Community Nutrition Grant Project

GENERAL INFO
Organization: Non-Profit
Project Title: Caja de Comida Fresca (CCF)
Area of Focus: Nutrition
Type: Project
Campbell Office: Chesapeake

NARRATIVE
Background
The population of single men in New Brunswick, New Jersey face a myriad of challenges when it comes
to nutrition and health. They are susceptible to malnutrition, as they lack access to culturally appropriate,
healthy foods. Their food insecurity is exacerbated by their lifestyles, consisting of busy, laborious work
schedules. These men are “heavily engaged in the labor workforce” (Wallace, et al., 2013), leaving them
little time and energy after work to prepare nutritious meals. Single immigrant men tend to have low
income, while also sending money to their families in their home countries. Their cultural norms
additionally act as a barrier to their ability to make healthy, fresh meals for themselves. In Hispanic
culture, the women are typically the ones who cook for the men and their families. This contributes to the
men lacking the skills, knowledge and motivation to cook their own meals. Due to this factor, our
program will hire Hispanic women in the New Brunswick community as cooks who can prepare meals
for and educate these single men on meal preparation. These meals will be simple and healthy recipes,
with minimal ingredients and fast preparations. This program will also involve the community in
providing an opportunity for women of the community to make an income. Overall, our program will take
the lifestyle and norms of single men in New Brunswick into consideration to create an opportunity for
them to have access to culturally appropriate, fresh meals.

Target & Scope

The target population of this program is single men in New Brunswick, NJ. They are more susceptible to
specific nutrition-related health issues like obesity and malnutrition than other groups in this city.
Substance abuse makes single men susceptible to malnourishment due to overconsumption of alcohol and
underconsumption of sufficient balanced meals. In addition, insufficient income contributes to their lack
of access to nutritious foods, which propagates malnutrition in this population. Single men living in New
Brunswick also tend to experience high levels of stress because of the burden of sending money back to
their countries and lack of local family support. Due to the low-income nature of this group, Men living in
New Brunswick are also likely to reside together with shared facilities, making it difficult for them to
acquire cooking skills or use cooking equipment. This further complicates the issue of food insecurity for
single men in this city. Consequently, this group is more likely to rely on inexpensive fast food options,
which provide little nutritional value. A consistently unhealthy diet, lack of cooking resources, and a
stressful schedule are all known risk factors for the prevalent health issues that single men in New
Brunswick face.

Project Description
Fresh meal boxes will be delivered to clients' home addresses on a weekly basis by the help of community
supporters including a community food bank, a community kitchen, and local supermarkets and churches.
The weekly boxes will include culturally appropriate fresh fruits and vegetables, staple breakfast and
lunch items, frozen meals, and a weekly picture recipe card. With the collaboration of Hispanic women in
the New Brunswick area who will be trained as “community cooks”, balanced meals will be prepared and
provided to single men of the community, so they are able to obtain more nutrient-dense meals. By
employing women of the community who normally cook for men in the community, the women will be
paid to learn nutritious cooking skills and continue cooking fresh meals in an organized facility, while
also helping to reduce the prevalence of malnutrition of the single men in the community. 

This program will also deliver staple grocery items that can be easily prepared at home with the help of
our picture recipe cards. By providing key nutrients with quick, easy preparation instructions, participants
will be less inclined to spend their money on malnourishing, cheap foods. In order to evaluate the
effectiveness of the program, we will also be conducting quarterly screenings of the single men who are
using our services. The encouraged collaborations with a multi-sectoral coalition will implement
sustainable changes not only for single men, but for the entire community of New Brunswick. 

The weekly fresh meal box will specifically include: Culturally appropriate fruits and vegetables- 14 total
varieties (7 fruits and 7 vegetables) while adding a few variety of staples, 1 box of hot or cold cereal,
coffee, two types of a protein and grain, one dairy, and 5 frozen meals prepared our community cooks.

Sample Weekly Box: “Fresh Foods to your Doorstep”

Fruit:
1 ea mango 
2 ea banana
2 ea apple
1 ea avocado
1 ea papaya 

Vegetable:
2 ea jicama 
2 ea carrots
2 ea peppers 
1 ea nopales (cactus)

Breakfast:
Hot Farina con leche 
Ingredients:
- Box of Farina
- 1 % milk (2 qts)

Lunch:
Sándwich de atún (tuna sandwich)
Ingredients:
- Tuna (2 cans)
- Whole wheat bread (1 loaf)

Arroz con habichuelas (rice and beans)

Ingredients:
- Brown Rice (1 bag)
- Beans (1 bag)

Dinner: 
5 each- Freeze to reheat complete balanced meal (variety)

Recipe card of the week:

Mango y Crema de Farina
Goals
This program aims to decrease the prevalence of malnutrition in single men in the New Brunswick area
and to increase the income of local Hispanic women. 

Objectives
1. 30 local, low-income Hispanic women will participate in at least 12 healthy cooking meal
preparation sessions by the end of the program’s first year, 2022. 
2. Deliver Caja de Comida Fresca orders to 50 new clients by the end of the first year after the
program delivers its first week #1 boxes. 
3. Perform initial and follow-up health screenings to at least 5 new men (see “Strategies”) every
quarter for their first year of enrollment to track program progress. 

