Food For Thought
Welcome to the table, the place we gather to share stories, knowledge and insight from our mission to use food as a force for good.
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Indie Grocers Offer A Path Forward
August 28, 2026
Opening New Doors: Growing Double Up Across Michigan
December 17, 2025
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We Can Have A Real Food Revolution—If We Support the Farmers Who Feed Us
In the recently released Dietary Guidelines for Americans, we're encouraged to eat more fruits and vegetables—...
January 20, 2026
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Opening New Doors: Growing Double Up Across Michigan
Communities across Michigan — and beyond — are asking for Double Up Food Bucks. Each new Double Up location, i...
December 17, 2025
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Community-Powered Grocery Stores Strengthen Detroit's Food Economy
Meet two Michigan grocery stores, Whittier Bodega and Garden Fresh Marketplace, that are transforming obstacle...
December 17, 2025
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Growing Resilience from the Ground Up: Two Michigan Food Entrepreneurs Creating Positive Change
Small farms and food businesses face persistent challenges—from climate change to financing. But across our ho...
December 12, 2025
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Always Ready: How Fair Food Network Showed Up During the Shutdown
When the recent federal government shutdown disrupted SNAP disbursements, our communities were left with uncer...
December 4, 2025
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SNAP May Stop, But We Aren't
As the federal government shutdown continues, most states — including our home state of Michigan — will not be...
October 31, 2025
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Starting with Food Means Starting with Dignity
What happens when food access isn’t just about nutrition, but about connection: to history, to healing, and to...
August 28, 2025
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Community Resilience Through Food: Introducing Fair Food Network’s Resilience Fund
The Resilience Fund provides rapid-response funding to support our partners and projects in times of uncertain...
July 12, 2025
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Double Up Food Bucks Expands to 21 New Michigan Sites, Deepening Local Impact
This year, Double Up Food Bucks in Michigan is expanding to 21 new sites across the state—joining 237 existing...
July 10, 2025
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Fourth-Generation Detroiter to Bring Healthy Food Access to Detroit’s Eastside
Alontae Pittman of Detroit saw owning a grocery store on Detroit's east side as an opportunity to leave a lega...
June 4, 2025
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How one couple’s dream for an independent meat processing facility is strengthening the regional food system
For more than a decade, Damian's Craft Meats has been working to launch a new meat processing facility that wi...
March 6, 2025
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Building Trust at the Grocery Store Checkout
Grocery cashiers serve as frontline ambassadors helping customers access healthy food options through Double U...
February 28, 2025
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Michigan Good Food Fund's Seed Award Spotlight: Jere Farms
Dan Jere of Jere Farms in the Upper Peninsula has worked tirelessly to bring high-quality meat and produce to ...
February 21, 2025
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Rooted in Paradise: Oahu's Rise as a Hub for Food Innovation and Sovereignty
O’ahu is redefining what it means to live in paradise. The island’s local food movement is growing stronger, p...
November 6, 2024
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At Your Fingertips
We launched two new websites for Double Up Food Bucks this winter, helping shoppers learn about the program na...
August 21, 2024
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Detroit Businesses Owners Graduate from BUILD Basics for Food Entrepreneurs
Detroit businesses owners graduate from BUILD Institute's course, gaining access to financing from the Michiga...
August 8, 2024
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Peaches & Greens: A True-to-Detroit Neighborhood Produce Market
Learn how a neighborhood produce market in Detroit, Michigan weathered the Great Recession, the COVID-19 pande...
July 18, 2024
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Continuing to Meet the Need With Nutrition Incentive Programs
Food insecurity presents a growing problem in the U.S. With the help of nutrition incentive programs like Doub...
July 8, 2024
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Strengthening Community Connections in Flint, Michigan
Since its launch over a decade ago in Flint, the Double Up Food Bucks program has been so popular that the cit...
July 8, 2024
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Michigan Legislature Can Increase Food Security through Continued Support of the Double Up Food Bucks Program
Food insecurity is a serious problem across the nation. Read how our Double Up Food Bucks program is helping M...
June 10, 2024
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No Salt, All Flavor: MFER Seasonings and Sauces brings a new kind of spice to its customers
With a calling to bring flavorful, low-sodium products to the community, Antoine Williams founded MFER Seasoni...
November 9, 2023
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GusNIP Week of Action - November 6-10
Together with food, farm and health leaders across the nation, Fair Food Network is calling on Congress to imp...
November 6, 2023
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NTAE Nutrition Incentive Hub National Convening 2023: Advancing Nutrition Incentives & Produce Prescriptions
This summer, we joined 630+ GusNIP practitioners and partners to learn about innovations in the field, discuss...
