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GENIE: Out of the Bottle and Into the Food Bank 1

GENIE:

Out of the Bottle and Into the Food Bank How five Feeding America network food banks used GENIE

to enhance the quality of nutrition education programs

A report prepared for Feeding America by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation

L. Medrow, K. Brown

June 5, 2015

This report was produced by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation (Academy

Foundation) as part of the GENIE: Out of the Bottle and Into the Food Bank project funded

through an educational grant from Feeding America. This report summarizes the process by which

five Feeding America food banks utilized the Guide for Effective Nutrition Interventions and

Education (GENIE) and technical support from the Academy Foundation.


What is GENIE?

The Guide for Effective Nutrition Interventions and

Education (GENIE) was developed in 2014 by the

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation (Academy Foundation). GENIE

is an easy-to-use online checklist tool designed to help

program developers apply the latest research to create effective nutrition education

programs. GENIE is a validated tool consisting of 35

quality criteria in nine categories and contains

helpful video tutorials and suggested resources. The GENIE checklist is provided on

page 17.

GENIE: Out of the Bottle and Into the Food Bank

With support from Feeding America, five Feeding America food banks were selected to

participate in the GENIE: Out of the Bottle and Into the

Food Bank project. Representatives from network food banks who attended

Feeding America’s annual Agency, Capacity, Programs &

Nutrition Learning Conference in October 2014 and the

educational session, “Wishing you could talk to a program

genie to make your nutrition

education dreams come true?” were invited to apply

for the project opportunity. Selected sites were chosen

based on their project descriptions—specifically their need for support and

interest in enhancing programs based on GENIE.

The five selected food banks received more than two months of technical support

from the Academy Foundation to incorporate

GENIE quality criterion into nutrition education programs

in the spring of 2015. Their enhanced programs are described in case studies in

this report.

Five Selected Food Banks

The five selected food banks

were Arkansas Foodbank; Blue Ridge Area Food Bank in Virginia; Foodbank of

Santa Barbara County; Northern Illinois Food Bank;

and The Greater Boston Food Bank. Food banks differed in their specific nutrition

education programs, but all food banks requested

assistance with some sort of train-the-trainer program

component, ranging from recruitment and retention

planning to distribution and

expansion goals, to improving a client nutrition education

program. One nutrition education program targeted

children, and one targeted the senior population. Others were more general adult nutrition

education programs. Some food banks were staffed with

one or more registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs), while others were not. Table A

identifies the educational components that were

targeted for each food bank.

GENIE: Out of the Bottle and Into the Food Bank


Food Bank Train-the-Trainer

Model

Train-the-Trainer

Lesson Plans

Train-the-Trainer

Materials

Train-the-Trainer

Eval

Client Education

Materials

Client Eval or

Presenter Eval for

Client Ed

Arkansas X X X

Blue Ridge Area X X X

Foodbank of Santa X X X

Northern Illinois X X X

The Greater X X X X

Table A: Food banks and educational components targeted with GENIE

Technical Support

Provided by the Academy Foundation

In December 2014, staff from the Academy Foundation held

introductory calls with representatives from each of the five food banks. The main

purpose of the introductory call was to get to know the

food bank contact(s) and gain an understanding of their programs and desired

improvements. A project action plan was created for

each food bank and presented to them in January 2015.

Plans were modified as needed until the food banks were satisfied with the project

scope. Academy Foundation

technical support and work

completed by the food banks was completed by April 2015.

Support for each food bank included, but was not limited

to, the following:

At least three conference calls;

Multiple email communications;

Communication with other organizations with similar programs via email and/or

conference calls;

Suggested educational

materials; and

Drafted and/or revised

lesson plans, evaluations, and program plans.

GENIE’s Nine Quality

Criteria Categories Guided Program Improvements

Food banks were asked to complete the GENIE online

checklist in December 2014 as a pre assessment of their program and again in April

2015 as a post-assessment.

Food banks improved in every

GENIE category, with the greatest improvement in categories #2 Program Goal

(70% pre-assessment, 100% post-assessment), #4 Program

Setting, Recruitment, and Retention (60% pre-

assessment, 90% post-assessment), #5 Instructional Methods (60% pre-assessment,


95% post-assessment), and #8 Evaluation (43% pre-assessment, 75% post-assessment). The

combined total pre-assessment score was 65% and post-assessment score was 90%. Table B

displays the food banks’ combined pre- and post-GENIE scores for each of the 9 GENIE categories.

