationships with school administrators and parent
assistants helped inform programming and implementation of produce stands. Surveys with 50 parents across school sites informed the project’s activities, including the types of products. • Direct engagement with students, families and staff created word-of-mouth momentum for the project.
• COVID shelter-in-place restrictions
forced Mandela Partners to pivot to
quickly establish CSA pick-up sites at
schools in place of community produce
stands.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
Mandela Partners distributed several hundred thousand pounds of produce to Oakland residents.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
The produce stands evolved into a permanent CSA program. Mandela Partners continues to engage with many of the parent leaders who supported the work for this grant-funded program.
35 Native American Health Center, Inc.
(Healthy Oakland Families)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
597 July 2019 – June 2021 $257,144
SUMMARY
The Native American Health Center (NAHC), Inc. is a federally qualified health center providing comprehensive, culturally responsive health services in Oakland and neighboring cities. Its Healthy Oakland Families program, funded by the SSB Community Grant, was designed to reduce consumption of SSBs by increasing knowledge about the benefits of healthy behavior, increasing health screenings, and training service providers on strategies to decrease SSB consumption. Priority populations included students at the two School Based Health Centers (SBHCs) operated by NAHC at Oakland Unified School District schools, patients at NAHC’s clinic sites, and participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, & Children.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: The count of participants served shows the total with participant characteristics in July 2020–June 2021 quarterly reports. Twenty-five percent of participants preferred not to say where they reside.
AIAN= American Indian or Alaska Native.
36 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Conducted Healthy & Active Family Curriculum via in-person and virtual sessions for youth, educating participants on healthy lifestyles, nutrition, physical activity, and oral health. • Delivered one-on-one telephone nutrition education sessions for youth, focused on healthy behavior and strategies to decrease the consumption of SSBs.
• Implemented food drop-off program for families experiencing food insecurity. The agency had planned to have the families pick up food. Due to COVID, staff instead dropped off food, nutrition education materials, and water bottles to families. Staff also provided follow-up care, visiting the families to check in on them. • Trained SBHC and NAHC service providers on strategies to decrease SSB consumption and increase water consumption.
• Hosted poster contest for youth about nutrition and health. • Provided outreach, screenings, referrals, and nutrition assessments during NAHC Food Farmacy Health Fairs, with total attendance of 328 in the two quarters when these in-person events took place before COVID.
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for July 2020–June 2021, from quarterly reports.
Resources Challenges
• Program coordinators and a nutritionist improved the
program’s capacity to deliver nutrition and health resources at SBHCs.
• Collaboration with DigDeep, a local farm, made it possible to distribute locally grown produce when many other distribution sites offered mainly canned food during COVID.
• Video-calling technology allowed NAHC to create safe and engaging spaces for youth to interact.
• In-house trainings expanded program staff’s nutritional knowledge and skills.
• Shifting to virtual programming was
difficult for students who did not have
the technology to access it.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• Staff quickly transitioned to implement an engaging virtual program, troubleshooting challenges with technology to promote participation.
• Families said children were excited about healthy foods. Children learned about fruits they might not have tried, such as kiwi or dragon fruit.
37 Oakland Lacrosse Club
(East Oakland Lacrosse Outreach and Team Experience Program) Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
134 July 2019 – June 2021 $132,948
SUMMARY
The Oakland Lacrosse Club, a sports-based youth development program, primarily serves youth of color from low-income families who are attending middle schools in the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). The agency used its SSB grant to expand programming. This promoted success for youth by helping them gain new skills, confidence, healthy habits and knowledge, friends, and improved mental health. The club worked closely with OUSD and other partners to provide introductory curricula on lacrosse fundamentals in camps, after-school enrichment workshops, physical education classes at school, and weekend play days.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: The count of participants shows the total with participant characteristics data in July 2020–June 2021 quarterly reports.
38 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Held sessions teaching lacrosse, nutrition, wellness, and leadership at OUSD schools and Oakland Parks, Recreation & Youth Development (OPYRD) sites. These included providing snacks as part of wellness education, and giving youth opportunities to learn lacrosse at OPRYD’s summertime Town Camp. During the pandemic, the program held both virtual and socially distanced in-person classes.
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for July 2020–June 2021, from quarterly reports.
Resources Challenges
• Program coordinators and
coaches developed strong
relationships with the youth.
• Partners helped administer the
program. The agency partnered
with OPYRD and OUSD to provide
the lacrosse sessions, and with
Mandela Partners to provide
nutrition workshops.
• Creating and delivering a virtual lacrosse program. Although the Oakland Lacrosse Club created socially distanced, in-person lacrosse sessions, the club could not implement them when OUSD and OPRYD sites switched to virtual programming. Creating a virtual lacrosse curriculum for these sites was a challenge because lacrosse is a physical group sport.
• It was difficult to obtain waivers from students’ parents and guardians. The agency later established written agreements or memoranda of understanding with the OUSD and OPYRD sites, allowing them to work with the students without individual waivers.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• The agency gained valuable experience working with schools and organizations in East Oakland, which could lead to partnerships on other projects.
• SSB grant funding allowed the Oakland Lacrosse Club to increase its capacity and reach more youth. • The partnership with Mandela Partners facilitated the nutrition workshops for youth and provided a means for distributing community supported agriculture (CSA) boxes from Mandela Partners.1
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Oakland Lacrosse Club is continuing to implement in-person lacrosse sessions funded by other sources.
1 Mandela Partners received the SSB Community Grant from July 2019 to June 2021 for the program titled East Oakland Healthy Retail Project.
39 Planting Justice
(Planting Justice)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
6,470 July 2019 – June 2021 $264,198
SUMMARY
Planting Justice promotes transformation of the industrialized food system, economic and racial justice, and community healing by creating access to (1) jobs in the community, and (2) healthy foods through farm, nursery, and education programs. With its SSB Community Grant, Planting Justice distributed food, developed online curricula, provided education about SSBs, and conducted a youth internship program. The program primarily served people of color with low incomes in Fruitvale and Sobrante Park.1
GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Distributed green smoothies, community supported agriculture (CSA) boxes, and educational information, including recipes and nutrition information on healthy alternatives to SSBs. Constructed a cold storage unit to help preserve produce for CSA boxes and smoothies. • Developed and delivered online nutrition education modules about sustainable agriculture and gardening, food justice issues, nutrition, and culinary arts to Oakland youth ages 16–25. • Led an internship program in which youth harvested, processed, and distributed food, and educated residents about alternatives to SSBs. At its peak between April and June of 2020, 46 interns were participating in the program, which also provided youth with a safe space during the pandemic when schools were closed.
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for July 2020–June 2021, from quarterly reports.
1 Data on participants served are from July 2020–June 2021 quarterly reports. Demographic data were not collected from participants.
40 Resources Challenges
• Staff were from the communities they were serving, which built trust and engagement.
• Staff’s years of experience meant there were established workflows for producing smoothies to serve hundreds of people in a few hours. • Partnerships expanded the reach and scale of the program. The Alameda County Public Health Nutrition Services’ SSB Community Grant allowed Planting Justice to expand smoothie distribution and nutrition education.2 Other partners included Oakland Bloom and Fruit Guys.
• Implementing COVID safety
protocols took time and
effort.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• The program reached thousands of Oakland residents who faced food insecurity during the pandemic, including the elderly and people experiencing homelessness. • The grant helped support living wage jobs in the community. Planting Justice hired four participants served by the program to join their staff, as well as youth interns paid with the grant. • Program staff shared that produce distribution helped people who did not have anywhere to buy fresh organic produce. The program also gave residents a place to gather, building community and social support. • The program staff reported that participants called the program a “ray of sunshine,” and appreciated that the same staff members attended the events each time. More than half the participants were repeat customers.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Planting Justice is continuing food distribution and education with matching funds, but at a lower capacity. It is also starting an aquaponics farm in Sobrante Park to scale up food production in the community.
2 Planting Justice received funds from SSB Community Grants as a subcontractor to Alameda County Public Health Department - Nutrition Services and from their own grant.
41 Roots Community Health Center
(East Oakland Food Matters)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
1,237 July 2019 – June 2021 $439,198
SUMMARY
Roots Community Health Center provides primary and behavioral health care and supportive services in East Oakland. This area includes populations often underserved by these services. The agency used its SSB Community Grant to promote behavior change by providing education and sustainable access to healthy local groceries. Health education and skill-building activities covered topics including promoting water consumption, food justice, exercise, and healthy eating on a budget. Roots Community Health Center partnered with Healthy Black Families (HBF) and the American Heart Association (AHA) to implement its grant.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: The count of participants served shows the total with participant characteristics data in July 2019–June 2021, provided in supplemental data from the grantee. Thirty percent of participants preferred not to say where they reside.
42 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities1
• Held monthly pop-up markets that provided free local produce to 881 people. Attendees also received free recipe books, toys, and child car seats.
• Held Healthy Market Hunt events concurrently with the pop-up markets, partnering with HBF to teach 314 clients of the Roots Community Health Center how to shop for healthy, affordable foods at local stores. • Taught monthly cooking classes at the pop-up markets, where interns trained by the AHA covered topics such as making healthy and delicious meals on a budget and the benefits of drinking water instead of SSBs.
