The Double Up Food Bucks program has become the national model for increasing access to healthy food among low-income families. The 2014 federal Farm Bill allocates millions of dollars to support the Double Up Food Bucks concept of using matching funds to double the value of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) dollars used to purchase locally grown fruits and vegetables.

The Community Foundation was the first funder of the Detroit pilot of this program five years ago. We continue to support its implementation throughout the region — including, most recently, at the Chelsea Farmers’ Market. We were intrigued by the bold vision of its founder, the Ann Arbor-based Fair Food Network, to improve the quality of food available to people on public assistance and to generate additional revenue for small- to mid-size farmers. Like the great fresh food grown here, it’s an important Michigan export that is affecting lasting change in people’s lives.