We’ve got exciting news to share! The Neighboring Food Co-op Association (NFCA) and the Cooperative Fund of New England (CFNE) have been working together over the last few years to help our member food co-ops make healthy food and co-op ownership more accessible to all community members. Recently, many of these food co-ops have moved from planning to action. In the last few months alone, three food co-ops have launched NEW healthy food access programs, and more are planning to launch programs soon!

Neighboring food co-ops have been collaborating each month to support each
other in designing programs that meet the growing need in communities across
New England: helping low-income families access healthy food and co-op memberownership. Here are some new healthy food access programs that Neighboring
Food Co-ops have recently launched:

Now, through Brattleboro Food Co-op’s new Food For All program, shoppers can:

• Become members of their community grocery store with over 6,000 other people in their town
• Receive a 10% discount on everything but alcohol every day of the week
• Learn how to buy better food on a budget, and how to prepare it to get the most value

Brattleboro Food Co-op is also offering free Pennywise Pantry tours in the store, which help shoppers explore how to find the best value for your food budget. They also offer “Indulge in Healthy Cooking” classes, a series of six classes in collaboration with the Community Health department at the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital.

The Monadnock Food Co-op in Keene, NH launched their Healthy Food For All program at the end of last year. The program’s launch coincided with the co-op’s A Place a the Table Event in Keene, sparking conversation and collective action around hunger, obesity and national food policy in United States.

And, as of January 1st, 2014, Putney Food Co-op is offering members who qualify for WIC, SNAP or SSI a 10% discount every time they shop through their Food For All program. Shoppers can become member-owners of the co-op for as little as $15 a year. Putney Food Co-op also partners with the Putney Central School, Putney Family Services, and the Bellows Falls Boys & Girls Club to provide healthy snacks and host cooking and nutrition classes on how to prepare healthy food.

These are just a few examples of new programs launched. Learn more about what Neighboring Food Co-ops are doing to make healthy food and co-op ownership more accessible: http://nfca.coop/healthyfoodaccess