Table C displays the pre- and post-GENIE scores for each individual food bank.

Table B: Combined five food bank pre- and post-assessment scores for each GENIE category

GENIE’s Nine Quality Criteria Categories Guided Program Improvements, continued

GENIE Category Pre-GENIE Score:

# “Yes” responses/

Total possible

Post-GENIE Score:


Total possible

#1 Program Description and Importance 16/20 (80%) 20/20 (100%)

#2 Program Goal 14/20 (70%) 20/20 (100%)

#3 Program Framework 17/20 (85%) 17/20 (85%)

#4 Program Setting, Recruitment, and Retention 6/10 (60%) 9/10 (90%)

#5 Instructional Methods 12/20 (60%) 19/20 (95%)

#6 Program Content 11/15 (73%) 15/15 (100%)

#7 Program Materials 3/5 (60%) 4/5 (80%)

#8 Evaluation 17/40 (43%) 28/40 (70%)

#9 Sustainability 18/25 (72%) 23/25 (92%)

TOTAL 114/175 (65%) 155/175 (89%)


GENIE’s Nine Quality Criteria Categories Guided Program Improvements, continued

Food Bank Pre-GENIE Score:


Post-GENIE Score:


Arkansas Foodbank 13/35 (37%) 26/35 (74%)

Blue Ridge Area Food Bank 17/35 (49%) 33/35 (94%)

Foodbank of Santa Barbara County 30/35 (86%) 32/35 (91%)

Northern Illinois Food Bank 33/35 (94%) 35/35 (100%)

The Greater Boston Food Bank 21/35 (60%) 29/35 (83%)

Average Food Bank Scores 114/175 (65%) 155/175 (89%)

Table C: Pre- and post-GENIE scores for each food bank

Case studies highlighting how each food bank strengthened their nutrition education programs

through GENIE are presented in the next section titled Case Studies.

Summary

The case studies in this report represent the usefulness and practicality of GENIE. Special thanks to

Feeding America for supporting the GENIE: Out of the Bottle and into the Food Bank project. Thank

you Arkansas Foodbank, Blue Ridge Area Food Bank in Virginia, Foodbank of Santa Barbara County,

Northern Illinois Food Bank, and The Greater Boston Food Bank for your diligent work to utilize

GENIE in making nutrition education program enhancements.


Case Studies


Arkansas Foodbank

The Issue

In 2014, the Arkansas Foodbank conducted best practice research

and focus groups and had recruited 12 food pantries that

tested strategies for serving seniors in five categories. One category, nutrition education, was

the least successful part of the pilot. Therefore, their GENIE

request was to improve their senior services nutrition program to serve as a model strategy to

facilitate peer and community knowledge sharing among food

pantries.

Senior Nutrition Education

Program

Arkansas has one of the highest rates of seniors with

food insecurity nationally. Over 160,000 seniors in Arkansas

aged 60 or older are food insecure.1 Many seniors are

living on a fixed income and are forced to make financial decisions and choose between

paying bills, getting much-needed medication, or buying

food. The Foodbank recognizes that their member agencies within the 33-county service

area are seeing more seniors accessing their facilities for

food. Some seniors are widowed and most have special

dietary needs due to health

conditions (i.e. diabetes, high blood pressure, high

cholesterol). In an effort to ensure that senior needs are

met, the food bank provides resources and technical support to its member

agencies.

How GENIE was used to

improve the program

The Arkansas Foodbank established nutrition education

goals (GENIE 2.2 , 2.3, 2.4) that had not previously existed. Since

senior nutrition education was a new component, appropriate

nutrition education materials were selected (GENIE 7.1). Handouts from Feeding

America’s Healthy Food Bank

Hub website were selected for a

newly developed Senior Training manual. Each agency is

encouraged to copy and distribute the handouts to clients.