During the COVID pandemic, these classes were taught online. • Delivered free Healthy Boxes containing fresh, local produce biweekly to 42 families in need during the pandemic. Alameda County Food Bank supplemented the boxes with canned goods, meats, and dairy, and Mandela Partners helped to deliver them. The Healthy Boxes also included recipes, nutrition facts about the ingredients, costs, and local sources of the contents.
Resources Challenges
• Partnerships with community-based organizations
enabled Roots Community Health Center to
implement the program and enhance food
assistance for families in need during the pandemic.
For example, HBF helped increase the number of
Healthy Box delivery participants by advertising the
service to its clients who are food insecure, and the
AHA provided and distributed education materials
on the health benefits of drinking water compared
with SSBs.
• Technology, such as Zoom, enabled the agency to
conduct virtual cooking classes.
• Rethinking how to conduct virtual outreach of
program participants.
• Convincing adults to try new foods and recipes
that they were unfamiliar with because of
hesitancy or cultural barriers.
• Addressing language barriers, as many
participants only spoke Spanish, but not all staff
did.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• The program provided families in need with sustainable access to a variety of high-quality and fresh healthy ingredients.
• Healthy Boxes distributed additional supplies from partners, such as personal protective equipment. • In program surveys, about 75 percent of participants reported being satisfied with the quality of the food and said the nutrition education material was useful. They also reported increased fruit and vegetable intake and decreased food insecurity.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Roots Community Health Center plans to (1) return to in-person cooking classes and food distribution events, (2) establish a facility with indoor and outdoor areas for cooking demonstrations, and (3) expand the educational program.
1 Data on accomplishments are for July 2019–June 2021, provided in supplemental data from the grantee.
43 Service Opportunity for Seniors
(Health Improvement for Homebound Seniors)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
2,199 July 2019 – June 2021 $164,409
SUMMARY
Service Opportunity for Seniors’ Meals on Wheels program focuses on addressing isolation and hunger in homebound seniors by promoting their nutritional health and fostering their independence and dignity with the goal of preventing premature institutionalization. With its SSB Community Grant, Service Opportunity for Seniors expanded its existing program and taught seniors about drinking more water and fewer SSBs. During the pandemic, the number of clients dramatically increased as more seniors sheltered in place or did not have a reliable caregiver. This program complemented the agency’s other SSB Community Grant program, Meal Delivery and Safety Checks.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: The count of participants served shows the total with data available on their characteristics in FY 2019–2021, provided in supplemental data from the grantee.
44 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Produced and distributed nutritious meals to clients. • Provided supplemental healthy snacks and fresh produce to clients with diabetes. This activity was only implemented from April–June 2020 because of difficulties purchasing snacks. • Distributed water bottles to clients.
• Developed and distributed educational materials on nutrition and hydration. Service Opportunity for Seniors had provided in-person nutrition education from October to December 2019. During the pandemic, the agency distributed newsletters instead.
• Conducted wellness checks. Before COVID, staff went to clients’ homes to observe their living situations and assess basic health considerations. During the pandemic, they interviewed clients by phone.
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are from FY 2019–2021 quarterly reports.
Resources Challenges
• Partnered with University of California San
Francisco students, Healthy Alameda County, and
the Sugar Freedom Project to develop educational
materials on nutrition and hydration.
• Collaborated with other SSB community grantees to
share information and resources via weekly meetings.
• COVID prevented in-person education on
nutrition and hydration, so staff distributed
newsletters instead.
• Supply chain delays led to struggles to source
and purchase healthy snacks for individuals
with diabetes.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
Staff noted an increase in clients’ knowledge of nutrition, hydration, and diabetes.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Service Opportunity for Seniors is customizing and personalizing education for clients. The agency is also partnering with nursing students to help provide health tips and recommendations for clients to better manage their health and improve their quality of life.
45 The Youth Employment Partnership, Inc.
(Peer-to-Peer Nutrition)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
153 July 2019 – June 2021 $264,198
SUMMARY
The Youth Employment Partnership, Inc. (YEP) strives to improve employment and education outcomes of youth affected by poverty, foster care, criminal justice, school underachievement, and other barriers. With its SSB Community Grant, YEP trained youth to become advocates for healthy communities, emphasizing reduced consumption of SSBs and increased consumption of water.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: The count of participants served are from July 2019–June 2021, provided in supplemental data from the grantee. Data on participant characteristics are from July 2020–June 2021, provided in supplemental data from the grantee.
46 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• YEP trained youth leaders to lead nutrition and cooking classes for their peers as part of the Peer-2- Peer Nutrition program. This summer enrichment and after-school program empowered youth to become health and nutrition leaders in the community as they taught meaningful health and nutrition skills to their peers. Trainings included orientation and onboarding, job readiness, and health and nutrition content. In interactive lessons, youth leaders learned about healthy living, how to prepare healthy foods, and peer leadership.
• Youth leaders then taught a two-week long health and nutrition workshop to their peers.
Note: Most activities involving clients were planned for the last four months of the program year, but they could not be completed within the contract period because of COVID restrictions during those planned dates. Data on goals and accomplishments are for July 2019–June 2021, from supplemental data provided by the grantee.
Resources Challenges
• A facility with large classrooms, an outdoor
classroom, and a commercial kitchen enabled
the program to continue during COVID.
• Implementing protocols for COVID required the
youth to comply with social distancing restrictions
and reduced class sizes.
• Food shortages meant program staff had to visit
multiple stores to buy ingredients for the classes.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• Youth received leadership training through the Peer-2-Peer Nutrition program and gained hands-on experience on how to lead their peers.
• Participants in the program classes reported increased knowledge about healthy behavior and nutrition— saying, for example, they now read labels.
Reducing Consumption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
DRAFT 11/27/23 Mathematica® Inc. 47
B. Round 2 grantees (October 2019–December 2020)
18 Reasons (Cooking Matters Series and Training)
Alameda County Community Food Bank, Inc. (Community Nutrition Worker Program) Alameda Health Consortium (Diabetes Prevention and Oral Health Initiative) Asian Health Services (Health Education and SSB Screenings for Youth) Eden I&R, Inc. (Community Education)
Mandela Partners (East Oakland Healthy Retail)
Mercy Retirement and Care Center (Mercy Brown Bag Program) Service Opportunity for Seniors (Meal Delivery and Safety Checks) Spectrum Community Services, Inc. (Nutritious Meals for Seniors) Urban Strategies Council (Nutrition Education and Cooking Classes) Young Men’s Christian Association (Family Nutrition and Physical Activity Education)
48 18 Reasons
(Cooking Matters Series and Training)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
600 Oct. 2019 – Dec. 2020 $75,000
SUMMARY
18 Reasons is a nonprofit cooking school that empowers the community with the confidence and creativity to buy, cook, and eat fresh and healthy food. With the SSB Community Grant, the agency expanded its Cooking Matters program—a series of hands-on cooking and nutrition classes—and held grocery store tours pre-pandemic. 18 Reasons collaborated with about 20 partners with relationships in the communities the program serves, including the Oakland Unified School District, after-school programs like College Track, and health care clinics like the LifeLong Clinic.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: The count of participants served shows the total with participant characteristics data in the fifth quarter final report, which covers October 2020–December 2020. Total attendance was reported as 1,215 across quarterly reports; however, staff could not confirm whether these are unduplicated counts.
49 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Provided Cooking Matters classes for free, and distributed groceries to adults, children, and families with low incomes in the West Oakland, East Oakland, San Antonio, and Fruitvale communities. 18 Reasons planned to conduct these activities in person, but offered them virtually instead because of the COVID pandemic. 18 Reasons planned to serve 150 participants during each quarter of the grant, and reported exceeding this goal in each quarter except the one after the pandemic began. At its height in the final quarter, the program reached nearly 600 participants.
• Conducted grocery store tours to teach participants how to shop for healthy food on a limited budget. Tours were discontinued when the pandemic began.
Resources Challenges
• Before the COVID pandemic, partners provided
training for educators, space for classes, and
outreach to recruit participants. During the
pandemic, partners continued to offer support,
including supporting outreach for virtual classes and
providing spaces to distribute groceries for the virtual cooking classes.
• The shift to virtual programming was a struggle for
some partners to navigate, which required 18
Reasons staff to be flexible and adjust scheduling.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• Delivered 10,000 pounds of fresh, healthy food to Oakland residents with low incomes and implemented virtual cooking classes to teach participants how to prepare the foods they had received. • Built new curricula for online nutrition and cooking classes to reach participants virtually, and expanded reach through social media.
• The social connection provided by virtual cooking classes during the COVID pandemic was an unexpected benefit and success of the program.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Cooking Matters classes have continued, and the program has grown using other funding sources.
50 Alameda County Community Food Bank, Inc.
(Community Nutrition Worker Program)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
1,499 Oct. 2019 – Dec. 2020 $200,000
SUMMARY
Alameda County Community Food Bank (ACCFB) distributes food to children, seniors, and adults in Alameda County and improves access to food assistance programs. With its SSB Community Grant, ACCFB planned to teach clients about healthy eating and implement pre-diabetes screening and a diabetes prevention program. The agency stopped planned activities and started providing a limited amount of nutrition education after the first six months of the funding period to respond to community needs resulting from the COVID pandemic.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: The count of participants served shows the total with participant characteristics data from October 2019–December 2020, provided in supplemental data from the grantee. Data are based on estimates of the population that accesses ACCFB services.
