Satellite Partner Implementation Guidelines

July 1, 2015 – June 30, 2016

National Sponsor

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Table of Contents

ABOUT SHARE OUR STRENGTH’S COOKING MATTERS -------------------------------- 3

Basic Program Description --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4

Cooking Matters Operating Model ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5

Cooking Matters Program Goals and Principles ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6

Cooking Matters Education Materials ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7 Multi-Session Curricula ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 Cooking Matters at the Store -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 Education Outreach Tools ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8

Resources Provided to Cooking Matters Satellite Partners ------------------------------------------------------------ 10

COOKING MATTERS MANAGEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION --------------------- 11

Education Quality ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12

Program Materials ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12

Eligible Participants ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12

Eligible Instructors ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 13

Liability --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15

Program Implementation Guidelines ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16

Evaluation ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 Course Participant Surveys --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 Course Team End-of-Course Survey ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 Cooking Matters at the Store Participant Surveys ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 19

Reporting ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 21

Training and Technical Assistance --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22

Public Relations/Communications Guidance ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22

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SECTION I:

About Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

This section includes a basic description of the program, operating model, founding goals and principles, program materials, and resources provided. We encourage you to use this language when describing the program in your organization’s materials.

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Basic Program Description Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign is ending childhood hunger in America by connecting kids in need with nutritious food and teaching families how to cook healthy, affordable meals, through its Cooking Matters program. Low-income families in America report that cost is their biggest barrier to making a healthy dinner at home. Cooking Matters empowers families to stretch their food budgets so their children get healthy meals. Participants learn to shop smarter, make healthier food choices, and cook delicious, affordable meals. The No Kid Hungry campaign works with community partners to offer Cooking Matters courses, tours and tools across America. Cooking Matters at the Store tours provide participants with hands-on education in the grocery store, giving families the skills to compare foods for cost and nutrition. Chefs and nutrition educators volunteer to teach six-week Cooking Matters courses to kids, parents and other caregivers. More than 80 percent of adult Cooking Matters graduates say they learned to use key food budgeting strategies, such as planning meals ahead of time, comparing prices at the store, or shopping with a list. As graduate Lareese Cathey, a mother receiving Women, Infants and Children (WIC) benefits, says, “Since the class, I can triple the value of my WIC check and feel good about what I’m feeding my kids.” Cooking Matters is nationally sponsored by Walmart. For more information, visit CookingMatters.org.

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Cooking Matters Operating Model In structure and in practice, Cooking Matters is collaborative. Each Cooking Matters program is run by a citywide, regional, or statewide social service agency (the “Lead Partner”). Share Our Strength has a franchise-style relationship with each of these Lead Partners, who run the program according to Share Our Strength’s Guidelines (except in Maryland, Massachusetts and Colorado, where Share Our Strength operates the program directly). Lead Partners then collaborate with other agencies in their community (the “host agencies” and “satellite partners”) to act as partners in recruiting participants and hosting courses and tours. These sites often include after-school programs, housing programs, Head Start centers, and other agencies that serve low-income families. This model is based on the idea that each party brings their unique expertise and strengths to the relationship. This system of partnerships allows Cooking Matters to leverage its own resources, those of the Lead and Satellite Partners, and those of the host agencies to offer quality programming to low-income families. Share Our Strength, in collaboration with Lead Partner staff, developed Cooking Matters Lead Partner Gold Standards† and will release Cooking Matters at the Store Essentials‡ in 2015. The Cooking Matters Implementation Guidelines provide the baseline requirements of Cooking Matters program implementation and the Gold Standards and Essentials provide a vision for excellence and characteristics of an ideal Cooking Matters program, as we strive to be the preeminent leader in food skills education. The expectation is these will be used as a reference as organizations operate their Cooking Matters programs.

†Document(s) available from Cooking Matters Lead Partner.

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Cooking Matters Program Goals and Principles Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters has the following program goals and principles. These should guide your organization as it implements and expands Cooking Matters. Cooking Matters’ goals are:

1. To improve the nutrition knowledge, eating habits, cooking skills, food safety practices, and food resource management skills of people at risk of hunger so they can better provide for themselves and their families.