Strategies

Partners
Caja de Comida Fresca (CCF) will partner with Promise Culinary School of Elijah’s Promise in order
to provide cooking classes and food safety certifications to recipe leaders and the recipe leader facilitator
so that they are equipped to train volunteers as community cooks. 
Elijah’s Promise also rents out their commercial kitchen space to those who are Servsafe certified to
use for an hourly fee of 20$. 
CCF will also partner with the New Brunswick Community Farmers Market, which will be the
program’s main source of produce. The fruits and vegetables that the NBCFM provides weekly will be
incorporated in that week’s recipe plan that our community cooks will prepare. 
The CCF program will partner with the Community Food Bank of New Jersey to provide
nonperishable grocery items for the boxes. 
CCF will partner with Lazos America Unida in order to connect with the Hispanic community of New
Brunswick, and ultimately allow CCF to find women volunteers to become community chefs. This will
also be the volunteers’ Friday meeting spot for box assembly and distribution (57 Livingston Ave., New
Brunswick, NJ 08901). Commercial freezer and refrigeration space will also be located here or nearby in
a rental space. Prepared meals will be driven here Mondays through Thursdays by delivery team members
and volunteers. 
Shoprites of East and North Brunswick will provide cardboard boxes that would normally be
compacted and removed as trash and recycling from their store. These 2 stores will be asked to set aside
cardboard boxes for weekly Friday pickup by our volunteer shoppers. This supermarket chain participates
in Partners in Caring (PIC), which is a program that collects monetary and food donations at check-out to
send to local food banks and those facing food insecurity and hunger. These stores will be asked to
advertise that the CCF program will be accepting monetary donations at checkout, much like the PIC
collection services. The CCF program’s share of donations will be used by volunteer shoppers to
purchase appropriate, predetermined grocery items at these two ShopRite locations. The program’s main
sources of grocery item delivery will be through donations from the Community Food Bank of NJ, and
ShopRite in-store monetary donations.

Program Facilitators
The CCF Program will require 5 Program Facilitators in order for efficient program progression to occur.
The Enrollment and Screening facilitator will be responsible for performing health screenings prior to and
after enrollment. This bilingual facilitator will work for 2 weeks each quarter to overlook the screening
and assess the results for the incoming clients. The Delivery and Assembly Facilitator will be responsible
for overseeing the deliveries of boxes and being present during box assembly. All issues related to
delivery and transportation will be directed to this program facilitator. The Partnership and Donation
Facilitator will be responsible for ensuring that all partnerships are being properly managed, and that
donations funded from ShopRite customers are provided to volunteer shoppers for monthly shopping
trips. The Recipe Leader Facilitator is required to have at least a bachelor's degree in nutrition, as they
will be responsible for training 2 recipe leaders in guided healthy cooking sessions. This facilitator and 2
recipe leaders will be enrolled in Promise Culinary cooking classes, and will then provide training to the
community cooks. Lastly, the Client Outreach Coordinator will be responsible for overseeing the
recruitment of clients and creating outreach through partnerships, the internet, and other marketing
techniques. 

Volunteers
Volunteers for the program will consist of community cooks, recipe leaders, shoppers, and a
delivery team. The community cooks will be volunteers from the Hispanic community who are trained by
recipe leader facilitators certified through Elijah’s Promise Culinary School. Community cooks will
provide familiar recipe ideas, be trained in healthy cooking, prepare 5 guided meals per week, and
assemble delivery boxes. These volunteers will be paid pending their training, ServSafe certification
receipt, and contact information for at least 1 potential client.
Recipe leaders will volunteer as the major creators of weekly nutrition-based, culturally
appropriate meals, as well as weekly recipe cards for clients to reference at home. Recipe leaders will
require at least some undergraduate education in nutrition, and must be bilingual in English and Spanish.
These volunteers will be present during frozen meal preparation at the community kitchen in order to lead
each recipe that the community cooks are preparing that day. Recipe leaders will be responsible for
educating the community cooks on the nutritional content of each meal they prepare upon completion of
training with their facilitator. These volunteers will be required to be ServSafe certified, and will
primarily facilitate meal preparation sessions. 
Volunteer shoppers will use donation money to purchase predetermined non-perishable grocery
items for the team. Non-perishable food shopping will be done on a monthly basis in order to allow for
the accrual of donation money. Shoppers will also pick up cardboard from our 2 participating ShopRite
locations at the time of their monthly trip. 
Community cooks, volunteer shoppers, and recipe leaders will have the ability to also volunteer
as part of the CCF Program’s Friday delivery team, but this team will also consist of 5 hired delivery
associates. This team will also be responsible for helping to deliver fresh cooked meals to our designated
freezer space after the community cooks finish their shifts. Gas costs for these volunteers will be covered
by the fees paid by clients for box delivery. 

Clients
Men of the community who choose to become clients will be eligible to enroll to receive CCF boxes if
they currently live on their own and are in possession of a refrigerator and a freezer. Clients without a
freezer will still be eligible to receive weekly grocery deliveries (not including frozen meals) for a
reduced price. Clients will be able to decide to decline deliveries for specified months or weeks out of
each year at quarterly checkpoints. For instance, a client who began deliveries in January will be asked in
the beginning of April (during his quarterly screening) if he would like to continue with deliveries, alter
the delivery rate or content, or discontinue deliveries altogether. 

Volunteer Outreach
Volunteers will be recruited first, as they are a direct link to potential clients for the CCF
Program. Volunteers will be reached through our partnership with Lazos America Unida. After presenting
the idea to Hispanic women of the community with the promise of cooking classes, nutrition education,
and payment, interested volunteers will be enrolled in training by recipe leaders and facilitators, who were
certified and trained by the Promise Culinary School through Elijah’s Promise. These volunteers will then
become certified “Community Cooks” who will be able to start preparing boxes for the CCF program
clients, which will be based on familiar foods with a nutritious twist. 
Volunteer shoppers will be anyone already volunteering as cooks, or others recruited through volunteer
postings at local churches. 
 Recipe leaders will be recruited through Rutgers University. Program directors will post flyers
within the Nutritional Sciences buildings on Cook Campus in New Brunswick, and weekly recruitment
emails will be forwarded to Nutritional Sciences students, faculty, and alumni during the outreach portion
of program implementation. Interested students and faculty will be able to pass on this information to
others in the nutrition field in order for this CCF Program opportunity to reach as many dietetics-focused
professionals as possible. They will be asked to contact the CCF Program Enrollment Facilitator. This
opportunity would provide both students and credentialed professionals with valuable experience in
community nutrition. 

