StarkFresh
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Mobile Grocery Market
The Veggie Mobile travels throughout the county and delivers produce and groceries to senior housing complexes, public housing authority properties, public services centers, permanent supportive housing as well as places that are considered food apartheids.
We not only bring excellent quality, affordable food, we also accept all payment types, cash, credit, debit, WIC, Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Vouchers as well as SNAP/EBT (formally known as food stamps).
By helping people stretch their limited available food dollars to feed their family by keeping food affordable, we are freeing up extra cash to be used towards other life costs, such as utility bills, clothing, healthcare to name a few. When in-season, much of the produce that is sourced for the Market is sourced directly from our own urban farms and other local farmers, including the ones working at some of those farms, creating a closed-loop wealth-generation cycle.
Training Farm
The farm serves as a training facility to teach basic job skills, self-confidence and shows people how to start plants from seed, grow those plants, and then harvest the produce that is grown. Originally conceived as a site where we would simply be growing produce to provide for our Mobile Grocery Market needs
The farm has now become a center of different employment opportunities, specially formatted to help those who are struggling with successful reentry into functioning society or dealing with the trauma of living with poverty.
Education
Nearly every program we offer has an educational component. To us, education is not only one of the most important pathways out of poverty but also one of the most layered and convoluted.
Understanding that providing food access and teaching people how to grow food are only two parts of solving the causes of hunger, we collect gently-used cookware, cooking utensils, plates, etc that can be redistributed to those who are without. These distributions coincide with community-based cooking education, ranging from how to perform basic food preparation to preparing quick, easy, nutritious meals.
We often get asked why cooking or nutrition education is so important. Typically the ones asking this are the ones who haven’t actually spent time around those they are trying to “help”, and thus, cannot really understand.
Gently Used Cookware
Another somewhat unique pathway we have is our collection and redistribution of gently used pots, pans, cookware, and garden tools. This is another “Why not” program of ours. We already have places we go to where people need access to cookware along with their food, so we thought we’d start collecting things that people were disposing of and redistributing to those who could better use them.
We accept gently used pots, pans, silverware, knives, and other utensils and even bowls, bakeware, and some small appliances that we clean, organize and then redistribute out to our community’s various cooking and nutrition classes.
Many people are surprised to learn that someone who is living in a poverty situation may have only a few cooking vessels to prepare food in if they have any at all.
This becomes another barrier to someone who may want to cook food from scratch if they don’t have the cookware or tools to prepare the food with.
Seed Library
Since 2015, StarkFresh has distributed 345,206 seed packets at no charge throughout the community.
The distribution of vegetable seed packets at no cost to the public allows the initial hurdle of growing one’s own produce to be overcome.
With an average retail cost per packet of $2.82, we have successfully given out $973,480 worth of seeds. Removing this financial barrier has allowed people to be able to start growing their own food and otherwise would not have chosen to spend their money purchasing vegetable seeds.
In addition to providing the seeds, many distribution sites also offer education classes and workshops.
This combined two-pronged approach creates a pathway for community members to have the seeds needed to grow their own produce at home and combines that access with the education needed to make sure their plants successfully grow and produce food for their household
Food Justice Campus-Shared Commercial Kitchen
Located right in the heart of the Warehouse District in Canton, Ohio is the Food Justice Campus. In addition to housing several other food businesses, a future grocery store, some indoor urban farms, shared office space, and StarkFresh’s headquarters there is a shared kitchen that is available to lease.
The shared kitchen is registered with the Ohio Department of Agriculture and is certified with the City of Canton Public Health. The kitchen is perfect for a home-based food business or food truck looking to expand its operations in a more formal setting.
Food Justice Campus- Shared Office Space
Located right in the heart of the Warehouse District in Canton, Ohio is the Food Justice Campus. In addition to housing several other food businesses, a future grocery store, some indoor urban farms, a commercial kitchen, and StarkFresh’s headquarters there are shared office spaces available to lease.
There are several different leasing options available, depending on your needs
Food Justice Campus
This building has been reimagined into a vibrant, multi-functional space being used by different community members to work together in unison towards tackling the causes of hunger.
Being a complicated idea, much like the causes of hunger are, the best way we can describe what Food Justice means is by using these four sentences to describe it.
• Food Justice is Social Justice, with the demanding recognition of human rights, equal opportunity, and fair treatment.
•Food Justice is a response to food insecurity and economic pressures that prevent access to healthy, nutritious, and culturally appropriate foods.
• The food system is a racial project and problematizes the influence of race and class on the production, distribution, and consumption of food.
• Access to good food is both a cause and a symptom of the structural inequalities that divide society.
Where we work
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Increased access to healthy, affordable foods
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Chronically ill people, Extremely poor people, Low-income people, Working poor, Adults
Related Program
Mobile Grocery Market
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Creating Realistic pathways out of poverty by reducing or removing barriers for people to access food and generate additional incomes
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
•Growing the participation in our Food Incubation Center
•Expanding Mobile Grocery Market and Grocery Store customers
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
We've been operating a Mobile Grocery Market since 2014
We've operated the Grocery Store since October 2020
We'd operated facets of the Food Incubation Center since 2019
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time, It is difficult to identify actionable feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
StarkFresh
Board of directorsas of 06/13/2023
Eva Houghton
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 01/18/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.