2. To provide chefs, nutritionists, and other community members with an outlet to

get involved in their communities and to share their skills with people who can benefit from them.

The program was designed and continues to be implemented with the following principles in mind:

The negative health and economic effects of hunger and poor diet can be avoided if families have both the knowledge and skills to shop for and prepare healthy, low-cost meals.

Chefs are valued instructors because of their expertise in food preparation and budgeting as well as their creativity and energy.

Food is to be enjoyed. Those living on a low-income deserve to enjoy their food as well – and need to know how to create food that is delicious, satisfying, and healthy.

Cooking and eating meals as a family is an important social activity.

Volunteering, or sharing our strengths, is a way to create community wealth.

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Cooking Matters Education Materials Cooking Matters provides evidence-based educational materials that are aligned with our program goals and principles. The materials are targeted toward a variety of audiences, each of which impact the eating habits of low-income children (such as their families, child care providers, and the children themselves). Multi-Session Curricula Cooking Matters makes six curricula and one curriculum supplements available to our Lead and Satellite Partners.

Cooking Matters for Adults teaches low-income adults how to prepare and shop sensibly for healthy meals on a limited budget. This curriculum is also available in Spanish (as Cooking Matters para Adultos).

Cooking Matters for Parents teaches low-income parents with young children how to prepare and shop sensibly for healthy meals on a limited budget. This curriculum is also available in Spanish (as Cooking Matters para Padres).

Cooking Matters for Kids teaches children in 3rd through 5th grade how to prepare healthy meals and snacks and to make smart choices wherever they go – at school, at home, at the store, or out to eat.

Cooking Matters for Teens teaches adolescents in 6th grade and above how to make healthy food choices and prepare healthy meals and snacks for themselves, their families, and their friends.

Cooking Matters for Families brings school-aged children and their families together to learn about healthy eating, planning meals as a family, and working together in the kitchen. This curriculum is also available in Spanish (as Cooking Matters para Familias).

Cooking Matters for Child Care Professionals teaches child care professionals how to prepare healthy meals and create a healthy food environment for the kids in their care.

Cooking Matters EXTRA for Center-Based Child Care Professionals is a supplement to the Cooking Matters for Child Care Professionals curriculum that focuses on reaching child care professionals working in a center-based versus home-based setting.

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Cooking Matters seeks to ensure that all curricula reflect current research in the field of nutrition education and align with the primary drivers of food decisions made by the target audience. Lead Partners can access the Research Support for Cooking Matters Educational Approach† to learn more about the educational tenets of our curricula. The following schedule highlights when revisions were made (or will be made) to the curricula:

2009: Cooking Matters for Families, Cooking Matters for Child Care Professionals, Cooking Matters EXTRA for Parents of Preschoolers (now discontinued), Cooking Matters EXTRA for Wellness

2010: Cooking Matters for Kids, Cooking Matters EXTRA for Diabetes 2011: Cooking Matters for Teens; All books updated to reflect MyPlate, 2010

Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and new Cooking Matters recipe standards 2012: Cooking Matters EXTRA for Center-Based Child Care Professionals 2014: Cooking Matters for Adults 2014: Cooking Matters for Parents

Cooking Matters at the Store Building on its proven success teaching families how to cook and eat healthy on a budget, Cooking Matters offers single-session grocery store tours to help families make healthy and affordable choices at the supermarket. During a Cooking Matters at the Store tour, participants learn and practice skills that help them understand how to purchase fruits and vegetables on a budget, save money by comparing unit prices, and make healthier choices by reading food labels and ingredient lists.

Cooking Matters at the Store for Adults is a guided grocery store tour that

teaches low-income adults how to get the most nutrition for their food dollars.

