VeggieRx

SCLT Youth Representative to the Board, Anini, gives out produce at the 2024 Trinity Square Together block party

SCLT’s Produce Aggregation and VeggieRx programs are making significant strides in the fight against Rhode Island’s growing food insecurity crisis. Over the seven-month 2024 growing season, these initiatives will deliver more than 44,000 pounds of locally grown produce to 9,750 people, with 97% of recipients being low-income residents. This effort represents a crucial intervention in a state where one in three residents – and half of all Black and Latine households – faces food insecurity. Across our programs, we expect to feed more than 25,000 Rhode Islanders before the year ends.

The success of our Aggregation and VeggieRx programs stems from a robust collaboration between SCLT staff,  small scale farmers of color, and more than a dozen partners building community-driven solutions to pressing social issues. Partners include institutional buyers like the state’s Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program and Sodexo, servicing Providence Public Schools; childcare and senior centers like Beautiful Beginnings and St. Martin de Porres; social services organizations such as Amos House, Project Weber/Renew, and Youth Pride Inc.; and three of RI’s largest healthcare networks: Lifespan, Integra and Clínica Esperanza.

As a modest pilot in 2017, SCLT’s Produce Aggregation program worked with five small-scale farmers to sell $3,500 worth of their fresh produce to three local food enterprises. By 2023, we enrolled 28 farmers in the program and revenues paid to farmers skyrocketed to $190,000, not only supporting local agriculture and local producers, but also enhancing food access for vulnerable communities.

A significant boost to the program came through funding from the USDA’s Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) program. This initiative supports the flow of locally grown crops into the emergency food system, providing the funding to compensate farmers at fair market rates for their produce. The LFPA program, emerging in response to the pandemic, aims to procure and distribute local and regional foods that are healthy, nutritious, and unique to their geographic areas. But LFPA funding runs out in the early part of the 2025 growing season.

As food insecurity continues to be a pressing issue, the eyes of many are on how to sustain this crucial funding. With ongoing efforts at both federal and state levels, there’s hope that the next Farm Bill may include provisions to continue supporting these vital programs.

Looking ahead, the future holds some promise for these initiatives. The introduction of the Expanding Access To (EAT) Local Foods Act by RI Senator Reed in 2024, with widespread support, could provide dedicated funding for purchasing food from small and local farmers for free distribution through community partners by codifying the successful LFPA model. Additionally, the State of RI Department of Health’s request for a waiver to add healthy food prescriptions and medically tailored meals as new covered benefits under Medicaid could further expand the reach of programs like VeggieRx.