AIAN = American Indian or Alaska Native.
51 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Conducted outreach and provided nutrition education to 1,244 clients at Oakland schools and clinics (before COVID).
• Conducted Healthy Living Class series with 206 clients. Before COVID, the agency held in-person classes on topics including sugary drinks, portion sizes, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, label reading, and shopping and eating on a healthy budget at three schools and at Roots Community Health Center. At the end of the first round of classes, ACCFB surveyed 14 clients to collect feedback about the program. • After COVID began, distributed more than 5,000 nutrition education flyers along with ACCFB’s general distributions of shelf-stable food boxes.
• Implemented a series of kid-friendly nutrition classes during the holidays in December 2020.
Resources Challenges
• Relationships with partners,
agencies, and schools allowed
the agency to conduct outreach
and hold classes.
• Issues brought on by the COVID pandemic. Social distancing practices, competing staff responsibilities, and difficulty conducting outreach to the community combined to halt program implementation. • Difficulty hosting classes. Before COVID, some sites did not have the capacity to host in-person classes because of scheduling problems and ongoing onsite services. During COVID, the agency had problems implementing the planned health classes online because school and clinic sites that had hosted the classes either could not accommodate online classes, or the pandemic had changed sites’ priorities. • Families unable to participate in classes. Before COVID, barriers to in-person participation included lack of child care and participants’ sense they were overburdened with information. After COVID, lack of access to technology was a barrier to participating in virtual classes. • Delays in hiring staff to implement the program. The agency had difficulty hiring staff because candidates did not have the right qualifications, and the agency’s internal human resources department was short-staffed.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• Developed comprehensive education materials.
• Clients were interested in the content of the classes, and before COVID, the agency reached clients in need through nutrition outreach and education.
52 Alameda Health Consortium
(Diabetes Prevention and Oral Health Initiative)
Grant period Total funding amount
Oct. 2019 – Dec. 2020 $250,000
SUMMARY
The Alameda Health Consortium is an association of nonprofit community health centers working together to promote comprehensive, accessible health care and better outcomes for Alameda County residents. With its SSB Community Grant, the Alameda Health Consortium facilitated collaboration between three federally qualified health centers in Oakland to (1) improve oral health and (2) prevent and mitigate the risk of diabetes by integrating preventive services and screening with oral health assessments. The program primarily reached underserved community members who receive Medi-Cal, have low incomes, or are undocumented. It reached Latinx, African American, and Asian American/Pacific Islander communities and focused on serving West Oakland, East Oakland, San Antonio, and Fruitvale residents.
Note: Counts of participants served and participant characteristics were not available.
53 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Conducted collaborative partnership meetings and trainings for dental staff from six dental sites associated with West Oakland Health Council, Asian Health Services, and La Clίnica de la Raza (refer to map).
Dental directors used funds to bring in a trainer to discuss diabetes screening, education, and treatment. • Trained 15 dental staff at West Oakland Health to use diabetes testing equipment, assess diabetes risk, and screen and educate dental patients at risk for diabetes and those already diagnosed with diabetes. • Conducted diabetes risk assessments, offered screening tests, conducted health education, and referred patients to additional diabetes management resources. Between October and December 2019, participating clinics tested 36 patients for diabetes, educated patients about diabetes, and referred patients with uncontrolled diabetes to primary care physicians. During COVID, the clinics used telehealth to ask diabetes screening questions, remotely monitor blood pressure, and share educational resources with patients.
Resources Challenges
• Collaboration between the clinics helped with
setting program goals and adapting the program
during the pandemic.
• Expertise and professional peer network of
dental directors supported clinics’ response to
COVID guidelines and their getting personal
protective equipment to safely resume operations.
The network includes the American Diabetes
Association, California Diabetes Association, other
clinics in the Alameda Health Consortium, and
Alameda County Department of Dental Health.
• During COVID, staff were furloughed, and dental
clinics shut down, impeding progress toward
program goals. Clinics had to retrain staff and
upgrade the physical infrastructure to safely operate.
• During COVID, there were more patients with
serious dental issues, which meant dental
providers had competing priorities and could not
fully implement planned program activities.
• Problems using the grant reporting templates,
especially in converting zip code to district data for
geographic reporting.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• Successfully piloted program to integrate oral and physical health, and transformed the dental sites by adding screening services for diabetes. Created clinical workflows and protocols for diabetes screening. • Patients appreciated getting screened for diabetes while receiving dental care. • Staff reported the program reflected a whole-person approach to care, assessing patients’ other health needs while they received dental services.
54 Asian Health Services
(Health Education and SSB Screenings for Youth)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
19,046 Oct. 2019 – Dec. 2020 $75,000
SUMMARY
Asian Health Services (AHS), a multisite community health center, addresses unmet needs and health disparities in vulnerable, low-income communities—especially Asian immigrant communities—with a spectrum of health care services for all ages: dental, primary, and mental health care, support services, and community health programs.
AHS used its SSB Community Grant to increase access to healthy and active-living resources, teach participants the negative effects of SSB consumption, advance culturally and linguistically appropriate nutrition and physical education, and promote SSB alternatives. Activities were held at Asian Health Services’ Asian Resources Center and Youth Program, Chenming & Margaret Hu Medical Center, and Madison Park.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: Data on participants served and participant characteristics are for October 2019–December 2020, provided in supplemental data from the grantee. AHS did not collect participant-level data, but estimated from data on its patient population.
55 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Education and outreach to reduce SSB consumption among Asian and Pacific Islander youth and teens: cooking demonstrations, nutrition workshops, and social media postings; online during the pandemic. • Virtual SSB screenings, nutrition education, and referrals for comprehensive nutrition counseling for children and their families.
• Group visits focused on physical activity and were a peer-supportive environment for adults at risk for SSB consumption, obesity, and diabetes.
• Culturally and linguistically appropriate movement and physical activities at Madison Park in Oakland Chinatown once a month. Madison Park become a COVID testing and vaccination site, and AHS had to cancel these activities, providing SSB education to individuals while they were at Madison Park for COVID testing and vaccination.
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for October 2019–December 2020, from supplemental data provided by the grantee.
API = Asian and Pacific Islander
Resources Challenges
• Technology helped AHS pivot to online nutrition
workshops, cooking demonstrations, and SSB
screenings.
• Social media made it easy to communicate with
participants about COVID testing information and
free food events.
• Using different electronic health record platforms
to track client outcomes across health systems.
• Some participants had difficulty accessing
technology to connect to the online programs.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• Created culturally and linguistically appropriate health education material and activities, which staff credited with leading to high participant engagement.
• Program staff quickly pivoted to provide online programming for youth. Staff dropped off ingredients for virtual cooking workshops at participants’ homes.
• Offering a variety of service options engaged clients in ways that met their specific needs, such as individual referrals for nutrition counseling and group events focused on physical activities.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
• AHS continues to provide SSB screenings for children and their families. • The agency is planning to resume the movement and physical activities at Madison Park and the youth programs where it provides early preventative health education on SSBs.
56 Eden I&R, Inc.
(Community Education)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
5,255 Oct. 2019 – Dec. 2020 $275,000
SUMMARY
Eden I&R, Inc. operates a 211 telephone referral program for Alameda County residents. The program connects callers with resources and advocates to help with social needs, including housing, food, and health services.
About half the calls are from City of Oakland residents. With the SSB Community Grant, Eden I&R used a variety of outreach and promotion activities to promote water consumption in the community.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: Data on participants served and participant characteristics are for individuals reached through 211 phone messages from October 2019–December 2020, provided in supplemental data from the grantee.
57 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Distributed 750 water bottles and educational flyers to partner agencies, which distributed them to clients. • Reached 1,534 individuals through social media posts about drinking water. • Made 23,280 referrals to agencies based on calls to 211, including agencies that help with healthy eating, nutrition education, and wellness.
• Held 10 presentations about SSBs and water consumption for a total of 318 participants, including members of Eden’s board, disaster response staff, and the general public. • Reached 2,241 callers with recorded messages promoting water consumption and alternatives to SSBs. During the pandemic, Eden temporarily switched its messaging from water consumption to COVID, resuming messaging about water consumption in August 2020. • Reached 8,123 individuals through newsletters about drinking water.
Resources Challenges
• Social media allowed Eden I&R to
reach more people to promote water
consumption.
• Recording messages in English and
Spanish increased accessibility of 211
services.
• Pivoting in response to COVID meant adapting activities that were intended to be held in person, such as distributing water bottles and flyers through partners instead of holding
community events. Eden I&R used social media and
newsletters for outreach and education because of difficulties using videoconferencing services. It took time and resources to shift staff to working remotely.
• Collecting demographic data for reporting purposes was difficult because some people declined to share this
information.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• The program reached thousands of people through social media, recorded messages, and the newsletter.
Distributing water bottles expanded the reach of the messaging. • Partner agencies expressed appreciation for the water bottles they could distribute to their clients.
58 Mandela Partners
(East Oakland Healthy Retail)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
Customers at 5 stores Oct. 2019 – Dec. 2020 $175,000
SUMMARY
Mandela Partners works with local residents, family farmers, and community-based businesses to improve health, create wealth, and build assets through local food enterprises in limited-resource communities. With its SSB Community Grant, this agency supported small-scale retailers and corner stores in neighborhoods east of High Street in Oakland to provide healthier food and sustain sales of healthy food. To help achieve these goals, Mandela Partners partnered with Saba Grocers and the Sugar Freedom Project.