Cooking Matters at the Store for WIC Parents offers a similar hands-on learning experience but focuses specifically on parents using the Special Supplement Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

Education Outreach Tools Share Our Strength offers a number of educational tools and resources, built on the proven success of our signature food skills education courses. Lead Partners can use these toolkits to reach even more families in their community through one-time educational events. Cooking Matters for Chefs and Kids is an easy-to-use guide that helps chefs and others provide hands-on lessons that will help kids develop a love of cooking and the skills to make healthy food choices wherever they go. Within the guide there are a variety of resources to help chefs engage kids, including tips and advice for planning fun activities, materials lists and activity instructions, appealing and interactive recipes for kids, and fun handouts that supplement the lessons of each activity. Exploring Food Together is a toolkit of simple activities that adults can use, in the classroom or in the home, to help young children learn about new foods and start building the skills to make healthy food choices. These field-tested, easy-to-use activities

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center around 5 basic food concepts: food identification and tasting; food purchasing; food preparation; food origins; and food culture. All of the toolkit activities were designed to integrate well with overall curriculum objectives in early childhood education settings. For guidance on using this toolkit see Exploring Food Together Overview and Implementation†. Cooking Matters in Your Community is a guide to leading food-based demonstrations with adults, kids, teens, or families. It can be used in any community by any individual. The guide provides simple instructions for planning and leading a demo and includes tools like checklists, sample outlines, and culinary tips. It also contains a wealth of activities, handouts, and recipes to use at the demo. Cooking Matters in Your Food Pantry is a guide to leading food-based demonstrations in the food pantry setting. It also provides guidance for pantries on how to stock a healthier food pantry. It can be used in any food pantry by any individual. The guide provides simple instructions for planning and leading a demo and includes tools like checklists, sample outlines, and culinary tips. It also contains a wealth of activities, handouts, and recipes to use at the demo. My Plate on a Budget is a guide to help families eat healthy on a limited budget. The guide is full of ideas on how to make healthy and affordable choices within each MyPlate food group. It also contains recipes and cooking tips to make food taste great using the MyPlate guidelines. It can be used by any individual and is a handy resource guide for dietitians, nutritionists and health care professionals. In addition, Cooking Matters offers a series of 1-page handouts full of fun activities and recipes for kids. Each issue has a different theme, focused on healthy eating and cooking. These are great activities for parents, teachers, caregivers, and volunteers to use with the children in their lives. Four handouts are available: Breakfast Boost, Happy Whole-idays, Make Your Plate a Rainbow, and Sugar Shocker.

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Resources Provided to Cooking Matters Satellite Partners Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters Lead Partners offer the following resources to each Satellite Partner:

Program Materials: Up-to-date curricula, including participant and instructor manuals and incentives, valued at approximately $150 per course and $25 per tour. Share Our Strength also provides select participant incentives and volunteer gifts. Materials are available, at no charge. Other educational tools and resources, including Exploring Food Together and Cooking Matters for Chefs and Kids are available for download from the Share Our Strength website.

Evaluation: Share Our Strength provides program evaluation and reporting services to its Lead Partners, which convey both reach and impact of the program on a local and national scope. These services are vital for continual program improvement as well as helping to secure ongoing funding and support for our collective work. More information about our evaluation approach and methodology is available via the

Cooking Matters Program Evaluation background document* Share Our Strength

also provides year-end and ad-hoc data analysis and reporting services.

Training and Technical Assistance: Lead Partners provide extensive training, support and technical assistance to all Satellite Partners.

Cooking Matters Learning Space: Share Our Strength maintains an on-line Cooking Matters at the Store help and training system that can be used to access tools and resources; train volunteers and other partners; and participate in discussion boards and forums with tour leaders across the country.

Share Our Strength Network: Share Our Strength works with hundreds of organizations, thousands of volunteers, dozens of corporations, and the national media. We actively market and promote Cooking Matters on a national level to help raise awareness among all potential stakeholder groups and policy makers, which provides our Partners the opportunity for national exposure.