Client Outreach
Single men in the New Brunswick community will be encouraged by Hispanic women of the community
who normally cook to provide these men with inexpensive, convenient food. Recruited volunteers will be
coached on how to explain the purpose of the CCF Program to the men in their communities, which will
be the program’s main source of clients. The men who are interested in continuing to receive fresh meals
from the community’s Hispanic women will be asked to provide them with their name and home address
(or an address to which they would like their food delivered). 

Training
As aforementioned, the Recipe Leader Facilitator will enroll in cooking courses prior to
beginning meal preparation. Promise Culinary School offers training from January to July of each year
for 22 weeks. Enrollment in the Culinary Arts program is required 3 months in advance of the start of the
classes in January. In this training, the facilitator will learn knife skills, the basics of soups, sauces, meats
and fish, vegetables and vegan cooking, basic baking skills, quantity foods production, menu planning,
and food safety. Upon completion of the program, the facilitator will receive a certificate in culinary arts,
a life skills training certificate, life-time job assistance from the school, as well as a ServSafe manager
certification. 
Recipe leaders will be trained by the Recipe Leader Facilitator on how to facilitate a group of
community cooks during a meal preparation session. Training will provide recipe leaders with the scope
of the importance of fresh meal preparation, as well as training in how to convey key nutrition tips to the
community cooks as they are preparing their balanced meals. This training will occur after both client and
volunteer outreach periods are completed. Upon completion of this one-week training session, recipe
leaders will have learned how to guide others through recipes as they cook, answer simple cooking and
food related questions during meal preparation, help community cooks follow their recipes accordingly,
and infuse simple nutrition tips and lessons into preparation sessions. Community cook volunteers will
then be trained by Recipe Leaders for 2 practice weeks prior to the program’s first guided meal
preparation session. Upon completing these practice sessions, community cooks will be able to navigate
the commercial kitchen space, be aware of the importance of cooking healthfully, and be prepared to start
preparing balanced meals for their community.

Recipe Creation
After agreeing to act as paid volunteers, recruited women will be asked to provide recipe leaders with
foods and recipes that they commonly cook at home. Recipe leaders and their facilitator will base all
frozen meal and at-home recipes off of familiar foods and recipes that are compiled during brainstorming
sessions with the community cooks. Each frozen meal recipe will contain a grain, a vegetable, and a
protein in order to create a balanced, reheatable, convenient meal. Each weekly recipe card will coincide
with at least 2 of delivered grocery items (perishable from Farmers Market, or non-perishable from
ShopRite). Recipe cards will also be delivered with each grocery box, which will guide clients through
assembling quick and easy snacks or meals at home. 

Weekly Grocery Items

Grocery items will consist of both perishable produce items and nonperishable, canned, and/or boxed
staple foods. The New Brunswick Community Farmers Market will deliver fresh produce to the Lazos
America Unida location on Fridays prior to box assembly, which will be refrigerated on site. The majority
of our non-perishable food items will be purchased by volunteer shoppers using monetary donations
collected through ShopRite, and the rest will be provided by the Community Food Bank of New Jersey.
As previously mentioned in “Project Description”, each box will contain culturally appropriate fruits and
vegetables- 14 total varieties (7 fruits and 7 vegetables) from NB Farmers Market, 1 box of hot or cold
cereal, coffee, 2 proteins, 2 grains, and 1 shelf-stable dairy item, in addition to 5 frozen meals prepared by
our community cooks. 

Box Preparation 
Community cooks will be provided with 5 recipes to complete on a weekly basis, which will be based on
the fresh fruits and vegetables available from the New Brunswick Community Farmers Market. On
Mondays through Thursdays, 2-hour time blocks in Elijah’s Promise commercial kitchen will be rented
out and designated for frozen meal preparation by community cooks. Meal preparation will be guided by
trained recipe leaders, and all finished meals will be portioned and stored in plastic Tupperware
containers, which will be collected, sanitized, and reused. Depending on client and volunteer
participation, workload will vary among the community cooks. For example, if there are 10 clients at the
beginning of week #1 who all signed up for frozen meal delivery boxes, 50 total meals will need to be
prepared and frozen over the course of one week (8 hours). If there are 10 community cooks at the start of
the program, each cook will prepare 1 of each of the 5 recipes for that week. On Monday, each cook will
be guided through 2 recipes to create 1 single portion of each, and on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and
Thursdays, each cook will be guided through 1 recipe per day to create 4 more meals each. Workloads
will shift as more clients enroll or more volunteers participate. On Fridays, cooks and program directors
will meet at the Lazos America Unida location to assemble boxes containing up to 5 different frozen
prepared meals and grocery items for distribution. 

Delivery Process
Boxes will be delivered immediately following assembly on Friday evenings to ensure clients will be
home to receive them. The delivery team members will be hired in order to ensure boxes are delivered to
the correct addresses on Fridays. This team will be provided with a van for delivery purposes only.
Deliveries containing frozen meals must be immediately received by the client and placed back into a
freezer.
 
