Program areas at CAFB
Food resourcing and logistics:shopping partners: the shopping partners program enables cafb's partner nonprofits to conserve their limited resources by ordering donated and purchased Food from cafb for no charge or at prices significantly lower than retail cost.partner direct: cafb facilitates retail pick-up directly between Food Bank partners and Food donors. This allows our partners to collect donations directly from stores, saving on transportation and other costs.even though the region has re-opened over the last year and the economy has shown some signs of improvement, significant Food insecurity has persisted in our Area. Many of the lower income individuals and families we serve are still recovering financially from the economic challenges of the last several years. Inflation, at some of the highest levels in nearly 40 years, has also caused the price of Food, gas, rent, and many other essential costs of living to skyrocket. All of this puts a severe strain on our clients. To meet the pressing needs of those experiencing hunger today, we distributed the Food for 53 million nutritious, culturally relevant meals in the last year alone still more than the 30 million we distributed annually before the pandemic. And beyond Food distribution, the Food Bank continued to undertake work aimed at creating opportunity, advancing equity, and empowering our clients and partners. This included the launch of a "Food pharmacy" at children's national hospital to make nutritious Food easily available to Food insecure families visiting the juvenile diabetes clinic, and multiple partnerships with local colleges to address the need of Food insecure students.
Government distributions:commodity supplemental Food program (csfp): cafb provides income-eligible seniors over 60 in d.c. and Maryland with a bag of healthy groceries each month. In the summer, participants also receive produce vouchers redeemable at participating farmer's markets. The emergency Food assistance program (tefap): cafb receives usda commodities and distributes them to certain qualified agencies without any service fees.
Community direct distribution:through cafb's community direct distribution activities, we distribute Food directly into the community in instances where a brick and mortar partner isn't available, where there is not enough partner capacity to meet demand, or where direct distribution is the most efficient way to meet the need in a neighborhood.senior brown bag: cafb provides seniors with a 30 - 40 pound bag of groceries each month. Healthy recipes, a nutrition newsletter and information on how to access community resources in specific neighborhoods are also included.family markets: hosted in schools throughout dc, Maryland and Virginia, family markets offer no cost Food for kids and families in a convenient market-like setting.joyful Food markets: this monthly pop-up grocery market takes place at schools in dc's wards 7 and 8. Each market provides families with healthy, non-perishable groceries and fresh produce.early childcare family markets: focused on families with children enrolled in head start centers, these new sites provide produce that is high in essential nutrients needed for young children.school pantries: designed to be a consistent and convenient space for families to access Food, school pantries are located within the school building and provide a variety of shelf-stable Food items for the school community.mobile markets: in partnership with community sites such as recreation centers and churches, these monthly no-cost pop-up markets bring Food directly into neighborhoods where it's needed.community marketplace: at this monthly farmer's market-inspired event, cafb offers fresh, seasonal produce at no cost. Health, housing and other service providers are also on site as additional resources for clients. Currently, four community marketplaces serve hundreds of clients one saturday a month in Virginia, Maryland and d.c.food plus pilot programming: in addition to the Food Bank's programming to provide Food to families and individuals that meets their immediate needs, we also recognize that it will take more than Food to enable people to move beyond Food insecurity. For this reason, the Food Bank has developed several pilot programs known as "Food plus." The Food plus model pairs nutritious Food with other critical services provided by partners, such as health care, skill development, and education. Food plus is designed to incentivize the use of available support programs while saving participants time and eliminating the need for them to choose between services due to transportation, time, or other constraints. Food plus is centered around the needs of the people we serve. Based on input from our clients, the Food Bank is developing, exploring, and implementing multiple pilot projects to see what service bundles make the largest impact for program participants, and with an aim of scaling the most effective ones.
Partner relations and agency training:urban garden: the 8,000 square foot urban teaching garden at the Food Bank's northeast Washington facility features raised beds, fruit trees, and nutrition and gardening lessons. Cafb's garden program aims to educate school children on field trips about the benefits of garden grown vegetables, and provide trainings that enable its partner nonprofits to start their own gardens as a way of creating a low-cost, sustainable Food supply.nutrition education: the Food Bank offers a range of nutrition education classes for its partners and the wider community, including courses on cooking nutritious meals on a budget. The Food Bank also continuously adds to and shares its online library of recipes and instructional cooking videos.
Food for kids:child and adult care Food program (cacfp): children participating in this program receive hearty snacks or evening meals at a variety of afterschool centers throughout the area.summer Food service program (sfsp): this summer meals program provides nutritious meals children need to continue growing and learning when school meals are unavailable.