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SECTION II:

Cooking Matters Management and Implementation

Cooking Matters Satellite Partner Implementation Guidelines have been developed to aid in implementing high-quality programming and meeting the responsibilities outlined in the Program Agreement between the Cooking Matters Lead Partner and your organization. Adhering to national standards for Cooking Matters implementation means that a participant in a Cooking Matters course in City A will have a similar experience as a Cooking Matters participant in City B. Following these standards ensures effective, high-quality courses as well as the integrity of our evaluation efforts. Share Our Strength recognizes that local situations vary and appreciates that local innovations can augment and enhance the program. If you would like to deviate from these guidelines for any reason, please discuss with your Cooking Matters Lead Partner.

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Education Quality Share Our Strength has a list of key elements, or “gold standards,” that should be present in each Cooking Matters class in effort to make the experience as meaningful as possible for course participants. Satellite Partners should review the Gold Standards for a Cooking Matters Course† and ensure these standards are achieved and maintained throughout every multi-session course. The gold standards are also an appropriate reference for those facilitating one-time education activities and toolkit activities. Additionally, Share Our Strength is finalizing a set of implementation standards that should be present in each Cooking Matters tour, in effort to make the experience as meaningful as possible for tour participants (expected early 2015). All Partners should review the Cooking Matters at the Store Essentials and Implementation Standards† and ensure that these standards are achieved throughout every tour. Program Materials All Cooking Matters curricula and education tools are copyrighted to Share Our Strength: Cooking Matters for Adults (both English and Spanish versions) and its supplements, Cooking Matters for Parents (both English and Spanish versions), Cooking Matters for Kids, Cooking Matters for Teens, Cooking Matters for Families (both English and Spanish versions), Cooking Matters for Child Care Professionals (and its supplement), Cooking Matters at the Store for Adults, Cooking Matters at the Store for WIC Parents, Cooking Matters for Chefs and Kids, Exploring Food Together, Cooking Matters in Your Community, Cooking Matters in Your Food Pantry and our educational handouts. All Cooking Matters education materials (curricula, other program materials, and in-kind donations from Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters sponsors) are to be used exclusively for Cooking Matters programming. All courses that use Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters curricula, including those run in collaboration with other programs, must be referred to as “Cooking Matters” courses (not just “Cooking Class” or “Nutrition Education,” for example). Share Our Strength manages the procurement of program materials, at no cost, to our Lead Partners. In order to help us responsibly manage these resources, Lead Partners and their Satellite Partners should abide by course material guidelines. Additional resources used to accompany the materials and/or market them to external partners, such as fact sheets, lesson previews, sample lesson plans, instructor talking points, and curricula overview charts are available to Satellite Partners through Cooking Matters Lead Partners. Eligible Participants Participants of any Cooking Matters programming – courses and one-time education events – must be low-income. Lead Partners are allowed to set their own definition of this term. A standard definition is that the participant’s household income is less than 185% of the federal poverty guidelines (FPG). Lead and Satellite Partners do not need to verify income level of participants directly, but should use proxy measures to be sure that they are serving the program’s target population; for instance, the participants are parents of children enrolled at a Head Start center, or enrolled in an afterschool program