Enrollment
Clients will enroll by providing “community cooks in training” with their address, whether or not they
can receive frozen meals, allergies, and a date/time they are available for a program facilitator to visit for
their initial health screening. Each delivery box will cost clients $10.00, and can be paid in advance of
each quarter, or on a weekly basis at the time of delivery. 

Client Health Screenings 

Prior to any box preparation or delivering for week #1, clients will be asked to allow program
facilitators to perform a brief health screening to assess their overall nutritional status prior to enrolling in
the CCF Program. The same screening will be provided 4 times per year for the first year of enrollment
(year begins the same week they receive their first box), and then twice a year for the remaining years of
enrollment. Program facilitators will record each client’s anthropometric measurements, including height,
weight, BMI, age, and gender. The facilitator will also record client responses to a questionnaire about
their overall health. Questions will include the following, and be rated on a scale of 1-10, 1 being the least
and 10 being the most: 
 How would you rate your daily stress level?
 How much does meal planning or food contribute to your current stress level?
  How much do you know about nutrition?
 How many times a day do you feel hungry?
 How much time do you typically take each day to nourish yourself with a balanced meal?
 How often do you eat three meals a day?
 How often do you eat fruits and vegetables daily?
 How balanced do you believe your current diet is?
 How much do you believe your diet could improve?
 How much do you believe your diet has improved since enrolling with CCF? (N/A for initial
screenings)
 How much money do you spend on food every week (a little or a lot)? 

In addition to these rating questions, incoming clients will also be asked the following questions only
during their initial screenings:
 Do you have cooking equipment? 
 Do you have a freezer?
 Do you have a refrigerator?

Actions/Timeline

Pre-Program Implementation
The pre-program implementations are critical steps in the long-term success of Caja de Comida Fresca.
The pre- program implementation is projected to take approximately 4 months. During this time frame,
the establishment of partnerships, hiring, training, development of program goals and objectives, are just
a few pre-program implementations. Below is a detailed outline of CCF pre-program implementation: 

1. Create partnerships 
- Elijah’s Promise, New Brunswick Community Farmers Market, Community Food
Bank of NJ, Lazos, Shoprite (East and North Brunswick)
2. Personnel Hiring & Onboarding 
- Facilitators, Senior Director, Administrators, Delivery Team
3. Establish food donation schedules (CFBNJ, NBCFM, ShopRite)
4. Establish Monetary Donation Program with Shoprite Check-Out
5. Community Kitchen Set-Up & Orientation
6. Volunteer Outreach 
- Lazos for Hispanic women cooks, RU for Recipe Leaders, churches for shoppers
7. Begin Client Enrollment and Initial Screening Scheduling
- at least one client contact from each Lazos volunteer woman
8. Client Initial Screenings
9. Recipe Leader Facilitator Training 
- Promise Culinary School Jan-July, but need to enroll 3 months in advance
10. Recipe Leader Training 
- Week-long, after RL Facilitator has completed training
11. Community Cook Training 
- Lazos volunteers trained by Recipe Leaders and RL Facilitator
- 2 weeks of practice as needed in the community kitchen with RL’s 
12. Recipe Brainstorming Sessions 
- Recipe Leaders, RL Facilitator, Community Cooks
- Two to Three meetings, depending on information gathered
 13. Recipe Creation (for Month #1 of program) 
- 1 week long
- Then another week for recipe expansions, grocery list creation

Program Roll Out- Week 1 Sample:

All of the program's efforts during the pre-program implementation period will transform the program's
strategic plan into actions in order to achieve the program's established goals. Below is an outline of CCF
Program roll out:

14. First monthly & weekly grocery shopping trips 

- Can be done any day before first Monday of week #1
15. Week #1 of program 
- Monday-Thursday meal prep sessions
- Friday box assembly & delivery to clients
16. Week #2- Repeat of week 
17. Week #3- Repeat of week 2 
18. Week #4- Repeat of week 3
- First client quarterly follow-Up screenings
- First quarterly program progress meeting with key stakeholders
19. Client enrollment will continue during program roll out 
- Continued screening assessments 

Figure 1- CCF Project Timeline

Strengths
All of our partnerships, including Lazos America Unida, Elijah’s Promise, The Community Food
Bank of New Jersey, the New Brunswick Farmers Market, and ShopRite Supermarkets, would be well-
established programs and organizations. These partnerships will increase the success of the CCF Program
and ensure that the program has the support it needs to expand. These partnerships also provide various
necessary aspects of the CCF Program, including food, monetary donations, locations for food
preparation and box assembly, and storage. Partnering with these specific organizations creates a
promising outlook due to the fact that they each provide the CCF Program with the tools it needs to grow
and ultimately succeed in bettering the health of the target population. 
This proposal is also strong because it depicts a program that utilizes many already existing locations
for our program to use, including the community kitchen at Elijah’s Promise, the 2 ShopRite locations for
donations and shopping trips, and Lazos America Unida for assembly and storage. 
 The proposed timeline for the CCF Program is also very organized, and allows sufficient time for
outreach in the community before training and enrollment will begin. Using the first few months to focus
on strengthening partnerships with Lazos and the community food bank will ensure the proper
progression of volunteer outreach, training, and client enrollment.

Weaknesses
Volunteers in the community are required in order for the program to progress as proposed, making the
success of this program completely reliant on outreach. Because of this, it will be imperative that outreach
in the community is done in a way that is appealing, efficient, and planned and carried out in a timely
manner. Food waste is another potential weakness that may result from the proposed plan of this program.
The amount of food this program is proposing to deliver to clients on a weekly basis may create food
waste if clients do not take advantage of their boxes and recipe cards. The evaluation process of this
program, including quarterly health screenings, will also be limited by the level of involvement from
clients, making this a limiting factor for success.