Program partners are important to sustain program efforts (GENIE 3.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5), and

the food bank reached out to the University of Arkansas

Cooperative Extension to provide nutrition education at the Senior Training session with senior

volunteers. This has been a successful partnership and has

potential to reach more seniors through collaborating with

individual food pantries. This motivated the food bank to connect with other community

partners as well to expand the reach and strengthen the impact

of the program. The relationships

developed will help to enhance the senior

training model as well as

connect food bank agencies with services

offered by Cooperative

Extension and/or other community

agencies. The Arkansas Foodbank serves 33 counties

1. Division of Aging and Adult Services, Arkansas Department of Human Services. Senior Hunger in Arkansas 2013: Impact, Extent, and Trends. http://

www.daas.ar.gov/pdf/Senior%20Hunger%20in%20Arkansas%202013.pdf Accessed 4-27-15.

http://www.daas.ar.gov/pdf/Senior%20Hunger%20in%20Arkansas%202013.pdf

http://www.daas.ar.gov/pdf/Senior%20Hunger%20in%20Arkansas%202013.pdf


Arkansas Foodbank, continued

How GENIE was used to

improve the program, continued

An important part of creating an effective program

framework is building partnerships that enhance a program (GENIE 3.2). As an

example, the Arkansas Foodbank accomplished this by

connecting with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension and inviting an

Extension agent to present about senior nutrition at the

Senior Training session. Michelle Carter presented

about senior nutrition needs as well as some of the services Cooperative Extension offers

that food bank agencies may want to utilize for their clients.

“GENIE has been a tremendous guide and resource in planning and implementing our senior nutrition program component. The Academy Foundation was able to take in the complexity of our clients, wide geographical coverage and limited resources, especially for the senior population with the most nutritional need, and together we designed multiple avenues to disseminate nutrition information and education.”

Shamim Okolloh Senior Services and

SNAP Outreach Coordinator

Senior volunteer reviews nutrition education information from Cooperative

Extension during the Senior Training Program.

Senior volunteers are provided with

a senior training manual that

includes reproducible nutrition

education materials and recipes.


Blue Ridge Area Food Bank (Virginia)

The Issue

The task of providing quality nutrition education to network

mobile food pantries is the responsibility of the Blue Ridge

Area Food Bank’s partner service coordinators. They explained, “Without formal

nutrition or dietetics training, deciding upon the best plan for

establishing a sustainable, purposeful, and easily replicated nutrition education

plan across sites can feel completely overwhelming.”

They wanted to make sure that the information provided to

clients was impactful, appropriate, and part of a broader scope and sequenced

approach to encouraging healthier lifestyles.

Walk the Line Nutrition Education Program

The food bank offers a Walk the Line Nutrition Education Program to the network of

mobile food pantries. Walk the Line is a method of nutrition

education where an educator

volunteer performs brief (five– to ten-minute) nutrition

education lessons to clients individually or in small groups

while they are waiting in line for food distribution. This method of delivery was

selected to establish a sustainable, purposeful, and

easily replicated nutrition education plan that can be utilized across five sites.

Nutrition education is distributed at least three times

per year for mobile food pantries. Utilizing the Walk the

Line approach allows all participants on site to be reached at each distribution.

The educator volunteer team includes individuals with food

safety and nutrition backgrounds from local

partner organizations. Nutrition education tables are set up at mobile pantry sites

to provide supplemental information to help strengthen

educational materials that are

being handed out. Food

samples are provided when available to clients.

Program enhancements made based on GENIE

One of GENIE’s categories addresses the importance of appropriate program materials

(GENIE 7.1). Quality

educational handouts were

identified for an adult

audience. Additionally,

the program framework for how a program is to be delivered is also

important (GENIE 3.1, 3.2, 3.3). The food bank

implemented the Walk the Line approach to make good use of

the time that clients wait in line at food distributions. GENIE encourages partnerships

(GENIE 3.2, 9.3, 9.5) and partnerships community

organizations were formed to deliver nutrition education to clients while waiting in line at

mobile food pantry distributions.