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in a neighborhood where 90% of the kids receive free or reduced price lunch through the National School Lunch Program. Adult participants should be in living situations in which they are primarily (or soon will be) responsible for purchasing and preparing food for themselves and/or their families. Cooking Matters courses should serve an average of at least 10 participants per course. It is recommended that all courses have no fewer than 8 and no more than 15 participants. Cooking Matters programs are expected to maintain an annual graduation rate of at least 85%. A Cooking Matters graduate is defined as a participant who attended at least 4 classes of a 6-session course or attended at least 8 of the total 10 hours of training offered for Cooking Matters for Child Care Professionals. Course and tour graduates cannot repeat the same curricula. A Cooking Matters course participant is one who has attended at least 2 classes in a 6 week course. There is no need to count those who attend just one class in a course, without an intention to complete the entire course. Those who attend only the first class or are “guests” in later classes can be considered “event participants”, or not counted at all. Share Our Strength recommends one facilitator or assistant per 4-6 Cooking Matters at the Store tour participants. This allows you to maintain control of larger groups, better facilitate participant questions or hands-on activities, or divide into smaller groups if needed. Eligible Instructors Cooking Matters courses and education outreach tools are designed to be taught by volunteers who share their professional expertise in cooking, nutrition, or food budgeting. Lead Partners will work with each Satellite Partner to determine plans for recruiting, training and managing a corps of qualified instructors sufficient to meet their programming needs. Lead Partners have Share Our Strength- and locally-produced volunteer training materials that can be used by Satellite Partners. Satellite Partners also assume responsibility for monitoring and providing ongoing coaching to volunteers in effort to ensure high-quality programming that meets participants where they are. Multi-Session Courses Cooking Matters courses should be taught by at least two instructors, ideally a qualified culinary instructor and a qualified nutrition instructor. Every attempt possible should be made to ensure that the same team of instructors teaches the entire course. All curricula require a qualified culinary instructor to lead the cooking session. The standard qualifications for culinary instructors is that they 1) are either a graduate of or enrolled in a two year culinary training program or 2) have at least two years of professional experience working as a cook or chef. Because the courses are designed to be taught by culinary professionals, the curricula do not detail cooking and kitchen safety topics because it assumes that chefs bring and offer that expertise.

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Nutrition instructors should serve as co-instructors for all of the curricula. The standard qualification for nutrition instructors is that they are a graduate of or enrolled in an accredited, science-based undergraduate or graduate nutrition program. Beyond meeting the standard qualifications above, Satellite Partners should ensure all volunteer instructors have participated in an orientation to the Program before they lead a course. Cooking Matters orientation should include, at a minimum: background on Share Our Strength, Cooking Matters and the Satellite Partner organization; impact of Cooking Matters; various volunteer roles; what volunteers can expect from the Satellite Partner, what the Satellite Partner expects of volunteers; introduction to the program materials; how to create a learner-centered, hands-on environment, and introduction to the Gold Standards for a Cooking Matters Course† including practice with facilitated dialogue techniques and strategies to team teach. Satellite Partners can also use and modify with specific local program information, the Volunteer Training Toolkit provided to Satellite Partners by the Lead Partner. Cooking Matters at the Store Tours Cooking Matters at the Store tour facilitators can come from a wide range of engaged community members, health, and culinary professionals. Ideally, tour facilitators have a strong background or experience in food budgeting, nutrition, or food preparation or have worked closely with the target audience (e.g. Extension agent). Since Cooking Matters at the Store for WIC Parents focuses specifically on the WIC food package, in addition to the qualifications above, facilitators should have strong knowledge of their state’s WIC food package. Education Outreach Tools Share Our Strength’s toolkits - designed as one-time education activities - are ideal for volunteers not able to commit to a full 6-week course or to introduce them to Cooking Matters. We offer the following instructor qualifications for each toolkit:

Exploring Food Together: This toolkit is ideally used by caretakers of young kids, including early childhood/Head Start educators, child care providers, community nutritionists, culinary professionals, Cooperative Extension agents, and environmental educators serving families in need. Parents may also be trained to implement these activities at home.

Cooking Matters for Chefs and Kids: Instructors could be chefs, cooks or other interested parties who have experience providing hands-on cooking instruction to children.

Cooking Matters in Your Community: Instructors could be any willing community member from school teachers and faith-based organization leaders, to athletic coaches and Parent Teacher Association/Organization parents. It is helpful, but not necessary, for instructors to have a background in cooking or nutrition. Sufficient guidance is provided for anyone interested in leading these activities.

Cooking Matters in Your Pantry: Instructors can be any willing community member who works with food pantries. It is helpful but not necessary for instructors to have a background in cooking or nutrition.

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Liability Satellite Partners are responsible for ensuring that all course participants, guests, and volunteers complete a liability waiver, provided by Share Our Strength. Waivers release Share Our Strength, its Lead Partners, representatives (such as Satellite Partners), employees, volunteers and any sponsors of Cooking Matters from any damages, causes of action and liability that might arise from program participation. Lead Partners will provide Satellite Partners with waivers in Spanish and English. Partners are also responsible for following basic processes and procedures for verifying that waivers have been completed and retaining this documentation for 3 years at their facilities. These same waivers can be used for volunteers and participants in one-time education events. If partners, media and those affiliated with programming would like to take pictures or record video during an event please have each participant, guest or volunteer complete the media release form provided by Share Our Strength.