Opportunities
It is possible that the expansion of this program will create interest from other partners.
Initial screenings alone could encourage the target population to visit their doctors or other healthcare
professionals on their own time. Potential clients receiving nutrition education and advice from their
general practitioners would likely decrease the need for the services of this program for some single men
in the area. As the program grows, Meals on Wheels may gain interest in including our program as a
small part of their program. Being that both programs aim to deliver meals to those who need balanced
diets, the CCF Program and Meals on Wheels would be able to align their purpose but still provide food
to two different target populations in the community. This would allow for the CCF Program to reach
more clients while also streamlining the delivery process. There is also the possibility that volunteers in
the community will hear about the CCF program, want to help, and even be able to replace the paid
delivery team. 

Threats
A major threat to the success of the CCF Program is the potentially limited number of volunteers from the
Rutgers Nutritional Sciences department, forcing us to hire a registered dietitian, thus increasing the
budget. On the other hand, interest from too many community cook volunteers could create either a need
for more space in a different facility, or for cooks to take turns alternating meal preparation shifts every
other week. Either way, not having enough funding from the initial proposal may be a threat to the
success of the CCF Program. Also, transportation of community cooks to and from their shifts at Elijah’s
Promise commercial kitchen may be difficult, therefore negatively impacting the program’s ability to
maintain a steady team. People may want to be involved, but have limited ways to do so. A potential
cultural threat could be that the families of the Hispanic women volunteers may be reluctant in allowing
her to be away to cook and work for others. Similarly, some community members who are not women
may want to volunteer as community cooks, and may be offended that the program only recruits Hispanic
women.

EVALUATION
The process evaluation of Caja de Comida Fresca is crucial in understanding the effectiveness of the
program and the continued program improvement. The evaluation process has been broken down into
three main evaluation objectives. It is important that the program evaluate, train, and provide continued
education to the community cooks who will be preparing and freezing all meals for the program.
Qualitative interview questions will be used to obtain responses to better understand the cooking skills
and sanitation habits of the community cooks. Sample interview questions include:
  What practices do you engage in, to ensure that food is correctly prepared?
 When preparing and cooking food, how do you know when a food item has been fully cooked? 
 How would you defrost meat?
 Do you use a food thermometer at home? 
 How long would you store leftover food in the refrigerator?

The qualitative information obtained during the interview process will help assist in targeting areas of
weakness for all hired community cooks. All answers to interview questions will be collected and
documented in efforts to track completion of the food training program. Community cooks will begin
their food safety training at Promise Culinary School. The number of community cooks who obtain
ServSafe en Español test will complete the training portion of the program and completion of all areas of
competency. Data will be collected on those individuals who pass the ServSafe exam, and also complete
training provided by the Recipe Leader Facilitator. Data will be compared to initial interview responses to
determine success rate or failure rate of the program. Continued education will also be provided once a
month to community cooks, to ensure full competency in food preparation and sanitation. A sample
continuing education module will be a 5-minute prerecorded video, such as proper handwashing, and a
post module questionnaire to test competency. These evaluation measures will be continuous as new
community cooks are hired to work for the program. 

The evaluation of risk factors for the program's target population of single men in New Brunswick, is the
program's primary focus. Upon admission to the program, a mandatory quantitative screening tool,
administered by the Health Screening Facilitator, will consist of two parts: collection of anthropometrics
and a questionnaire. 
The first portion of screening will require the health screening facilitator to obtain clients’ anthropometric
data, including:
 Height
 Weight
 BMI
 Age
 Gender 

The second portion of the screening tool consists of a questionnaire, with a 1 to 10 rating scale to further
assess target population risk factors. Sample questions include:
 How would you rate your daily stress level?
 How much does meal planning or food contribute to your current stress level?
 How much do you know about nutrition?
 How many times a day do you feel hungry?
 How much time do you typically take each day to nourish yourself with a balanced meal?
 How often do you eat three meals a day?
 How often do you eat fruits and vegetables daily?
 How balanced do you believe your current diet is?
 How much do you believe your diet could improve?
 How much money do you spend on food every week (a little or a lot)? 

Yes or No questions will also be asked in order to evaluate the best way for new clients to proceed with
our program. These questions will only be asked during initial screenings. 
 Do you have cooking equipment (microwave, hot plate, stove, oven)? 
 Do you have a freezer?
 Do you have a refrigerator?
 A final crucial evaluation tool of the program is tracking the quality care in all clients who are signed up
for the program. Quality care will be measured in two different ways. Clients will have to check in
quarterly for wellness checks, to continue an additional 3 months of fresh food delivery boxes. Wellness
checks will be similar to the initial screening tool. The purpose of this is to measure a client's progress in
the program. The ultimate goal of the program's wellness check is to show evidence that the program has
increased the client’s intake of fresh fruits and vegetables, and lower the consumption of heavy processed
foods, for an overall improvement in productivity and health. Weight and BMI will be standard
anthropometric measures obtained during screening checks. Sample additional questions for quarterly
wellness checks include:

 Has your stress level improved in the last 3 months?

 Has your energy level improved in the last 3 months?
 Do you have a regular bowel movement every other day?
 How much do you believe your diet has improved since enrolling with CCF?
 Do you see an improvement in your overall mood? 
 How many times a day do you feel hungry? 

These questions will also be on a 1 to 10 rating scale. Our second quality care evaluation will be the
management of the program enrollments. Clients will have to fill out a weekly order form to receive
weekly fresh food boxes. Reports will need to be generated and assessed by administration weekly in
tracking weekly subscriptions. Ideally, the goal is to see a continued increase in weekly enrollments.