Note: Data on participating stores are for October 2019–December 2020, provided in supplemental data from the grantee.
59 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Identified members to serve on the Healthy Retail Advisory Board (HRAB), and held nine meetings with community, merchant, and practitioner stakeholders.
• Conducted preliminary screenings of HRAB’s recommended stores; identified a subset for in-store needs and inventory assessments; interviewed store owners; and selected stores for the program. • Administered resident surveys outside participating stores to assess inventory preferences and collect feedback about stores; coordinated a virtual Town Hall with 30 store owners and residents. • Procured and delivered produce to participating stores. Saba Grocers established purchasing agreements between the stores and Mandela Partners.
• Provided stores with training from a grocery store consultant on best practices for selling produce. • Developed customized scopes of work for each store that outlined interior and exterior improvement plans, produce management plans, technical assistance needs, and funding for store improvements. • Promoted the East Oakland Healthy Retail initiative in participating stores’ neighborhoods. Partnered with resident leaders from the Sugar Freedom Project to conduct outreach to potential customers. • Planned to conduct post-surveys of store customers about impacts of the program and general feedback, but were unable to complete this activity within the grant timeline.
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for October 2019–December 2020, from supplemental data provided by the grantee.
Resources Challenges
• HRAB input informed decisions about which stores
to partner with.
• Mandela Partners could build on Saba Grocers’
existing relationships with store owners.
• Determining clear roles and responsibilities
between partners contributed to a longer-than-
expected planning period, as this was the first time
Mandela Partners and Saba Grocers had
collaborated.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
New equipment and improvements to stores and façades had positive impacts on store owners and customers.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Mandela Partners received additional SSB Community Grant funding for April 2021–June 2022 to grow this program. However, it had to find ways to support stores that had participated in the East Oakland Healthy Retail initiative and were no longer funded with the April 2021 grant.
60 Mercy Retirement and Care Center
(Mercy Brown Bag Program)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
1,425 Oct. 2019 – Dec. 2020 $150,000
SUMMARY
For more than 30 years, Mercy Retirement and Care Center’s Mercy Brown Bag Program has distributed bags of healthy groceries and fresh produce to seniors in need in Oakland and other areas of Alameda County. The center used its SSB Community Grant to expand this program to serve more Oakland seniors. The program partnered with senior service organizations throughout Oakland, including the Alameda County Community Food Bank, to carry out program activities.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: The count of participants served shows the total with participant characteristics data in the fourth quarterly report. The report covers July 2020–September 2020.
61 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Coordinated distribution of nutritious groceries twice monthly to older adults at 52 community distribution sites in Oakland.
• Delivered free, nutritious groceries, such as fresh produce and low-sugar and low-sodium products, to older adults.
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for October 2019–December 2020, provided during interviews with grantee staff.
Resources Challenges
• Partnerships with senior service
organizations throughout Oakland
helped the agency provide participants
with nutritionally balanced and
culturally appropriate foods.
• COVID restrictions changed grocery distribution plans from in- person gatherings at community sites, where older adults could socialize while collecting their food, to individual deliveries. The agency originally proposed to have senior volunteers deliver meals, but the pandemic prevented many of them from
volunteering, and the program had to find new volunteers quickly.
• Delays in the food supply chain lasted as long as nine months.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• Grocery distribution services continued despite challenges related to COVID. By pivoting to a home delivery system using DoorDash, the agency continued to provide services and did not miss a single delivery day during the pandemic.
• The program met higher than anticipated demand for the home-delivery program, as shelter-in-place orders resulted in more people signing up to participate.
• Participants expressed thanks for the healthy groceries and the variety and abundance of foods. They appreciated that they were treated with dignity and felt like the Mercy Brown Bag Program and its partners cared for them.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
• Mercy Retirement and Care Center opened a grocery store where older adults can shop for free. • The agency continues to partner with other organizations that distribute healthy food, including Meals on Wheels.
62 Service Opportunity for Seniors
(Meal Delivery and Safety Checks)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
1,805 Oct. 2019 – Dec. 2020 $200,000
SUMMARY
Service Opportunity for Seniors’ Meals on Wheels program focuses on addressing isolation and hunger in homebound seniors by promoting their nutritional health and fostering their independence and dignity with the goal of preventing premature institutionalization. With the SSB Community Grant, Service Opportunity for Seniors expanded its existing program to provide meals and home wellness checks. During the pandemic, the number of clients dramatically increased as more seniors sheltered in place or did not have a reliable caregiver. This program complemented the agency’s other SSB Community Grant program, Health Improvement for Homebound Seniors.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: The count of participants served shows the total with participant characteristics data in October 2019–December 2020, provided in supplemental data from the grantee.
63 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Produced and distributed nutritious meals to clients. In total, the program distributed 347,883 meals. • Conducted wellness checks. Before COVID, staff went to clients’ homes to observe their living situations and assess basic health considerations. During the pandemic, they interviewed clients by phone instead.
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for October 2019–December 2020, from quarterly reports.
Resources Challenges
• Combined funding sources to meet increased
demand for the meal program. The program
received funding for nutrition services through the
Older Americans Act1 and donations, but these
funds usually do not cover the full cost of the
meals. The SSB Community Grant expanded the
program by contributing to the cost of meals,
software updates, and new kitchen staff and
drivers to deliver the meals.
• Collaborated with other SSB community
grantees to share information and resources via
weekly meetings.
• COVID restricted in-person interactions with
clients, which prevented staff from conducting
wellness checks at client homes or holding in-person
education sessions.
• Supply chain delays led to struggles to source and
purchase healthy products.
• The number of phone calls requesting service
increased from 200 to 1000 per week because of
the pandemic, and the program had to adjust rapidly.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• Served more than twice as many people as expected. When more seniors chose to shelter in place during COVID, and neighbors and friends couldn’t help as caregivers, the program stepped in to fill those needs. • Staff noted increased food security among clients. Clients reported being pleased with the services because they could live at home instead of in nursing facilities.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Service Opportunity for Seniors is developing diverse and customized meals for participants, such as vegetarian options and medically tailored meals.
1 Administration for Community Living. “Nutrition Services.” https://acl.gov/programs/health-wellness/nutrition-services.
64 Spectrum Community Services, Inc.
(Nutritious Meals for Seniors)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
154–2061 Oct. 2019 – Dec. 2020 $149,791
SUMMARY
Spectrum Community Services, Inc. seeks to improve the health and safety of senior residents of Alameda County by enhancing their quality of life and helping them age at home with dignity. With the SSB Community Grant, Spectrum temporarily expanded its existing Senior Meals Program, which provides fresh nutritious meals to seniors who have low incomes or experience food insecurity. Before COVID, the agency provided nutrition education and served freshly prepared, nutritious meals at partner dining sites, which gave participan ts the opportunity to socialize. Due to the pandemic and the temporary closures of partner sites, it pivoted to making and delivering frozen and packaged meals to seniors’ homes during the second quarter of their grant. Spectrum Community Services disconti nued implementing the grant and invoicing after the second quarter since socialization was a key component of the Senior Meals Program, which they could not provide safely in the context of COVID. During this time, their kitchen closed, and they partnered with Service Opportunity for Seniors to continue providing meals for seniors in need with other sources of meal program funding.
GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Provided healthy meals to clients. In the first quarter of the grant, before COVID, the program served 206 clients and 8,859 meals at partner sites, allowing seniors to socialize and participate in group activities. In the second quarter, Spectrum served 154 clients and distributed 9,018 fr ozen or packaged meals to participants’ homes. With the onset of COVID and closure of partner sites, socialization activities were discontinued.
• Provided nutrition education such as information on how sodium impacts health, with tips to reduce sodium intake. In -person education presentations were put on hold due to COVID. The agency continued to provide education through print forums.
1 By design, the program serves meals to many of the same clients over time. Therefore, aggregating the number of clients served across quarters would overrepresent the number of unique clients served. The count of participants served shows the number served in each of the first two quarters of the grant, provided in quarterly reports from October 2019–December 2020. Participant characteristics were not available.
65 Resources Challenges
• The organization’s experienced staff, systems,
and facilities made it easy to begin implementing
the grant activities.
• Partnering with Service Opportunity for
Seniors allowed Spectrum to keep providing
seniors with meals during COVID—more than
2,000 meals per day.
• Difficulties hiring new program staff. It took four
and half months to find staff with the right skill set to lead the program. Spectrum wanted staff that
understood and knew how to work with seniors with
low incomes.
• Social distancing restrictions imposed by COVID.
The agency could not serve meals at partner sites
and consequently could not implement the program’s
planned nutrition education and socialization
activities.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• Meal distribution to clients in need continued despite challenges during the pandemic that limited the agency’s ability to implement the proposed activities.
• Volunteers checked in with each senior when they dropped off frozen meals. • Clients reported that the program delivered high quality food and provided access to a nutritious food source that was otherwise unavailable to them. Clients recommended the program to others.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Spectrum Community Services, Inc. would like to restart the Senior Meals Program now that meals can be served in person.
