Just Harvest Education Fund

Improving Community Food Access - This program area includes activities to develop and promote community-based food access solutions in communities historically underserved by the traditional retail food industry. It aims to reduce the food insecurity challanges faced by low-income people living in food desert or food apartheid areas. Program activities include: a) Fresh Access which enables food stamp (SNAP)users to use their benefits for high-quality foods at local farmser markets by providing electronic transaction capacity, a token-based redemption system, and healthy food incentives for SNAP users at 14 local farmers markets. More than 100 vendors, including over 30 local farmers participate in the program which served more than 1,100 individual SNAP program participants during the year.b) Fresh Corners which provides technical, marketing, and supply chain support to independent mom-and-pop corner stores to sell fresh produce and other healthier food choices for consumers in communities without supermarkets. We also provide stores with supplemental supplies of locally grown fresh produce for retail sale during the growing season. c)Community advocacy efforts to provide technical help, policy development, and coalition-building to expand health food access in specific neighborhoods. These efforts include work with community organizations, local government, and the private sector food industry to support a variety of creative investments in affordable food access in under-served communities.

Reducing Barriers to SNAP and other Public Benefits - Just Harvest Education Fund provides assistance to low-income people in completing and submitting SNAP (food stamps) applications to the PA Department of Human Services, community outreach to build awareness of SNAP among potentially eligible households, pre-screening of prospective applicants for estimate of eligibility, post-application assistance in completing and submitting required documentation and follow-up tracking of applications. During 2023, we completed applications for 1,017 households and screened an additional 258 households. This program also includes numerous other efforts to identify and rectify other barriers to public benefits, including individual case intervention for people at risk of losing benefits, administrative advocacy with government program offices to improve practices and procedures, and community outreach on behalf of people potentially eligible for public programs such as LIHEAP, WIC, Affordable Connectivity, SNAP, Summer EBT, and School Meals.

Free Tax Preparation Service: Just Harvest Education Fund provides free income tax return preparation and community outreach on Earned Income Tax Credit and related targeted tax benefits for low-income people. During 2023, the program carried out to in-person operations at 5 community tax sites plus virtual service as well. Just Harvest completed federal tax returns for more than 3,100 households. Households served by Just Harvest shared total federal tax refunds of more than $5.1 million. This total included over $1.8 million in Earned Income Tax Credits and $1.5 million in Child Tax Credits. Just Harvest also provided management support, staff and volunteer training, technical assistance, and quality control to a coalition of 10 other free tax service providers at 17 other other locations across 5 counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The Free Tax Prep Coalition as a whole served a total of more than 7,800 households, accounting for over $10.6 mill in refunds.