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Program Implementation Guidelines All programming offered should adhere to the Gold Standards for a Cooking Matters Course† and meet average course size and graduation rate targets, as outlined in this document. Courses Every effort must be made to ensure adherence to Gold Standards for a Cooking Matters Course † and that all lesson objectives are met throughout each Cooking Matters course. It is not expected that all lesson activities will be covered in every session; however, in order to qualify as a Cooking Matters course, the curriculum must be implemented without any substantial abridgements. The defining feature of Cooking Matters courses is chef-led, participatory cooking. Chef instructors are encouraged to use recipes from the curricula, but Partners have the option of using recipes authored or suggested by instructors. Recipes brought in must follow the recipe guidelines, found in each instructor guide. Access to a kitchen should be considered when selecting a site for a course. Adequate hand-washing facilities must be available. Please note curriculum-specific guidelines: Cooking Matters for Parents

Participants must be low-income parents of young children. Parents and other caregivers of young children are the curriculum’s target audience, but pregnant teens are eligible candidates for this curriculum too.

Courses should be held weekly over a 6-week period. Each session should be 2 hours long.

Lessons 1 through 4 must include a chef-led participatory food preparation session with sufficient groceries for participants to make and eat a serving of two to three recipes during class. If the site does not have a kitchen or you are unable to use it, you will need to ensure that hot plates, portable stoves or induction burners are available to provide a cooking experience during at least 2 weeks.

During Lessons 1 through 4, participants must be provided with a take-home bag of groceries with the primary ingredients to make at least one recipe at home.

Lesson 5 should include a trip to the grocery store in which participants are given the opportunity to practice their shopping skills and purchase a healthy basket of foods for no more than $10. In special cases where it is not possible to visit the grocery store, a simulated in-class store experience should be substituted.

Cooking Matters for Adults

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Participants must be low-income adults; separate courses are provided for kids and teens. Parents and other caregivers are the curriculum’s target audience, but emancipated teens or those about to be released from foster care are eligible candidates for this curricula too.

Courses should be held weekly over a 6-week period. Each session should be 2 hours long.

Lessons 1 through 4 must include a chef-led participatory food preparation session with sufficient groceries for participants to make and eat a serving of two to three recipes during class. If the site does not have a kitchen or you are unable to use it, you will need to ensure that hot plates, portable stoves or induction burners are available to provide a cooking experience during at least 2 weeks.

During Lessons 1 through 4, participants must be provided with a take-home bag of groceries with the primary ingredients to make at least one recipe at home.

Lesson 5 should include a trip to the grocery store in which participants are given the opportunity to practice their shopping skills and purchase a healthy basket of foods for no more than $10. In special cases where it is not possible to visit the grocery store, a simulated in-class store experience should be substituted.

Cooking Matters for Child Care Professionals

Participants must be child care providers that are low-income or caring for children from low-income families. Child care providers caring for and preparing food for children between the ages of 1 and 5 are the curriculum’s target audience.

Each course must include at least 10 hours of training; the number and timing of the sessions is flexible.

Each session must include a chef-led participatory food preparation session with sufficient groceries for participants to make and eat a serving of at least two recipes during class. If the site does not have a kitchen or you are unable to use it, you will need to ensure that hot plates, portable stoves or induction burners are available to provide a cooking experience during at least 2 modules.

At the end of each session (or day of the training), participants must be provided with a take-home bag of groceries with the primary ingredients to make at least one recipe at home.

Cooking Matters for Kids

Participants must be children in 3rd through 5th grade who are members of a low-income household.

Courses should be held weekly over a 6-week period. Each session should be 2 hours long.

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All lessons must include a chef-led participatory cooking session with sufficient groceries for participants to make and eat a serving of one to three recipes in class.

