Ibrahim Ayad of Simply Fresh Microgreens cuts red cabbage during the Boulder Farmers Market in Boulder. — AARON ONTIVEROZ/The Denver Post/TNS
A SLICE of the nearly US$29mil (RM137mil) that Boulder, in Colorado collected during the first six and a half years of a voter-passed soda tax has provided low-income residents with extra money to buy fresh produce from local businesses.
It’s one of many ways the city has directed revenue from that unusual tax to a range of programmes focused on improving health equity in the community.
Maria Fraire, one of nearly 1,500 people across 370 families now enrolled in the Fruit & Veg Boulder programme, has relied on the monthly stipend to sustain her vegan diet, typically shopping at Whole Foods. She’s been part of the initiative for about a year, receiving the maximum US$80 (RM377) per month toward produce purchases for her family.
“My breakfast is vegetables; my lunch is vegetables,” she said in Spanish. Originally from Zacatecas, Mexico, Fraire has lived in Boulder for almost 25 years.
Because of how expensive fresh produce can be, she said, “For me, (the programme) helps a lot.”
Fruit & Veg Boulder is part of a broader Boulder County programme that also serves Longmont residents. Enrollees must meet low-income thresholds; for a family of four, the household’s annual adjusted gross income should fall under US$55,500 (RM261,876). Residents of those cities can participate if they do not otherwise qualify for two federal food aid programmes that assist low-income families and women who are pregnant or have young children.
The produce programme fills a gap by helping, in part, undocumented immigrants and mixed immigration status families, or households with both United States citizens and people without legal status.
Programme participants buy produce using paper coupons. Households made up of one or two people receive US$40 (RM188) per month, while those with three or more people get US$80 per month.
The funding for Boulder’s part of the programme comes mostly from the city’s sugar-sweetened beverage tax revenue, awarded by its Health Equity Fund, while Longmont draws on other funding sources. Boulder became one of the nation’s few cities to tax sugary drinks after its ballot measure passed with 54% of the vote in the 2016 election. Other cities with soda taxes include Seattle, Philadelphia and San Francisco.
The tax, which took effect in July 2017, collects a two-cent excise tax per ounce from distributors of sweetened beverages, such as soda and energy drinks. The ballot measure dictated that tax revenue would go toward health promotion, wellness programmes and chronic disease prevention.
The amount of soda tax revenue dedicated to the Fruit & Veg Boulder programme sometimes varies, but it is receiving US$298,000 (RM1.4mil) in 2024 – the same as last year, said Elizabeth Crowe, deputy director of Boulder’s Housing and Human Services Department.
The programme has received additional money from the city’s allocations in the federal, pandemic-era American Rescue Plan Act: US$55,000 (RM259,517) this year and US$88,000 (RM415,228) last year. The extra money was used to help reduce the programme’s active waitlist, Crowe said.
‘We need this access’
The overwhelming demand for the programme is spurred in part by a high cost of living. To make a living wage in Boulder County, an adult with no children would need to earn US$26.36 (RM124.38) per hour at their job, according to a living wage calculator produced by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
For a parent with two children, it’s US$65.26 (RM307.93) per hour – several times the US$14.42 (RM68) minimum wage in Boulder and Longmont, though the county’s minimum wage in unincorporated areas is slightly higher.
“There are many people who are struggling to get by and to make it in Boulder County,” said Amelia Hulbert, who leads Boulder County Public Health’s Healthy Eating, Active Living team.
In Boulder, Fruit & Veg programme enrollees can frequent the Boulder Farmers Market and participating grocery stores.
Organisations that connect families with the programme are seeing the impact on their community, though gaps in access still remain.
Elena Aranda is the co-director of El Centro Amistad, a nonprofit that supports the county’s Latino community. She attended an event at the Boulder Farmers Market last week, sitting in the shade as market goers ambled along 13th Street, reusable bags on their arms.
“You don’t see our community coming here,” Aranda said, “because it’s not affordable.”
But because of the programme, participants with coupons in hand are starting to feel welcome in the space, Aranda said. “We need this access, especially for children,” she added.
Still, Jorge De Santiago, El Centro Amistad co-director, said the programme can serve only a “very small percentage of the families who really need the support.”
Because he doesn’t foresee demand shrinking, De Santiago would like the programme to expand throughout the rest of the county.
Hulbert also wants to see the programme increase the monthly allotment for participants, noting that, “with inflation, groceries are more expensive.”
Programme is now five years old
The Fruit & Veg Boulder programme kicked off in 2019, followed in 2020 by the Longmont programme, which now serves more than 1,000 people across 225 families.
Besides funding its part of the programme, the city awards soda tax revenue through the Health Equity Fund to organisations working on food and water security, health and wellness education, physical fitness and more. This year, it recommended about 50 awards, totalling US$3.8mil (RM17.93mil), according to a list of fund allocations.
Among other recipients are Clinica Campesina Family Health Services, a community health centre that received US$175,180 (RM826,587) for comprehensive primary care services for residents, and Community Food Share, a food bank that was awarded US$116,946 (RM551,810) to gather and distribute healthy food.
Mayor Aaron Brockett praised his city’s Fruit & Veg programme as “a transformative initiative in our community.”
He also pointed to a positive impact on local businesses where participants shop.
Emmy Bender, co-owner of Off Beet Farm, sells vegetables grown on her Boulder County farm at the Boulder Farmers Market. Now in its second year in business, Bender estimates 10%-15% of last year’s sales involved some sort of low-income assistance like the Fruit & Veg Boulder programme.
She described it as a “win-win for everybody.”
“Local farmers are able to sell their food and support local economies and soil health,” Bender said. “And then people are able to access our food that wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it.” – The Denver Post/Tribune News Service
