Texas Health Resources Marks 4-Year Milestone in Double Up Efforts:
12th Program Location, First Dallas Grocer, Nearly $600,000 in Benefits Redeemed
Texas Health Resources marked a milestone recently in its four-year effort to make fresh produce more affordable in under-resourced North Texas communities by introducing its twelfth Double Up Food Bucks location: Foodland Markets on Lake June Road in Dallas. This is the fifth Dallas area program site and the first Dallas grocer to participate. The new location, which introduced Double Up to customers in late May, is supported in part by funding from the American Heart Association.
Double Up is a program that allows anyone who receives Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits to double their dollars for fresh fruits and vegetables at participating grocers and farmers markets. Depending on the merchant, SNAP users can use their Lone Star Card to receive either 50% off fresh produce purchases or double the value of their produce purchase up to a set dollar limit each day. Texas Health brought the program to North Texas in May 2020 in an effort to address nutrition security in under-resourced communities. The program is now available at four G.E. Foodland, Inc.—with three stores in Tarrant County—as well as eight farmers markets across Dallas and Tarrant counties.
The expansion is part of a larger effort to improve nutrition security in the communities Texas Health serves by making fresh fruits and vegetables more affordable and accessible. “In our first year of Double Up Food Bucks, we had 165 transactions and provided more than $2,600 in benefits,” said Matt Dufrene, vice president of Texas Health. “Four years later we have seen more than 85,000 transactions and nearly $600,000 in benefits utilized. That means more people can afford to put fresh fruits and vegetables on the table and provide healthy nutritious meals for their families.”
Texas Health’s Double Up efforts began with a pilot program at Cowtown Farmers Market in west Fort Worth during the height of the pandemic and quickly gained steam when G.E. Foodland Inc. made program benefits available at three of its Tarrant County locations. In 2022, Texas Health was able to expand its Double Up efforts in and beyond Tarrant County thanks to funding from the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP), a competitive grant program under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Locations are:
- Bonton Farms - 6911 Bexar St., Dallas TX 75215
- Coppell Farmers Market – 768 W. Main St., Coppell TX 75019
- Cowtown Farmers Market - Veterans Park, 8901 Clifford St., White Settlement TX 76108
- Dallas Farmers Market – 1010 S. Pearl Expwy., Dallas TX 75201
- For Oak Cliff Farmers Market - 907 E. Ledbetter Dr., Dallas TX 75216
- Foodland Markets - 1524 NW 25th, Fort Worth TX 76164
- Foodland Markets - 1212 S. Ayers Ave., Fort Worth TX 76105
- Foodland Markets - 3320 Mansfield Hwy., Forest Hill TX 76119
- Foodland Markets – 8411 Lake June Rd., Dallas TX 75217
- Lake Worth Farmers Market - 7005 Charbonneau Rd., Lake Worth TX 76135
- Saginaw Farmers Market - 752 S. Knowles Dr., Saginaw TX 76179
- Tabor Farms - 3400 Village Creek Rd., Fort Worth TX 76105
Texas Health is the North Texas lead for implementing Double Up Food Bucks Texas, a statewide network that includes more than 50 participating locations. The program is part of a larger effort to improve nutrition security that currently includes Good For You Pantry and Fresh Access programs, which provide free produce and other healthy foods in schools and community centers; support for urban farmers; and a comprehensive Learning Garden initiative that supports gardens in 40 area schools across five North Texas school districts. Earlier this year, Texas Health also joined forces with Gallup to conduct a study in Dallas, Parker, and Tarrant counties to identify the underlying factors causing nutrition insecurity. Results of that report are expected by the end of 2024.
A full list of all Texas Health’s healthy food access locations in North Texas can be found at this link. Texas Health continues to look for funding partners for all healthy food access efforts, including Double Up.