This curriculum does not require that participants take home bags of groceries, though Lead Partners are welcome to provide them if they would like.

Cooking Matters for Teens

Participants must be adolescents in 6th grade or higher who are members of a low-income household.

Courses should be held weekly over a 6-week period. Each session should be 2 hours long.

All lessons must include a chef-led participatory cooking session with sufficient groceries for participants to make and eat a serving of two to three recipes in class. If the site does not have a kitchen or you are unable to use it, you will need to ensure that hot plates, portable stoves or induction burners are available to provide a cooking experience during at least 2 weeks.

During Lessons 1 through 5, it is recommended that participants be provided with a take-home bag of groceries with the primary ingredients to make at least one recipe at home.

Lesson 5 should include a trip to the grocery store, where participants are given the opportunity to learn and practice their shopping skills and their healthy decision-making. If the lesson is not done at the store a simulated in-class store experience should be substituted.

Cooking Matters for Families

Participants should be parent-child pairs, with ideally 1 school-age child (age 6 and older) and their low-income parent and/or caregiver.

Courses should be held weekly over a 6-week period. Each session should be 2 hours long.

All lessons must include a chef-led participatory cooking session with sufficient groceries for families to make and eat a serving of two to three recipes in class. If the site does not have a kitchen or you are unable to use it, you will need to ensure that hot plates, portable stoves or induction burners are available to provide a cooking experience during at least 2 weeks.

During Lessons 1 through 5, each family must be provided with a take-home bag of groceries with the primary ingredients to make at least one recipe at home.

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Evaluation Share Our Strength provides evaluation services for our Cooking Matters Lead Partners. The results are compiled by the Share Our Strength and are used to communicate impact, secure funding, and identify areas for improvement on both national and local levels. Share Our Strength categorizes evaluation in two main ways, described below. Course Participant Surveys Measuring the changes graduates experience as a result of the Cooking Matters program is critical to assessing effectiveness and communicating program impact. To ensure the information collected is accurate, Satellite Partners are responsible for:

Ensuring that all Cooking Matters course and tour participants complete Share Our Strength-provided† participant surveys corresponding to the education material they receive.

Administering the survey as outlined in the Survey Administration Guide* that corresponds to the respective curriculum.

Following Lead Partner staff guidance around filling out the “For Staff Use Only” section of each participant survey.

Returning the surveys to the Lead Partner as soon as courses/tours are completed so that the Lead Partner can provide surveys back to Share Our Strength.

Course Team End-of-Course Survey The End-of-Course Survey is completed by the course team (instructors, support volunteers, and course site staff) and collects feedback on their experience regarding the course. It is used to guide national and local level trainings and resource development. To ensure that course teams receive the end-of-course survey, please

submit completed End-of-Course Reporting Forms* to the Lead Partner in a timely

manner. Cooking Matters at the Store Participant Surveys Share Our Strength requires that Cooking Matters at the Store for Adults and Cooking Matters at the Store for WIC Parents tour participants complete a short, two-page post-tour survey†. To ensure the information collected is accurate, Satellite Partners are responsible for:

Ensuring that all Cooking Matters course and tour participants complete Share Our Strength-provided† participant surveys corresponding to the education material they receive.

Administering the survey as outlined in the Survey Administration Guide* that corresponds to the respective curriculum.

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Following Lead Partner staff guidance around filling out the “For Staff Use Only” section of each participant survey.

Returning the surveys to the Lead Partner as soon as courses/tours are completed so that the Lead Partner can provide surveys back to Share Our Strength.

As specified by Share our Strength, some Lead Partners with a large number of projected tour participants will adopt a survey sampling strategy, in which tour participant enrollment and surveys will be collected and processed only for a subset of tours. Partners with tours not-surveyed will still submit a Tour Reporting Form provided by Share our Strength †. Lead Partners adopting this strategy will discuss it with Satellite Partners. Education Outreach Tools There is no formal evaluation tool for Cooking Matters in Your Community, Exploring Food Together or Cooking Matters for Chefs and Kids or Cooking Matters in Your Food Pantry.