The collection and analysis of all data will be done using the MAXQDA software. Additional software to
be utilized by the program are Micro software including Excel and Google docs, sheets and slides. The
two CCF administrators will assist with the interpretation of all formative results. Weekly meetings will
be crucial in staying up to date with data collection as well as quarterly program progress meetings which
will include the attendance of major stakeholders in the area of New Brunswick, program director. It's
important that these key players are involved in these quarterly meetings, so they are up to date with the
programs successful progress. These meetings are crucial in identifying areas of improvement by the
program director, or to highlight areas of the program that are doing better than anticipated. Actions of
those from our stakeholders will assist the program in promoting the program. If successful in the
community, funding becomes easier to upgrade, expand, and promote in efforts to make the program
more recognized. 

The lessons learned throughout the evaluation progress of the program include providing additional time
in the training of community cooks. This was primarily due to a language barrier and education levels
which were less than a high school diploma. These barriers were not taken into consideration upon
assembling the training sessions of community cooks. Community cooks that were fully trained and
having passed a ServSafe examination took approximately 12 weeks to complete, where we estimated a
total of 6 weeks to complete during the planning stages of the program, nearly double the time. Further,
we felt that the screening questionnaire should have been completely translated in Spanish for the client
to fill out independently. We learned that the translation of the screening questionnaire from our bilingual
health screening facilitator to the client would expedite the screening process, however we felt that it was
not as efficient. Clients may have not answered questions with the full truth, but rather answered
questions to appeal to the health screening facilitator.  

PEOPLE
Caja de Comida Fresca is a team consisting of eleven diverse and bilingual individuals. Starting
with the program director, their main role is the planning, development, and the implementation of the
program. Further responsibilities include initiating and setting goals based on the program's strategic
objectives, building relationships with key stakeholders, planning and developing the organization's
budget. Senior director of programs is second in charge. Responsibilities include ensuring that cross-
functional members work as a team focused on the program's goals including keeping the team
accountable on critical deadlines, coordinating projects, planning the program's metrics and monitoring
the progress, managing relationships with stakeholders, and managing the programs budget and tracking
expenses. Four main positions of CCF directly report to the senior director of programs. The partnership
and donation facilitator is responsible for cultivating and stewarding a donor base, and management of
donations. The client outreach coordinator is responsible for building strategic relationships with private
foundations and partnerships through outreach via marketing techniques. The delivery assembly
facilitator is responsible for overseeing the delivery team in assembly and delivery of weekly boxes.
Senior administrator, supervises and oversees the daily operations of the administrative staff, interviews
and hires administrative staff members and manages volunteer programs. Directly under the supervision
of the senior administrator, positions include: Administrative Assistants and Enrollment/Screening
Facilitators. 
The administrative assistant responsibilities include providing clerical support including taking
detailed minutes of meeting, answering phone calls in providing program information to callers,
maintaining filing systems this will include collection of client screenings from screening facilitators
weekly, creating spreadsheets and presentations, and providing statistical and budget reports. The
Enrollment and Screening facilitators will perform brief health screenings to assess client risk factors
before enrollment and will also be responsible for screenings throughout the program in monitoring client
progress. Weekly reports of screenings will be sent to administrative assistants. Under the supervision of
the Delivery and Assembly facilitator will be the recipe leaders, community cooks, and meal delivery
team. The recipe leader is responsible for putting together culturally appropriate meal ideas, nutritional
analysis of menus and ensuring that weekly boxes are nutritional balanced based on the program's goals
in providing fruits, vegetables, and minimally processed foods. Community cooks are the heart and soul
of the program, as they will be provided training and guidance in preparing healthy and safe meals for
clients. After training and food safety certification, community cooks will lead the production and
packaging of all freeze to reheat culturally appropriate meals for the program. Meal delivery team
workers are part-time workers who are responsible for delivering cooked meals to designated freezer
space for 2 hours Monday through Thursday and delivering weekly boxes to clients every Friday.

Figure 2: Organizational chart of Caja de Comida Fresca

 Stakeholders and opinion leaders have strong points of view, are well respected, can provide
valuable information, and are crucial members in collaborating with Caja de Comida Fresca. A primary
stakeholder in which the program will collaborate with is the mayor of New Brunswick, NJ, James M.
Cahil. Due to Mayor Cahil’s accomplishments in the community including: increasing the number of
affordable housing and in turn providing opportunities for residents to become homeowners, as well as 
the Mayor Cahil’s several investments creating  over 7,000 job opportunities for New Brunswick
residents in over the past 10 years, all set a precedent of the potential success for  CCF in the New
Brunswick community.  Mayor Cahil is a key stakeholder in providing his perspective, insights, and
advice on how CCF can gain a competitive advantage just as some of the successful programs Mayor
Cahil has established in New Brunswick. Further, not all stakeholders come from high positions, such as
those in government. Opinion leaders also emerge from the community itself, who are also passionate
about assisting their very own families and neighborhood. Teresa Vivar, an advocate for the Hispanic
population in New Brunswick, is the Executive Director of Lazos America Unidad. Her contributions as a
stakeholder as well as the collaboration of her program with CCF will make for a better tomorrow for the
community of New Brunswick. Teresa Vivar is the very person who is bridging the gap between the
Hispanic community and the broader community. In her small New Brunswick office, she is ready and
eager to help the Hispanic community in any way, shape, or form. She provides an array of services and
resources to the Hispanic community of New Brunswick, with the collaboration of CCF, the program can
be an additional resource, specifically for single men. Including Viviar in our quarterly meetings, and
keeping her up to date with program progress, will help Lazos America Unidad in providing
additional community resources for the Hispanic community, as well as help CCD in obtaining clients in
the community in joining the program.  Lastly, New Brunswick Tomorrow (NBT) will be an additional
important collaboration for CCF. NBT thrives on local leadership and partnership. Their goal aligns with
the goals of CCF in “addressing some of the city's most pressing issues by setting goals, turning goals
into plans, and plans into action, ultimately helping residents improve their quality of life” (About:New
Brunswick Tomorrow). The plan for CCF, similar to how we collaborate with Lazos America Unidad,
NBT will be an important organization involved in CCF’s quarterly meetings. The goals of these
meetings are to provide a program progress update of CCF. These meetings are important in maintaining
the relationships with these organizations in order to understand the needs of the community, and how as
a coalition we can continue to provide to the community of New Brunswick.