66 Urban Strategies Council
(Nutrition Education and Cooking Classes)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
3,733 Oct. 2019 – Dec. 2020 $238,205
SUMMARY
Urban Strategies Council is a research and advocacy organization dedicated to social, economic, and racial equity. With its SSB Community Grant, Urban Strategies sponsored the Mandela Grocery Coop, a worker-owned grocery store specializing in healthy foods and drinks. Together, they implemented a program to increase (1) West Oakland residents’ awareness of healthy food and (2) access to SSB alternatives at the Coop.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: Data on participants served and participant characteristics are for October 2019–December 2020, from supplemental data provided by the grantee on virtual activities on social media platforms and Zoom. Data on participant race, ethnicity, and residence were not available.
67 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Conducted cooking demonstrations, shifting from in-person to virtual classes and demonstrations on social media during the pandemic.
• Promoted and sold healthy alternatives to SSBs. For example, the Coop bought a reverse osmosis water machine to sell affordable water to the community.
• Canvassed the community to spread knowledge and awareness about the negative health impacts of SSBs. This was discontinued because of the pandemic.
• Produced a mini-documentary trailer to promote the Coop and its mission to nourish West Oakland. • Created draft of a coloring book to promote alternatives to SSBs for children younger than 7.
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for October 2019–December 2020, from supplemental data provided by the grantee.
Resources Challenges
• The Coop’s partnership with Urban Strategies
Council allowed the agencies to split grant duties.
Urban Strategies navigated the grant funding
process and communication with City staff, and
the Coop implemented day-to-day program
activities.
• Program staff had to be creative using social
media to keep people engaged after the pivot
to virtual services and activities.
• COVID changed program delivery. Some
activities were discontinued while others became
virtual.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• Sold clean and safe water for $1 a gallon after buying the reverse osmosis water machine. • Participants kept buying alternatives to SSBs after the Coop stopped explicitly promoting them. • Received additional funding to support the program from the San Francisco Foundation, building on the success of the SSB Community Grant-funded program.
• People gave positive feedback about the cooking demos and classes on social media and asked the staff to continue providing the classes. People were excited to learn about new ways to use ingredients they could buy at the Mandela Grocery Coop.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
• Continuing to sell and promote alternatives to SSBs at the Mandela Grocery Coop. • Preparing to restart in-person cooking classes and demonstrations at the Oakland Housing Authority. • Planning to conduct tours in the stores to introduce youth to healthy food and beverage options.
68 Young Men’s Christian Association
(Family Nutrition and Physical Activity Education)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
188 Oct. 2019 – Dec. 2020 $150,001
SUMMARY
The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) used the SSB Community Grant to provide nutrition and wellness education and physical activities to children (ages birth to 5) and their families. The children and families served by the YMCA have historically been at high risk for conditions associated with poor health and nutrition.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: Data on participants served and characteristics are for October 2019–December 2020, provided in supplemental data from the grantee’s internal reports. The data exclude parents and caregivers.
69 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Held Harvest of the Month class. The grantee used this nutrition education curriculum to teach children ages birth to 5 and their families about new foods through cooking activities, taste tests, hands-on exploration, and connection to classroom concepts such as shapes, number sense, colors, and textures. • Conducted Healthy Me, Music, and Movement education program, which included activities for children and families about music, physical activity, and nutrition. • Held quarterly parent nutrition committee meetings to teach parents about nutrition for children. • Created and distributed quarterly nutrition newsletters for children and families. • Distributed 315 reusable water bottles to participants.
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for October 2019–December 2020, from supplemental data provided by the grantee. Counts for nutrition topic parent meetings show meeting attendance numbers, and not unduplicated individuals.
Resources Challenges
• Program staff collaborated to implement the program.
• Videoconferences allowed the program to reach participants during the pandemic.
• Incentives encouraged participation. Incentives included products that promote water consumption, healthy eating, and exercising, such as water bottles, trampolines, and blenders. • Frequently changing COVID
guidelines affected program planning
and coordination.
• Illness limited the number of staff
available to work.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
Parents gave positive feedback on the recipes in the newsletters and educational materials. The Healthy Me, Music, and Movement program was well attended, both in person and virtually. Participants said they enjoyed the program.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
• Continuing to implement the quarterly nutrition newsletters, virtual classes, and nutrition committee meetings using different funding sources.
• Continuing to identify funding sources to increase staff capacity for program implementation.
Reducing Consumption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
DRAFT 11/27/23 Mathematica® Inc. 70
C. April 2021 grantees (April 2021–June 2022)
InAdvance (Sugar Freedom Project)
Mandela Partners (Healthy Grocery Initiative Expansion) Saba Grocers (Saba Grocers Initiative)
71 InAdvance
(Sugar Freedom Project)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
1,000 April 2021 – June 2022 $150,000
SUMMARY
The Sugar Freedom Project develops the East Oakland community’s power and resiliency through grassroots advocacy and health policy education, and advocates for SSB tax revenues to go to communities disproportionately affected by sugar consumption. The goal of the SSB Community Grant was to increase solidarity across communities, train and support resident leaders, and partner with corner stores to change food systems. This grant builds on work funded by an SSB grant that ran from April 1, 2019–June 30, 2020. Program implementation was ongoing at the time of this report, and therefore does not reflect the full grant period.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: Data on participants served and participant characteristics are for April 2019–April 2022. The agency reported 500 unique community members in each year, 2019–2020 and 2021–2022. MENA = Middle Eastern or North African.
72 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Use the “ladder of engagement” model to engage community members in their own health by increasingly involving them to amplify messaging about SSBs. Engaged resident leaders lead culturally relevant health education workshops, and participants share what they learn with other community members and their personal networks.
• Give community members food cards to buy produce at corner stores (refer to map). • Train and build skills of new resident leaders to educate community members about SSBs and healthy eating. Trainings were rescheduled due to COVID, and not all resident leaders who joined in March 2020 could complete the training when in-person programming resumed. • Hold educational classes and demonstrations in the community. During the pandemic, in-person events changed to smaller classes and food demonstrations outside corner stores (refer to map).
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for April 2019–April 2022. The original goal to engage 2,500 community members was reduced to 1,000 because in-person events paused due to COVID. Data on community outreach is tracked anecdotally based on which community members continue to have relationships with resident leaders.
Resources Challenges
• Resident leaders are from the same
neighborhoods as community
members, which helps build trust and
empowers them to share information
about SSBs with the community.
• Flexibility in how to use the grant
money meant resident leaders were
paid for their work.
• It was challenging to collect demographic information on all participants because (1) InAdvance only had information about resident leaders and participants in education workshops, but not how many people those individuals reached, and (2) resident leaders were sometimes uncomfortable asking for demographic data because they thought it might hinder relationship building. • The COVID pandemic stopped larger in-person community events in schools and decreased the number of in-person health education workshops.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• Achieved high participation and engagement rates in resident leader training and gift card program. • Trained resident leaders to discuss current issues and advocate for change with City Council members. • Trust resident leaders built with community members led them to other services such as COVID vaccinations. • Staff reported that participants reinforced the importance of the Sugar Freedom Project’s approach of ensuring nutrition education is culturally relevant and comes from residents of the same community.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Program activities are ongoing.
73 Mandela Partners
(Healthy Grocery Initiative Expansion)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
Customers at 6 stores April 2021 – June 2022 $175,000
SUMMARY
Mandela Partners works with local residents, family farmers, and community-based businesses to improve health, create wealth, and build assets through local food enterprises in limited-resource communities. With its SSB Community Grant, the agency is offering comprehensive technical assistance to six East Oakland retail stores to help them improve product quality and customer experience through equipment upgrades. Customers with low incomes are given incentives to buy healthy food. This project expands on the East Oakland Healthy Retail initiative, which received SSB Community Grant funding from October 2019–December 2020. Program implementation was ongoing at the time of this report, and therefore does not reflect the full grant period.
Note: Data on participating stores are for April 2021–May 2022, provided in supplemental data from the grantee.
74 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Identified and recruited stores, and obtained signed memoranda of understanding from participating stores. • Conducted pre-assessments with stores to identify needs and capacity to make and maintain store improvements.
• Tailored technical assistance plans and held bimonthly advisory meetings with each participating store. • Trained store managers on the cloud-based application, Fresh Creds, which tracked all transactions. Fresh Creds gives eligible customers a 50 percent discount on healthy food items. • Distributed $85,000 in incentive funding to participating stores. Residents enrolled in CalFresh; the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children; or Supplemental Security Income program received the 50 percent discount on healthy food items. • Implemented equipment and store upgrades, including refrigeration, lighting, painting, and others. • Determined that no alternate funding streams to support stores were feasible.
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for April 2021–March 2022, provided in supplemental data from the grantee. In May 2022, the grantee noted six stores were included in the program.
Resources Challenges
• The previous East Oakland Healthy Retail initiative informed the expansion.
• Two stores from the previous initiative were brought into this program. Existing relationships with these stores eased implementation.
• The City required Mandela Partners
to find new store partners for the
expansion, which took time.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
Program staff reported increased customer traffic at the participating stores due to healthy food discounts and new equipment and supplies that allowed the stores to display healthy items.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Mandela Partners plans to carry out post-assessments and store and equipment upgrades in the remainder of the grant period.
