Recipe for success foundation (RFS) was founded in 2005 to combat childhood obesity by changing the way children understand, appreciate, and eat their food and to educate and mobilize the community to…

The Recipe for Success Foundation (RFS) received a $374,980 Project Grant award from the US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service under the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program (FMLFPP) to expand farmers markets and increase fresh food access in underserved areas of Houston, Texas. RFS will use the three-year award ending September 2024 to hire a program manager and public relations firm to develop promotional materials and recruit urban farmers and food producers for participation in their Rolling Green pop-up markets. Funding will also allow RFS to expand production and packaging capabilities at their Hope Farms facility to more easily incorporate additional vendors' products into the pop-up markets. The goal is to increase farmers' incomes and broader community access to fresh, locally-grown foods in low-income Houston neighborhoods designated as food deserts through expanded market opportunities.

Recipe for success foundation (RFS) was founded in 2005 to combat childhood obesity by changing the way children understand, appreciate, and eat their food and to educate and mobilize the community to provide them with healthier diets. RFS operates hope farms (http://hopefarms HTX.ORG ) a seven-acre working, urban farm located in the shadow of downtown houston, where we grow affordable, fresh produce for houston families, train new urban farmers, and provide a place for the entire community to learn about and celebrate fresh, locally-grown food. The overarching goal of hope farms expands diversity and frequency of farmers markets in food deserts is to expand our impact and reach from our original "first saturday" farmers market concept in the historically black houston neighborhood of sunnyside, a known food desert, which was attempted just prior to shutdown to a larger footprint of vendors and customers, further leveraged by offering participating vendors opportunity to provide food from friends in the regularly scheduled rolling green POP up markets throughout the greater houston area. (please see previous plate for a map noting low-income and low-access areas). Therefore, RFS seeks USDA fmpp funding to: 1) hire a part-time program manager and secure services of a PR firm who will together expand our partnership base, develop recruitment and promotional materials, build a coalition of urban micro-farmers and boutique food makers who collectively produce a wide variety of complementary agricultural products, and design and deploy a cohesive advertising and promotional campaign to increase awareness of and participation in community-based fresh- food sales and events; and expand the capacity of hope farms' produce processing and packing station to simplify the process of incorporating recruited urban farmers' products into rolling green market POP-UPS, thereby increasing farmers' reach and income opportunities.