September 26, 2023
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Supporting Nutrition Incentives Nationwide
See how our work with the Nutrition Incentive Hub helps nutrition incentive programs start, strengthen, and sc...
September 1, 2023
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Advocacy in Action: Championing polices that bring proven, restorative solutions to scale
As we approach the 2023 Farm Bill, Fair Food Network and our partners in the Alliance for National Nutrition I...
September 1, 2023
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Championing local farmers with Argus Farm Stop
At Argus Farm Stop, farmers own the produce and keep 70% of every sale and families with low income can access...
August 22, 2023
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Re-imagining traditional African favorites with Global Village Foods
Global Village Foods has turned their traditional African restaurant menu into allergy-friendly, vegan ready-t...
August 22, 2023
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Hitting the road with delicious fun foods with Jetta’s Popcorn & Fun Foods
After 10 years in business, Jetta’s Popcorn & Fun Foods decided to hit the road. “The biggest ah-ha I have had...
August 22, 2023
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Supporting Food and Farm Entrepreneurs in Michigan
Fair Food Network is the administrator of Michigan Good Food Fund, a lending network that invests in small bus...
August 22, 2023
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Growing State Support for Double Up Texas
The work of our policy team is designed to broaden access to healthy foods by expanding nutrition incentive pr...
August 22, 2023
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On a roll: EggRollDiva meets a growing demand for metro-Detroit’s favorite food truck
As Detroit's "EggRollDiva" Belinda Beard sets her sights on a new food trailer and an expanded ability to brin...
August 14, 2023
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What the Upcoming Farm Bill Means to Your Community
The Farm Bill is the most important tool we have for addressing food security in our country. See what’s at st...
August 11, 2023
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A Double Up Michigan Partnership Improves Local Sourcing
In 2022, Fair Food Network’s Double Up Food Bucks program partnered with Taste the Local Difference to take a ...
August 8, 2023
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Detroit Grocer Improves Local Sourcing
Garden Fresh Marketplace, a grocery store in west Detroit, uses relationship building to increase the amount o...
July 14, 2023
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Win-Win-Win of Nutrition Incentives
Senior Policy Director Mark Nicholson shares the win-win-win potential of nutrition incentives to add signific...
December 14, 2022
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From Capital- to Community-first Mindset in Impact Investing
Despite good intentions by impact investors, capital is still not reaching everyone equally, especially in com...
September 27, 2022
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Denver’s Growth Leaves Grocers and Healthy Food Efforts in its Wake
We teamed up with Nourish Colorado to explore the impact of Denver's explosive growth & gentrification on neig...
April 18, 2022
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People in Nutrition Incentive Programs Eat More Produce Than the Average Person, and Other Insights From the 2021 HUB Convening
New research shows that people who participate in nutrition incentive programs eat MORE fruits & veggies. ...
March 7, 2022
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Detroit Entrepreneurs Redefine Soul Food
Since 2010, Detroit Soul's Jerome Brown & Samuel Van Buren have grown their healthful, homestyle cooking busin...
November 3, 2021
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Building a Blueprint for Food Sovereignty in Black and Brown Neighborhoods
After six years and many hurdles, the North Flint Food Market broke ground this August. Dig into our latest st...
November 2, 2021
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The Results Are In
Dig into two new impact reports highlighting sparks of innovation and resilience across our impact investing a...
July 6, 2021
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Meet our new team members!
Our Fair Food Network team is growing! We asked our newest staff members about a topic near and dear to our he...
April 29, 2021
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Fair Food Fund Impact Report Q1 2021
In this quarterly report, we’re excited to announce our first Collateral Initiative with Maine Harvest Federal...
April 28, 2021
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How to address nutrition insecurity? A solution is on the table
Hear from Policy Director Mark Nicholson on the ways SNAP and nutrition incentives help us address nutrition i...
March 31, 2021
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What is Essential? A Profile of a Detroit Grocer
People across our food system from farm to fork have been working tirelessly this past year. We talked with Jo...
February 1, 2021
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Fair Food Fund Impact Report Q4 2020
In this quarterly report, we’re excited to announce a NEW investment in Chelsea Business Foundation, a nonprof...
January 29, 2021
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The Power of Food
Join us on a journey as we lift up signs of resilience that show what’s possible when we harness the power of ...
November 16, 2020
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Fair Food Fund Impact Report Q3 2020
In this quarterly report, we’re excited to announce a new investment in Forty Acres Soul Kitchen, the only ful...
November 1, 2020
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SNAP in America with StoryCorps
We partnered with StoryCorps and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to lift up the voices behind SNAP in America. ...
July 22, 2020
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Investing in Detroit Business Before, During, and Beyond COVID-19
Meet Quiana (Que) Broden, an entrepreneur on a mission to deliver locally sourced, healthy food to Detroiters ...