75 Saba Grocers
(Saba Grocers Initiative)
Participants served Grant period Total funding amount
235 April 2021 – June 2022 $175,000
SUMMARY
Saba Grocers seeks to increase access to healthy food at corner stores in Oakland communities disproportionately impacted by diabetes. With its SSB Community Grant, Saba Grocers promoted access and consumption of local produce, working to increase demand from local residents and helping corner store owners to supply the produce. Saba Grocers partnered with the Sugar Freedom Project to engage the community and distribute produce, and Mandela Partners acted as financial partner.1 Program implementation was ongoing at the time of this report, and therefore does not reflect the full grant period.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: Data on participant characteristics are for 12 store owners and 233 residents as of spring 2022, provided in supplemental data from the grantee. MENA= Middle Eastern or North African.
1 Mandela Partners acted as the funding recipient and distributed the money to Saba Grocers in 2019 because Saba Grocers was no t yet an official nonprofit organization.
76 GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities
• Held community engagement events for corner stores and residents, such as promoting local or culturally relevant produce. The events were paused when the community experienced high COVID rates. • Trained local store owners on business topics such as competitive pricing. Three stores had participated in training by early spring 2022.
• Provided $25 gift cards to local residents who attended community engagement events. They could use the cards to purchase produce at the local corner stores. • Partnered with corner stores to increase the variety of local and culturally relevant produce (refer to map).
By early spring 2022, this included installing produce refrigeration units in two stores, and delivering weekly produce orders to seven stores.
• Established infrastructure to streamline the produce ordering system and automatically discount grocery items at the point of sale. Discounted essential grocery items in seven stores, with total savings of $4,930.
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for activities conducted as of spring 2022, provided in supplemental data from the grantee.
Resources Challenges
• Partnership with Sugar Freedom Project was essential for successful community engagement events and distribution of healthy produce.
• Good relationships between staff, store owners, and local farmers made it easier to maintain and sell fresh produce in corner stores and purchase fresh foods directly from local farmers.
• Staff from the local community helped the program reach its intended population. Staff spoke the same languages and had the community’s trust.
• Requested and used weekly feedback from store owners to refine services.
• Low-tech infrastructure for ordering
produce and administering grocery
discounts was time-consuming for
store owners.
• Change in store ownership required
the program to stay flexible.
GRANT PROGRAM SUCCESSES
Increased the availability, affordability, and variety of fresh and culturally appropriate produce from about 20 varieties to about 49 varieties at individual participating stores.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
The grantee will continue to conduct community engagement events, distribute produce to stores, and offer trainings for store owners that participate in the program.
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D. City agencies (July 2019–June 2021)
Oakland Workforce Development Board (Summer Youth Employment Program) Human Services Department
Oakland Unified School District
78 Oakland Workforce Development Board
(Summer Youth Employment Program)
Participants served Funding period Total funding amount 875 July 2019 – June 2021 $1,127,279
SUMMARY
The Oakland Workforce Development Board (OWDB) oversees federally funded employment and training programs and services in Oakland that help people find jobs and help connect businesses with a qualified workforce. OWDB also administers Oakland’s Summer Youth Employment Program, which increases access to high quality summer employment opportunities through contracts with local nonprofit service providers. In fiscal years 2019–2021 (July 2019–June 2021), OWDB used SSB tax revenues to expand this program, supplementing funds from the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth, private companies, and donations. In total, the program received about $3 million during these years, and about 38 percent of the funding came from SSB tax revenues. The program prioritizes serving youth from racial and ethnic minority groups who are not employed or connected to the traditional school system.
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Note: The count of participants served shows the total with participant characteristics data for the summers of 2019 through 2021, provided in supplemental data from the agency.
79 PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Activities (through nonprofit service providers)
• Offered youth subsidized work experience.
• Recruited and trained youth and matched them with jobs. Participants worked in health and nutrition, construction, transportation, food service, retail, landscaping, food distribution, community engagement, and digital media marketing. Participants also held roles such as peer advocates and summer camp facilitators and worked on community engagement projects.
• Provided ongoing support to youth on financial literacy, increasing skills to prepare for higher-level jobs, and personal development.
• Held workshops with guest speakers such as employers and community leaders.
Note: Data on goals and accomplishments are for the summers of 2019 through 2021, provided in supplemental data from the agency.
Figure shows total youth served with funding from the SSB tax and other sources.
Resources Challenges
• Partnership with the Oakland Fund for
Children and Youth enabled the two
agencies to pool resources to support the
program.
• Experienced service providers quickly
shifted to virtual delivery with little support
from OWDB. They also found work
opportunities to fit youth needs, such as
working on the weekend to finish schooling
during the summer.
• Timeline flexibility allowed providers to
continue the program into fall 2020 following
disruptions from COVID.
• Lack of access to technology meant delays in applying for and issuing work permits and issues accessing virtual services. Direct service providers eased the permit
process.
• Youth faced barriers to participation, including
difficulties with transportation, limited time for the program given school commitments, and in some cases, meeting
vaccination requirements. Nonprofit service providers also reported difficulties communicating with parents.
• Delays in finalizing contracts with nonprofit service providers delayed payments to the providers.
• Some employers responded slowly to placing youth or
couldn’t hire them given youths’ limited availability.
PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• Partnerships facilitated remote education and training, including technology skills bootcamps. • The high level of engagement with community leaders and employers made it possible for nonprofit service providers to engage youth through workshops and speakers, and fit job opportunities to youths’ availability. • Expanded pool of nonprofit service providers, building capacity to apply for the next funding cycle. SSB funding expanded OWDB’s opportunities to work with service providers that have summer programs but had not worked with the City this way before. Nonprofit service providers thought the guest speakers and community leaders at the workshops were impactful and inspiring for youth. • Youth reported positive experiences in the program, saying it helped them.
NEXT STEPS AND SUSTAINABILITY
OWDB staff sought more collaborations with City agencies to strengthen programming. In addition, the agency is exploring other funding sources to expand because the number of applicants exceeds available slots. OWDB received $400,000 in SSB tax funding for fiscal year 2021–2022 to continue implementing this program.
80 Human Services Department
SUMMARY
The Human Services Department (HSD) mission is to promote the health, education, and well-being of Oakland residents by providing free programs and building strong communities through grassroots leadership and civic engagement. HSD collaborates with a diverse group of local organizations to eliminate racial disparities and address the community’s emerging needs. In fiscal years 2019–2021 (July 2019–June 2021), HSD used SSB tax funding for three programs to improve services and address new needs emerging from the COVID pandemic:
(1) Senior Division, (2) Summer Food Service Program, and (3) Head Start.
Program name Focus population
Total funding
amount
Senior Division Adults ages 55+ $928,286
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
Oakland’s Commission on Aging1 and HSD’s Senior Division work to improve senior health and nutrition. With funding from the SSB tax, the Senior Division implemented several health promotion initiatives and provided emergency food assistance to seniors in need. Services were available to residents throughout Oakland, but HSD focused SSB funding in the East and West Oakland communities, where more families have disparate health outcomes and need emergency food assistance.
Senior center members tend to be older than 65 and otherwise reflect the City’s demographics. According to HSD staff, around 3,500 Oakland residents are members of the City’s four senior centers in downtown Oakland, East Oakland, North Oakland, and West Oakland, and the majority of center members are ages 65 to
75. Activities are not limited to members. Senior centers have a long-standing presence in the East and West Oakland communities. Staff reported that participants in senior center activities were slightly more likely than the overall population to be Black, and slightly less likely to be Latinx.2 SSB tax funding enabled the Senior Division to implement new health promotion initiatives. During COVID, the Senior Division offered a suite of online and televised programs, many of which are now transitioning to in person. These included a brain health project conducted with the University of California Davis; nutrition, physical activity, and cooking classes; and a writers’ workshop. These initiatives were not possible before given minimal staff and available funding sources. HSD also took steps to lower participation barriers for seniors by (1) offering training to use technology, (2) allowing them to borrow Android tablets, and (3) not requiring registration for online programs. Program staff estimated about 1,115 people attended health promotion programs between July 2020 and June 2021.3
The Senior Division also used SSB tax funding to support health and safety by (1) installing hydration stations at the four senior centers; (2) distributing water bottles, exercise bands, and pandemic supplies to seniors; and (3) providing sites with the equipment to support safe reopening.
1 The Commission on Aging advises the mayor and City Council about issues affecting Oakland seniors. 2 Demographic data reflect senior programming overall, and are not specific to SSB -tax-funded activities. 3 The attendance estimate reflects activities other than the University of California Davis brain health project, and is the sum of participants rather than an unduplicated count of individuals.
81 SSB tax funding also allowed the Senior Division to expand food assistance for senior centers in East and West Oakland. Before the pandemic, about 400 bags of food were distributed weekly from the East Oakland senior center. Distribution in West Oakland was irregular. With SSB tax funding, food assistance increased in both numbers and amount of food distributed, with about 600 food boxes distributed weekly at the East Oakland senior center and 120 food bags distributed weekly from the West Oakland senior center between April and June 2020.
These distributions have remained steady since.
In addition to expanding food assistance for seniors, the Senior Division also sought to improve food quality, moving from canned to fresh vegetables, for example. Focusing on East Oakland, the Senior Division provided equipment and supplies to the food programs, and was able to secure additional resources because of the SSB tax funding. For instance, the Senior Division was able to apply for and receive funding from the Alameda County Food Bank for equipment to store the additional fresh food that SSB tax funds made possible.