“As soon as I attended the GENIE presentation at the Feeding America conference I knew it was something I wanted to utilize. It just made sense. The task of writing up a program can be overwhelming and often it is impossible to see the whole picture. After running the initial program write-up through GENIE I was immediately able to see the strengths and weaknesses in my rough draft. It gives you specific areas to re-work, elaborate, insert, etc. It takes the guesswork out of knowing whether or not your program plan covers all that it should. I’m so thankful I have been introduced to this incredible tool!” Katie Harris

Partner Services Coordinator


Blue Ridge Area Food Bank (Virginia), continued

GENIE in Action

GENIE is designed to be used by anyone planning nutrition

education programs and can be helpful to those without a

nutrition education background. The partner services coordinator completed

the GENIE checklist and said, “As soon as I started reading

the answers, I was struck with how helpful the feedback was, and it did really guide me into

knowing what I needed to go back and fix/add.” With a pre-

GENIE score of 17, the food bank made significant

improvements in nearly all of the GENIE categories. The GENIE criteria “Program

Description and Importance” and “Program Goal” were

helpful in writing an effective

program plan for this newly designed program. The

“Program Content” and “Program Materials” criteria

were used to select appropriate materials, and the “Evaluation” criterion was

helpful to create an evaluation plan to assess the program’s

effectiveness. After the GENIE support, the food bank scored a post-GENIE score of 33.

Key messages are provided in the

Walk the Line Nutrition Education

Program lesson plan

Educational handouts for clients are

distributed through Walk the Line

Mobile food pantry distribution

The Walk the Line Nutrition Education

Program is flexible enough that it is

delivered to food bank clients in drive-

through mobile food pantries, while

clients wait in line (inside their cars)

for their turn.


Foodbank of Santa Barbara County

The Issue

The Foodbank of Santa Barbara County wished to use

GENIE to evaluate the efficacy and sustainability of their new

monthly cooking program and train-the-trainer model for Nutrition Advocates (NAs). NAs

are food bank clients who attend required training to

deliver nutrition education to peer clients and engage in advocacy projects. The food

bank wanted to use GENIE to develop a structured program

for the Nutrition Advocates called the Nutrition Advocate

Network.

“Working with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation was such a pleasure! Their expertise on program design as well as using the GENIE tool made designing our Nutrition Advocates Program so much simpler, and allowed us to consider new ways to make our program better. The Foodbank of Santa Barbara County is very excited to start this ground-breaking program that aims to improve the health and wellness of Foodbank clients through peer mentorship and modeling healthy behaviors.”

Erin Hansen, RDN Community Nutrition Coordinator

Nutrition Advocate Network

The NA Network is a nutrition education, food literacy, and civic engagement network

that empowers food bank clients to make healthy

behavior changes for themselves, their families, and

their peers. To become an NA, food bank clients must graduate from the Nutrition

Advocate Training Program, which consists of four monthly

cooking/training workshops. To remain a nutrition

advocate, one must attend at least four cooking/training

groups every year and engage

in annual advocacy projects.

GENIE helped to design an

effective program

GENIE was used to guide the

development of creating the lesson content (GENIE 6.2), ensuring that proper

instructional methods and materials were used (GENIE

5.4), and that the lessons were science-based (GENIE 1.4). The evaluation plan included a

survey for the food bank’s NAs to use to measure the

program’s success and aid in future program improvements

based on client feedback, as recommended by GENIE (GENIE 8.1, 8.3, 9.2). The NA

model was enhanced to address program setting and

client recruitment and retention strategies in detail (GENIE 5.4,

4.2).


Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, continued

GENIE in Action

It is important to clearly define the setting for nutrition

education, including the location and conditions of the

intervention (GENIE 4.1). For example, the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County

incorporated the details of the program setting in their

program plan. The NA Training Program and cooking/training groups take place at

community and neighborhood centers. Many participants do

not have cars, so they are more likely to attend trainings

if they can arrive on foot. The non-cooking trainings take place in a classroom setting,

and the cooking trainings take place in a kitchen. The

cooking/training groups are held in an interactive style,

where the class participants help to prepare the recipes and participate in group activities,

and instruction is given during hands-on learning time.

The food bank developed a program description and

detailed workshop lesson plans, following GENIE

criteria.


Northern Illinois Food Bank

The Issue

The Northern Illinois Food Bank developed a series of four

lessons for their afterschool programs and agencies, and

they wanted to use GENIE to make any necessary improvements before

expanding the program and offering more lessons.

Child Nutrition Education

Program

The child nutrition education program is made up of four

lessons per food group (vegetables, proteins, grains,

dairy, and fruit) designed for kids in elementary and middle

school. Lesson plans differ each week to highlight a star ingredient and include cooking

demonstrations and hands-on activities. The cooking

demonstrations with hands-on lessons last 15 minutes and

with set-up and clean-up, the whole program only takes about 45 minutes. Kids work in

groups of 4-5 during the hands-on activity, preparing that

week’s healthy snack.