FINANCIALS

Funding Request
Caja de Comida Fresca is driven by our mission to decrease the prevalence of malnutrition in
single men in New Brunswick, New Jersey by providing them with access to healthy, fresh meals. By
hiring Hispanic women in the New Brunswick community as cooks, developing a delivery team to
transport fresh meals, and assembling a team of program facilitators to oversee the project strategies, Caja
de Comida Fresca has the potential to positively change the community as a whole. Our objectives as a
program include: an outreach of 50 new clients for the first year, tracking the progress of our program
through follow-up health screenings each quarter with 10% of these new clients, and hiring 30 local
Hispanic women as cooks. To successfully complete this mission, our organization is requesting funds to
assist in reaching our goals by the end of the first fiscal year. With the funds to hire the staff, rent the
preparation space and transportation of the meal boxes, purchase materials, and complete proper
certifications, our project will be able to provide these New Brunswick men with proper nutrition, food
education and an impeccable start to a healthier lifestyle. 
Budget for Caja de Comida Fresca (with Budget Justification Incorporated)

Personnel
Community Cooks
($10 x 2 hours x 4 days = $80 x 52 weeks =$4,160 x 30 chefs) x (1 year) $124,800
Community chefs are part time staff members who are paid only after certification by Elijah’s
Promise Culinary School. They have an hourly wage of $10 and work 2 hours a day, 4 days of
the week, Monday through Thursday. They are estimated to work 51 weeks of the year, with 1-
week vacation/personal paid. There are to be 30 community chefs working during each fiscal
year. The position will require Spanish speaking workers.

Meal Delivery Team Workers

($10 x 12 hours = $120 x 52 weeks= $ 6,240 x 5 people) x 1 year= $31,200 $31,200

Meal delivery team workers are part-time workers who are responsible for delivering cooked
meals to designated freezer space for 2 hours Monday through Thursday and delivering weekly
boxes to clients every Friday for 4 hours. They have an hourly wage of $10 and work a total of
12 hours each week. They are estimated to work 51 weeks of the year, with 1-week
vacation/personal paid. There are to be 5 workers on the delivery team each fiscal year. The
position will require Spanish speaking workers.

Program Executive Director

($70,000 + 20% fringe + 10% overhead) x 1 year= $91,000 $91,000

Program executive director is head of the program. They are involved in the planning,
development, and the implementation of the program. Further responsibilities include initiating
and setting goals based on the program's strategic objectives, building relationships with key
stakeholders, planning and developing the organization's budget. This employee will earn a
yearly salary of $70,000, with 20% fringe benefits and 10% overhead costs.

Senior Director of Programs

($75,000 + 20% fringe + 10% overhead) x 1 year= $91,000 $97,500

Ensures that cross-functional members work as a team focused on the program's goals including
keeping the team accountable on critical deadlines, coordinating projects, planning the program's
metrics and monitoring the progress, managing relationships with stakeholders, and managing
the program's budget and tracking expenses. This employee will earn a yearly salary of $75,000,
with 20% fringe benefits and 10% overhead costs.

Senior Administrator
($40,000 + 28% fringe + 10% overhead) x 1 year= $55,200 $55,200

Supervises and oversees the daily operations of the administrative staff, interviews and hires
administrative staff members and manages volunteer programs. This employee will earn a yearly
salary of $40,000, with 28% fringe benefits and 10% overhead costs.
Administrative Assistant
($27,000 + 28% fringe + 10% overhead) x 1 year= $37,260 $57,210
($15,000 + 25% fringe+ 10% overhead) x 1 year= $19,950

The Administrative Assistants consist of two employees- one part-time and one full-time. The
full-time assistant will work 40 hours a week and earn a salary of $27,000. Fringe benefits are
28%, while overhead costs are 10%. The part-time employee will work 15 hours per week with
an annual salary of $15,000. Fringe benefits are 23%, while overhead costs are 10%.

Enrollment and Screening Facilitator

($18 hourly x 30 hours x 2 weeks x 4 quarters) $4,320

The Enrollment and Screening Facilitator is a part-time worker who will perform brief health
screenings to assess client health and lifestyle before enrollment. The facilitator will work for 2
weeks each quarter to overlook the screening and assess the results for the incoming clients.
They will have an hourly wage of $18 and work 30 hours per week.

Program Facilitator: Delivery and Assembly

($15,000 + 23% fringe+ 10% overhead) x (1 year) $19,950

The Delivery and Assembly Facilitator will be responsible for overseeing the delivery team in
assembly and delivery of weekly meals and boxes. This employee will work 15 hours per week
with an annual salary of $15,000. Fringe benefits are 23%, while overhead costs are 10%.

Partnerships and Donations Facilitator

($18,000 + 28% fringe+ 10% overhead) x (1 year) $24,840

The Partnership and Donation Facilitator is a part-time employee responsible for ensuring that all
partnerships and donations are being properly managed. This person will work 18 hours per
week with an annual salary of $18,000. Fringe benefits are 28%, while overhead costs are 10%.