Program name Focus population
Total funding
amount
Summer Food
Service Program
Children < 18 and adults with disabilities
enrolled in a school program $546,000
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
HSD administers the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), which is federally funded and administered by the state. The program reimburses operators that serve free healthy meals and snacks to children in low-income areas, based on the number of meals served. Between 2019 and 2021, the
reimbursement rates ranged from $2.25 per breakfast to
$4.25 per lunch.4 In response to increased need during the pandemic, in the summer of 2020 the number of SFSP meals served doubled over a usual year, to 196,000 (HSD
presentation to Community Advisory Board, 2021).5 During the pandemic, SSB tax funding allowed HSD to increase
portion sizes and food quality and support breakfast,
which had not been served before. HSD also shifted to a new vendor whose food tasted better according to participant surveys and taste tests. The agency also found a local vendor that could provide culturally appropriate meals.
In response to the pandemic, in 2020, SSB tax funding
allowed HSD to serve SFSP meals at sites in
neighborhoods with high need where doing so would have
been impractical from a financial perspective. For example, HSD could deliver meals to smaller sites with higher operating costs. Figure I shows the 72 SFSP sites operating in summer 2020, shortly after the pandemic began, and the 37 operating in summer 2021 when in-person summer programs resumed.
4 Rates, Eligibility Scales, and Funding, California Department of Education. https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/rs/. 5 Means, S., S. Taylor, and D. Cooppan. “Human Services Department.” Presented to the Sugar -Sweetened Beverage Community Advisory Board. September 13, 2021.
Figure I. SFSP sites operating in summer
2020 and summer 2021
82 Program name Focus population Total funding amount
Head Start Children birth to age 5 and their families $260,000
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
HSD also administers Head Start, a federally funded program that promotes early learning and development, health, and family well-being in a variety of settings, including child care centers and family child care homes.
Head Start services are provided at no cost to children from birth to age 5 and to pregnant women with low incomes.6 In California, Head Start programs receive state and federal reimbursements for providing healthy meals and snacks to enrolled children.7 Between 2019 and 2021, the reimbursement rates ranged from $0.94 per snack to $3.51 per lunch or supper.4
HSD used SSB tax funds to increase the nutritional quality of the foods served to children in Head Start when programs were in session, and affected:
• Meals and snacks for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers in Head Start centers • Foods for group socialization events in Early Head Start family child care homes Improvements were made to more than 78,000 meals and snacks between July 2019–June 2020, and more than 29,000 meals and snacks between July 2020–June 2021 (HSD presentation to Community Advisory Board, 2021). From March 2020 to July 2020, Head Start programs closed due to COVID, and did not serve meals and snacks to children during this time.
With the onset of COVID in March 2020, the priority for SSB tax funds became emergency food aid to families impacted by the pandemic. The program distributed pre-packaged meals to families in partnership with World Central Kitchen. As time progressed, the program distributed groceries to families to accommodate their stated preferences. Figure II shows the number of families who received emergency food aid between July 2019– June 2020 and July 2020–June 2021, representing more than 97 percent of families participating in Head Start.
Figure II. Number of Head Start families receiving emergency food aid, July 2019–June 2021
Source: Supplemental data provided by HSD, 2022.
6 “Head Start Programs.” Office of Head Start, Administration for Children & Families, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ohs/about/head-start
7 “Automatic Eligibility for Free Meal Benefits Extended to All Children Enrolled in Head Start.” California Department of Education. https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/sn/mbusdasnp082008.asp#:~:text=Public%20Law%20110%2D134, - Public%20Law%20110&text=Therefore%2C%20even%20a%20child%20who,are%20enrolled%20in%20Head%20Start .
Families
receiving food
aid, 621
Families not receiving
food aid, 13
July 2019–June 2020
Families
receiving
food aid, 463
Families not receiving
food aid, 14
July 2020–June 2021
83 Resources Challenges
• HSD leveraged and expanded existing infrastructure and programs with the SSB tax money.
• New staff at the Senior Division had the skills to lead programs like technology training and online cooking
classes.
• The Senior Division was unable to implement
in-person, community-based programming
during COVID.
PROGRAM SUCCESSES
HSD leveraged SSB tax funding and the programs it supported to expand resources provided to Oakland residents. For example, the Senior Division secured a grant from the Alameda County Food Bank that enabled the program to store the fresh foods SSB tax funding made possible. HSD used SSB tax funding to provide emergency food assistance to Head Start families, and took advantage of this touchpoint to promote other types of services such as vaccination and COVID testing.
HSD also identified ways to tailor its programs to better serve the residents of Oakland. The Senior Division recognized that online health promotion classes served the population of seniors that may be homebound, as the virtual programming engaged seniors who had not patronized a senior center before COVID. The Senior Division plans to continue online services even with the return of in-person services. HSD also collected survey data from SFSP and Head Start families throughout implementation of the programs, and used these data to improve the services it provided.
NEXT STEPS
HSD’s plans for fiscal year 2021–2022 SSB tax funding are as follows (HSD presentation to Community Advisory Board, 2021):
• The Senior Division plans to use its $428,286 budget to add healthy living classes and expand meal distribution. For instance, the Division started a healthy cooking class in West Oakland in collaboration with Environmental Services. This class uses induction cooking, which meets new building standards and can reduce the number of burn incidents.
• The $438,252 allocation for grants and SFSP will continue to be used to increase portion sizes and quality. • Because COVID cases cause intermittent site closures of Head Start programs, HSD plans to use the $282,005 allocation to continue responding to family needs while sites are closed. • An additional $500,000 has been allocated to food cards for emergency food assistance.
84 Oakland Unified School District
SUMMARY
About 10 years ago, the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) developed a strategic plan for nutrition services and wellness education to align with the district’s goal to “correct systemic injustice, pursue equality, and give our children the best future possible.”1 In fiscal years 2019–2021 (July 2019–June 2021), OUSD received funding from the SSB tax to support this plan, which included developing and opening the Central Kitchen, Instructional Farm, and Education Center (collectively referred to as “The Center”) in West Oakland. The Center is a full- service food service program designed to appeal to students by integrating fresh, locally sourced foods in school meals with opportunities for experiential learning in nutrition, gardening, culinary arts and science, technology, engineering, and math. However, during the COVID pandemic, OUSD shifted some funding to meet the immediate need of food assistance to students and their families.
OUSD used SSB tax funding for two programs to provide nutrition services and wellness education to OUSD students in prekindergarten through grade 12: (1) improving school meals to respond to COVID, and (2) implementing Center activities, including nutrition education.
Program name Total funding amount
School Meal Improvements $1,100,000
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
OUSD’s nutrition services department provides school meals to students throughout the district, and receives federal funds to provide nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to eligible students.2 When the COVID pandemic began, SSB tax funding helped fill the urgent need to provide meals to students who were no longer attending school in person. The district immediately pivoted to mass distribution from school sites to ensure coverage throughout the city, particularly in low-income neighborhoods. It eventually operated 24 food distribution centers across the district in summer 2020 (Figure I). At the same time, expenses for meal service increased dramatically because the district was no longer cooking meals in bulk, instead purchasing more expensive, individually packaged food for ease of providing meals outside of schools. OUSD also incurred costs for personal protective equipment and COVID hazard pay for nutrition services staff. SSB tax funding helped the nutrition services department pay some of the added costs associated with providing meals to children during the pandemic—investments in leadership to guide the changes in meal services and train staff, the student intern program, and security, custodial, and nutrition service staff to support expansion of the food distribution sites.
1 Oakland Unified School District Nutrition Services & Wellness Education Five-Year Strategic Plan. “Executive Summary; Rethinking School Lunch Oakland.”
2 Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. “National School Lunch Program.” https://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/nslp- fact-sheet.
85 With SSB tax funding, the district enhanced
federally funded school meals to include more
fresh produce and increase the amount of food.
As the pandemic continued, OUSD’s nutrition
services staff shifted toward providing bulk foods
instead of individually packaged portions, as foods
could be prepared at home. They engaged with new
vendors to accommodate this shift, while ensuring
that food distribution met federal nutrition
requirements even in the midst of supply chain
issues that disrupted menu plans. With SSB tax
funding, for instance, OUSD was able to include
better quality fresh vegetables with the meals.
In August 2020, when students returned to distance
learning, participation in meal services declined.
Working with Growing Together, a local nonprofit,
OUSD began delivering meals to homes, piloting
the program in a high-need area. The district hired
unemployed OUSD parents to call families identified
as having low incomes before COVID, using their
native language. OUSD used the information to
prioritize families in greatest need for meal delivery, and eventually scaled the program up to deliver
meals to 12,000 students each week.
The district decreased the number of public
distribution hubs as schools reopened to hybrid
virtual and in-person learning in spring 2021. In
contrast with the typical practice of serving meals
only during school days, home delivery continued
during summer school and during school breaks;
federal waivers implemented during the pandemic allowed this expanded service. OUSD leveraged the public distribution hubs at school sites and the home delivery service to bring additional resources to Oakland families.
With support from Salesforce and Eat.Learn.Play, OUSD delivered an additional 126,000 boxes of produce to students. Alameda County Food Bank also provided families with supplemental food, and World Central Kitchen provided meals to adults.