July 2, 2020
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Standing with the communities we serve
Today and every day, Fair Food Network is committed to standing together to build a more equitable and just to...
June 8, 2020
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What Fair Food Network is Doing During this Crisis
The world is changing with COVID-19 and so are we. See how we’re pivoting work in incentives and impacting inv...
March 31, 2020
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Game changer from farm to (every) fork
The Senate farm bill was passed with bipartisan support and includes victories for American farmers and famili...
June 28, 2018
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5 tips to get the word out about SNAP incentives
Take a trip with us to see how we reimagined the Double Up marketing campaign with the goal to grab the attent...
June 14, 2018
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4 Things That Inspired Us in 2017
From the east coast to the west and deep in America's heartland, there's one thing that unites us all: the bel...
December 14, 2017
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What happens at a business boot camp?
Heard of business boot camps and want to know more? Follow the journey of a good food entrepreneur through the...
December 12, 2017
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SNAP Incentives Shine at Farm Bill Conversations
Farm Bill conversations happened in communities across the country in 2017. One common theme that cut across g...
December 5, 2017
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Double Up Doubles Down on Grocery.
Grocers across the nation are bringing Double Up Food Bucks to their stores. Learn what’s behind this next fro...
October 23, 2017
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A Fresh Approach to Farm-Fresh Shopping
Five Acre Farms takes the “buy local” and meets customers where they are—the grocery store—with farm fresh, su...
April 3, 2017
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Taking A Farmer-Focused Food Hub to the Next Level
WorldPEAS Food Hub realized it needed to re-think its business plan to get back on its feet and become financi...
March 22, 2017
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A Place to Park
What happens when you’ve got a brilliant idea, put it into action, and then realize you need to pivot? That’s ...
December 13, 2016
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Connecting Farmers to Eaters - and Businesses - in Maine
When the Pickup, a local food grocery delivery and wholesale distribution business in Skowhegan, Maine launche...
November 28, 2016
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Creating Change and Locally-Sourced Brews in Portland, Maine
A strange intersection of events led to the success of Urban Farm Fermentory, a Portland, Maine, business that...
November 28, 2016
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Voices of Double Up in America
We sat down with some of the families, farmers, market managers, store owners, and others that make Double Up ...
November 12, 2016
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Voices of Double Up in America: Shopper in Michigan
Hear from one Double Up shopper on how this healthy food incentive program helped her family during a time of ...
November 11, 2016
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Voices of Double Up in America: Michigan Farmer
Double Up is not only getting more healthy food to those in need, but helping a family farm makes ends meet. H...
November 11, 2016
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Voices of Double Up in America: Market Manager
SNAP incentives can support the financial viability of farmers markets by bringing in new customers and boosti...
November 9, 2016
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Voices of Double Up in America: Grocery Leader
Helping more Americans buy more fresh produce is great from a business perspective and it benefits the communi...
November 8, 2016
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Voices of Double Up in America: Shopper in Oklahoma
For some low-income Americans, their food budget is determined by the SNAP benefits they receive. Double Up is...
November 7, 2016
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Voices of Double Up in America: Community Leader
A local group incubated by area business leaders launched Double Up to boost the health and economic vitality ...
November 6, 2016
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Voices of Double Up in America: New Mexico Farmer
Double Up is not only meeting critical hunger and nutrition needs, but also increasing farmer income, helping ...
November 5, 2016
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Voices of Double Up in America: Double Up Supporter
Healthy food incentives are helping level the playing field, while producing long-term health dividends. Hear ...
November 4, 2016
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Maine Terroir is Brewing
Your product is delicious, the market for it is exploding, and your business is thriving. You are ready for ex...
August 13, 2015
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USDA Funding Grows Healthy Food Incentive Programming Nationwide
On April 1, 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced $31 million in funding to support healthy food ...
April 15, 2015
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New Fair Food Fund Investment in Radicle Farm Company
Most people don’t think about the revolutionary potential of salad. But Radicle Farm Company is taking a fresh...
April 14, 2015
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Are You Growing the (Good Food) Economy?
A Q&A with Fair Food Business Bootcamp instructor and professor Jay Friedlander with his tips for good food en...
December 11, 2014
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Incentives Meet Grocery: A Q&A With SpartanNash
A conversation with SpartanNash leadership on why they're excited to bring Double Up Food Bucks to their store...
December 11, 2014
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5 Highlights from 2014 Double Up Season
125+ farmers markets, 6 grocery stores, a network of other sites, and our five year anniversary. See highlight...
December 10, 2014
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Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive Grant Program: A Primer
An overview of the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) grants program established in the 2014 Farm Bill...
October 21, 2014
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