Recipe Leader Facilitator

($35,000 + 28% fringe+ 10% overhead) x (1 year) $48,300

The Recipe Leader Facilitator is a part-time employee responsible for training the two recipe
leaders in putting together meal ideas, and overseeing the nutrition and balance of each weekly
box. The position requires a Bachelor’s Degree in Nutrition, Food Science, or a related area and
completion of Elijah’s Promise Culinary School. This person will work 30-35 hours per week
with an annual salary of $35,000. Fringe benefits are 28%, while overhead costs are 10%.

Client Outreach Coordinator

($18,000 + 28% fringe+ 10% overhead) x (1 year) $24,840

The Client Outreach Coordinator is a part-time worker who is responsible for overseeing the
recruitment of clients and creating outreach through partnerships, the internet, and other
marketing techniques. This coordinator will work 18 hours per week with an annual salary of
$18,000. Fringe benefits are 28%, while overhead costs are 10%.
Personnel Subtotal $579,160

Building/Transportation
Elijah’s Promise Commercial Kitchen Space
($20 x 4 x 3 = $240 x 52 =$12,480) x (1 year) $12,480
Elijah’s Promise Commercial Kitchen Space is able to be rented for $20 per hour. The kitchen
will need to be rented 4 days a week for 3 hours a day. This will occur every week for the fiscal
year. Meal preparation will take place for 2 hours each day, and 1 hour will be left for
sanitization.

Delivery Van Rental

($19 x 5 days x 5 vans = $475 x 52 weeks =$24,700) x (1 year) $24,700
Delivery vans will be rented through kayak.com for a daily rate of $19. These vans will be
driven by delivery team members and will be rented 5 days of the week. Monday through
Thursday they will be rented to bring meals to the freezer storage, and Fridays they will be used
to deliver weekly boxes to clients. There will be 5 vans rented weekly for the 5 delivery team
members to operate. The vans will be rented all 52 weeks of the fiscal year. Gas money will be
purchased using client expenses, and will not be included in the budget.
Building/Transportation Subtotal $37,180

Materials

Whirlpool - 14.8 Cu. Ft. Chest Freezer – White

($510) $510

The Whirlpool 14.8 cubic foot chest freezer will be a one-time purchase from Best Buy. This
freezer will be stationed at Lazos America Unida to store the frozen meals weekly.

BLACK+DECKER Family-Sized Electric Griddles $1,000

($20 x 50 clients) = $1,000

Upon approval for the program, new clients will receive a 200 square inch electric griddle,
purchased from target.com. This hot plate will only be given once to each client to provide
means for cooking their meals. The program is not responsible for damage or replacement of the
hot plate.

Plastic Tupperware Containers

($1 x 5 containers x 10 clients) x (5 (expected growth) = $250 $250
Plastic Tupperware containers will be used to contain frozen meals each client. There will be 5
containers per client, costing $1 each at time of purchase. The start of the program includes 10
clients, and then is estimated to extend to 50 clients by the end of the fiscal year.
Recipe Cards
($0.25 x 50 clients x 13 weeks) = ($162.50 x 4) = $650 $650

Recipe cards will be designed then ordered from Shutterfly beginning of each quarter. Each card
will cost 25 cents, and each of the 50 clients will receive one card in their weekly box. These
cards will be provided for all 52 weeks of the fiscal year.

Physician Beam Scale with Height Rod

($175) $175

A Physician Beam Scale with Height Rod will be ordered from Global Industry for a one-time
payment of $175. This scale will allow the Enrollment and Screening Facilitator to accurately
measure the height and weight of clients during the screening process.

Cardboard boxes $0

These boxes will be provided by Shoprite through donations.

Materials Subtotal $2585

Groceries
Perishable Meal Ingredients (Not Donated)
($5 per meal x 5 weekly meals= $25 x 50 clients x 52 weeks) = $65,000 $65,000

The maximum amount to spend for non-perishable ingredients for each meal is $5. There are 5
meals prepared for each client weekly, and 50 forecasted clients. These meals are provided all 52
weeks of the fiscal year.

Non-Perishable Meal Staple Ingredients

($112 rice) + ($32 seasonings) + ($40 breadcrumbs) + ($13.50 flour) =$197.50 $197.50

Non-perishable items will be purchased at the beginning of each fiscal year to use for meals.
Purchased will be 200 pounds of rice for approximately $112, 10 pounds of seasoning for
approximately $32, 50 pounds of breadcrumbs for approximately $40, and 36 pounds of flour for
approximately $13.50. Supplies will be replenished as they run out using funds from client
expenses.

Grocery Subtotal
$65,197.50
Certifications

ServSafe Certifications
($150 per person x 30 chefs) =$4,500 $4,500

Each Community Chef will be required to complete the Elijah’s Promise ServSafe course and
exam. ServSafe certification is required to work in the rented kitchen space. Each of the 30 chefs
will complete this certification in the first year.

Elijah’s Promise Culinary School

($4815 tuition x 1 worker) = $4,815 $4,815

The Recipe Leader Facilitator will be required to attend Elijah’s Promise Culinary School in
order to properly put together meals and increase the quality of the program. The tuition for this
program is a one-time payment of $4,815.

Certification Subtotal $9315

Total One Year Request $693,437.50

Resources

Wallace SP, Torres J, Sadegh-Nobari T, Pourat N. Undocumented and Uninsured: Barriers

 to Affordable Care for Immigrant Population. Published online September 5, 2013

“New Brunswick Tomorrow Establishes New Brunswick Community Response Fund.” Welcome to City
of New Brunswick, New Jersey, www.cityofnewbrunswick.org/news_detail_T10_R545.php.