Figure I. Summer 2020 meal distribution sites
86 Program name Total funding amount
Central Kitchen, Instructional Farm, and Education Center $700,000
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND IMPLEMENTATION
At the start of the funding period in the winter of SY 2019–2020, OUSD began laying the groundwork for the Central Kitchen and expanded access to breakfast and after-school meals, but the onset of the COVID pandemic caused construction delays and a significant shift in funding to support food distribution. In response, the district developed and implemented virtual nutrition and garden education and engaged students and other stakeholders in planning for The Center.
2019–2021 activities3
• Food Corps service members4 provided nutrition and garden education in 20 elementary schools (SY 2019–2020) where at least 50 percent of students were eligible for free- or reduced-price lunch. They taught 7,500 students about healthy eating, where food comes from, how to grow it, how to cook it, and the importance of drinking water. Once the pandemic began, Food Corps service members and wellness champions5 pivoted to a virtual model of nutrition and garden education. • Launched OUSD’s inaugural Food Systems paid internship in June 2020, enrolling between 16 and 24 students from across OUSD high schools each year. The interns volunteered two or three times a week at food distribution sites in summer 2020, promoting safe practices and helping nutrition services staff. In addition, the interns participated in virtual learning sessions on food safety, culinary arts, global and local food systems, and food marketing/branding.
• Created and distributed over 3,500 distance learning garden kits for students to take home in late summer of 2020, which aligned with remote lessons.
• Recruited a new Student Advisory Council for The Center in winter 2020, with 25 students representing grade levels 4–11 and all geographic regions of the City of Oakland. The group convened virtually to discuss the menu and give input on food and garden programming. OUSD also engaged 70 stakeholders in the strategic plan for the Center. The stakeholders represented district staff, school staff and teachers, community partners, and West Oakland neighbors and students.
Activities before Spring 2020
• Launched a pilot program that replaced after-school snacks with grab-and-go-suppers at 16 schools, providing about 1,800 students with daily access to a healthy after-school meal. Based on the success of this pilot program, the department used grant funding to purchase refrigeration units and supplies, and had planned to expand into two dozen schools.
• Engaged school administrators to serve breakfast after the bell. To increase access to breakfast, the nutrition services department collaborated with school administrators in Title I schools6 to plan a breakfast program offering either a second-chance breakfast, grab-and-go breakfast, or breakfast in the classroom if such a program was not already in place. Based on OUSD reporting, as of fall 2019, schools with similar rates of students eligible for free and reduced-price school meals had widely varying rates of participation in breakfast. Students at schools with breakfast-after-the-bell programs participated in breakfast at four or five times the rate of students at comparable schools without the programs.
3 Data are from OUSD quarterly reporting and interviews with program staff. 4 FoodCorps is part of the AmeriCorps service network, and places trained service members in schools to support hands -on nutrition lessons, healthy school meals, and a schoolwide culture of health. 5 Site-based wellness champions support schools to foster a culture of health and wellness. 6 Title I provides financial assistance to schools with high numbers or high percentages of children whose families have low in comes to help ensure all children meet state academic standards. https://www2.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/index.html#:~:text=Schools%20in%20which%20children%20from,of%20the%20lowest%2Dac hieving%20students.
87 Resources Challenges
• OUSD nutrition services staff grew professionally
and learned about new systems and technology to
adapt service delivery to COVID.
• Food and operational costs increased during the
pandemic as supply chains were disrupted, and
staffing needs changed.
PROGRAM SUCCESSES
• OUSD quickly pivoted to adapt to changing circumstances as the COVID pandemic unfolded, partnering with governmental agencies and community-based organizations in the Bay Area to provide emergency food assistance to OUSD students and their families. The district operated distribution hubs and delivered food to students’ households, both of which it used to provide improved school meals with SSB tax funding as well as food assistance from partners.
• OUSD greatly expanded meal distribution during the pandemic period. Nationally, in contrast, the challenges of operating school meal programs during COVID led to dramatic decreases in meals served.7 • OUSD engaged students in nutrition and garden programming virtually through the Student Advisory Council and internship.
NEXT STEPS
For FY 2021–2023, OUSD has received $1,000,000 for The Center Education and Community Programming.
OUSD’s nutrition services department plans to continue developing The Center and deepening the partnerships developed with local organizations. During SY 2021–2022, the department began field trips to The Center, where students gain hands-on food and gardening experience. The district also plans to shift to cooking meals from scratch and developing menus that provide higher quality food to OUSD students.
7 “School Meal Trends & Stats.” School Nutrition Association. https://schoolnutrition.org/aboutschoolmeals/schoolmealtrendsstats.
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IV. Recommendations
Section A presents recommendations from grantees and City agency staff on what they believe the future direction of SSB tax investments in programs and services should be. Section B presents recommendations from the grantees based on their experiences with the contracting and reporting requirements.
A. Recommendations for SSB tax investments in programs and services
1. Continue investing in programs that address food insecurity, empower residents through education and advocacy, and provide preventive health services in communities disproportionately harmed by SSBs (13 grantees and City agencies). Grantees already provide services in these communities, and recommended that continued investment would help them expand their services and reach.
2. Increase funding for community-based organizations (as opposed to City agencies) to provide programs and services focused on those disproportionately harmed by SSBs (eight grantees).
Six grantees expressed concern about a lack of transparency about the distribution of the SSB tax funding. They perceived that the majority of funds went to City agencies rather than community organizations, and worried the tax would lose the support of taxpayers if the revenue was allocated in a way that does not support community-based programming. Three grantees believed more funding should align with the intent of the Measure HH ordinance and recommendations of the Community Advisory Board, such as investing in community-based organizations focused on nutrition, food access, and addressing root causes of diabetes and obesity. Staff from a City agency also suggested the City Council consider how the City allocates SSB tax dollars to City agencies that receive general funds. That is, instead of using SSB tax dollars to replace general fund dollars to support existing operations, SSB tax dollars could enhance what City agencies can do to better serve the Oakland community and the groups that are disproportionately affected by SSB consumption.
3. Provide multi-year grants to increase the likelihood of a meaningful and long-term impact in communities (four grantees). Grantees expressed a desire for longer grants, which would enable them to implement innovative projects, address root causes of diabetes and obesity, and work toward impacting long-term outcomes.
B. Recommendations for grant management
1. Simplify reporting requirements by creating relevant templates or providing additional instructions for reporting (15 grantees). Most grantees did not have specific ideas for how to implement this recommendation. One grantee suggested that if multiple organizations are working toward a similar goal, it could be helpful to have unified metrics in terms of number of people reached, satisfaction with program, or changes in SSB consumption. Doing so could also provide a future opportunity for evaluation, allowing for these metrics to be examined across multiple programs for a subset of grantees. Another grantee suggested better communication of accomplishments from the reports to the Community Advisory Board.
2. Provide clear guidance on expectations of grantees, as well as the schedule for reporting and payment. Nine grantees wanted more details about the RFP timelines, grant selection process, contracting timeline, budgeting, and reporting requirements. Grantees suggested several specific ways to improve the grant-making process:
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• Incorporate flexibility in the grant to adjust the goals, scope of work, and timeline (three grantees).
• Inform applicants about funding mechanisms, time frames, and expectations of the grant before releasing the RFP in to ensure timely payment administration and communication (four grantees). • Simplify the application process—for example, by using an online portal to submit applications (three grantees).
3. Improve communication and provide more technical assistance with the application process, reporting, and/or program implementation (six grantees). Three grantees thought they would have benefitted from more assistance with leadership development, grant writing, infrastructure building, or data collection and reporting. Five grantees also recommended having consistent points of contact, and that the City have the staff capacity to promptly respond to grantee questions and provide updates.
4. Provide opportunities for grantees and City agencies to develop and deepen partnerships.
Community grantees and City agencies described many ways they were working with each other and other community partners to advance the goal of health equity. Indeed, a few grantees came together on their own to discuss the community grant and ways to partner. Eight grantees recommended that the City facilitate opportunities for collaborating with other grantees, such as regular meetings where grantees could learn from each other and work together on common goals. One grantee recommended the City provide facilities for activities such as classes and recreational events.
V. Conclusion
From FY 2019 to FY 2021, the City of Oakland distributed nearly $16.5 million from the SSB tax to 26 grantees and four City agencies to provide programs and services promoting the health of Oakland residents, including those most impacted by SSB consumption and diet-related health disparities. Despite the challenges that grantees and City agencies faced during the COVID pandemic, nearly all of them used the tax funding for this purpose—providing access to healthy foods and beverages, promoting healthy and active lifestyles, and expanding economic opportunities. The participants served by these SSB-tax-funded programs and services spanned all age groups, and often identified as members of racial and ethnic minority groups. Grantees and City agencies partnered to implement programs and services, enabling them to expand their programs’ reach of their programs. Grantees noted that technology and staff skills, expertise, and buy-in facilitated program implementation. Challenges included adapting programs to safety protocols for COVID, limitations with technology, and staff capacity. Grantees appreciated the flexibility in funding, but noted difficulties in collecting data and communicating with the City, and delays in receiving funds and finalizing the contract.
In March 2022, the City released the new RFP for the Reducing Consumption of SSB Community Grants, with applications due in April 2022. The City projects $3 million dollars of grant funding, with a funding period that spans two years between July 2022 and June 2024. Going forward, grantees recommended continued investments in programs and services that address food insecurity, empower residents, and provide preventive health services, while also identifying opportunities to deepen partnerships between organizations working to further the goal of achieving health equity in Oakland.
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