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Reporting Share Our Strength produces comprehensive year-end reviews detailing the activities and impact of Cooking Matters on the national and local levels. These reports are useful for tracking progress, quantifying success, and communicating impact with volunteers, agencies, and donors. In addition to annual reports, we are happy to provide an ad-hoc data request service, should you need activity and outcome reports in alternative formats or at other times throughout the program year. Please communicate with the Lead Partner if you should need this service. Please note that there is a 4-week turn-around time from the time data is requested of Share Our Strength. We require Lead Partners to regularly input information regarding key metrics of their Cooking Matters program into the Cooking Matters Database. Satellite Partners are responsible for submitting a completed End-of-Course Reporting Form provided by the Lead Partner within one week of the completion of each course. Additionally, please report the following to the Lead Partner:

One-time educational events. An educational event occurs when program content is provided to Cooking Matters target audience outside of a normal course setting. It is important to enter these events to get an accurate picture of the number of people Cooking Matters reaches with its content and materials.

Outreach events. Outreach events include networking events, conferences, presentations, demos, and general program promotion events aimed at professional audiences, potential volunteers, or community partners. Capturing outreach events helps demonstrate Cooking Matters reach and activity level.

Volunteer and staff trainings. A record should be created for all training sessions and information including the names of attendees should be captured.

Partnering organizations. Information on the agencies that support your program, you work with to reach eligible course participants, deliver Cooking Matters courses and the places where you hold courses should be captured and kept up-to-date.

Volunteers, staff, and AmeriCorps members. The names and contact information of the volunteers, staff, and AmeriCorps members should be entered and kept up-to-date in the database so their contributions and connection to your program can be tracked and contact information be kept up to date.

Qualitative impact complements the quantitative data gathered through participant surveys, providing a holistic picture of Cooking Matters impact on local and national levels. This information is used in annual reports, and is included in both Share Our Strength and Lead Partner communications to actively market and promote Cooking Matters. To assist in raising awareness among all potential stakeholder groups, Satellite Partners are also responsible for providing the following information to the Lead Partner:

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• Quotes or Stories from volunteers and participants. All Satellite Partners are asked to submit to Lead Partners at least 2 stories from participants or volunteers each year which describe the way Cooking Matters has changed or made impact in their lives. Please ensure that you have a signed media release for any participants or volunteers featured.

Training and Technical Assistance The Lead Partner provides ongoing training and technical assistance to support your efforts to implement gold-standard programming. Satellite Partners are responsible for attending and actively participating in Cooking Matters training and collaboration opportunities including, but not limited to:

In-person trainings. The overarching goal of in-person trainings is to enhance each Satellite Partner’s ability to run an exceptional and effective Cooking Matters program in their community.

One-on-one Communications. Lead Partner staff is available by phone and email to respond to specific needs and concerns from each Satellite Partner. In addition, Lead Partner may make information requests of Satellite Partners. These requests might include, but are not limited to: inventory reports, course schedule and annual projections. Timely responses from both parties ensure the maintenance of a mutually productive and respectful relationship.

Site Visits. Lead Partners value in-person communications and attempts to visit each Satellite Partner at least once each program year. To this end, specific arrangements for site visits are made based on individual local goals and Satellite Partner schedules.

Public Relations/Communications Guidance

Lead Partners provide guidance and support to Satellite Partners on communications as needed. Satellite Partners should to adhere to the Cooking Matters Official Messaging Guidelines and Cooking Matters Brand Usage Guidelines†. Share Our Strength and its Cooking Matters Lead and Satellite Partners communicate with a wide audience comprised of both internal and external stakeholders. It is important to use a consistent voice and message that resonates with our core audiences and is easily recognizable as an expression of our brand personality. Written, online and spoken communications should always support our mission -- to empower people to eat healthier and make the best use of their food resources. Written, online or spoken communications bearing the Cooking Matters logo or representing the Cooking Matters program should be positive and empowering in nature.