“We were able to evaluate the program and improve our surveys for data collection. We also appreciate the support to highlight the program on the Hub and our food bank web site so that others can learn from our success with GENIE.”

Kelly Brasseur, MS, RD, LDN Consulting Dietitian

Applying GENIE criteria

improved the program and helped to prepare it for expansion

Addressing GENIE 2.3 and 8.6 relating to program goals and

evaluation measures, evaluation tools for sites and educators were enhanced and

will now be offered online to increase participation. The

sites complete an evaluation

Scored 100% on GENIE Post-Assessment!

of the quality of the lesson

and provide recommended changes. Educators complete

a similar evaluation and identify successes and

challenges to completing the lessons, and share how much training they received and

how well it prepared them for the experience. Additionally,

short- and long-term goals were identified to better assess the effectiveness of

the program and to use the information for program

enhancements in the future.

Sample pictorial recipes from lessons


Northern Illinois Food Bank, continued

GENIE in Action

Identifying short-term and long-term goals can be challenging

for programs but is very important for measuring the

effectiveness of nutrition education programs according to GENIE (GENIE 2.2, 2.3, 2.4,

8.1, 8.5, 8.6). The Northern Illinois Food Bank successfully

established purposeful goals.

Program Goals

The Child Nutrition Program

aims for three main goals:

40 instructors lead 200

lessons every year;

Program reaches 6,000 students every year;

Students score an average of at least 80% on each

quiz.

Sample set-up for lessons.

Cooking demonstration in progress


The Greater Boston Food Bank

The issue

In 2014 The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) Nutrition

Team created and launched four comprehensive nutrition

lessons to be used in a train-the-trainer model. While they received positive verbal

feedback on the training sessions delivered to 23

agencies, they lacked a systematic tool to measure impact.

“Tools available through GENIE, such as the benchmark checklist and the sample proposals, helped us to strengthen our program plan. We now feel confident with our evaluation tools and comfortable with offering this training series more often as it is an improved program after applying the GENIE recommendations.”

Adriene Worthington, RD, LDN Senior Manager of Nutrition

GBFB Train-the-Trainer

Nutrition Education Program

The Train-the-Trainer

Nutrition Education Program, open to agencies and

members of hunger networks, is aimed at teaching agency leaders the skills to provide

nutrition instruction in their communities. Attendees

participate in single-day sessions, which explain the

basics of nutrition and how to teach four ready-made lesson plans to their constituents.

Improved GENIE score by 38%

Three main program

enhancements were made based on GENIE

Program goals is one of the GENIE categories (GENIE

2.4) and the GBFB identified both short- and long-term goals for the program.

Additionally, an incentive program was developed to

improve recruitment and retention (GENIE 4.2) and motivate agencies to teach

nutrition lessons and motivate client participants to

attend lessons (GENIE 5.2). One of the greatest

enhancements to the program was program evaluation. Evaluation tools

(surveys) were designed to measure outcomes (GENIE

8.1, 8.2, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 8.8).


The Greater Boston Food Bank, continued

GENIE in Action

The GBFB addressed the importance of recruitment and

retention (GENIE 4.2) and instructional methods (GENIE

5.2) by establishing a new incentive program for clients and agencies.

Client incentives: The GBFB asks agencies to create an

incentive for clients to attend more than one session. Incentives are unique to the

agency, as the client population varies between

sites.

Suggested options to enhance

client retention include the following:

Certificates

Incentive items

(agencies can purchase

giveaway items directly

from GBFB in a co

-op-like model at

a reduced cost)

Food (e.g.,

making and

tasting a recipe

during a lesson)

Agency incentives: The

GBFB asks agencies to communicate their ideas on

incentives that will keep them engaged and motivated to

offer classes and sessions to clients.

Nutrition education

materials (GBFB

offers a tiered incentive

program—e.g., teach

two lessons, receive a

reusable nutrition

education tool

Recognition (in GBFB

newsletters, blog

posts, and other

publications)

Other

Sample nutrition education material

Train-the-trainer detailed lesson

plans and recipes are provided


GENIE Checklist


Guide for Effective Nutrition Interventions and Education (GENIE) 9 Categories


GENIE 9 Categories, continued


GENIE 9 Categories, continued

Documents

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