Become a SuperShelf
Is your Minnesota food shelf
interested in SuperShelf?
We are so excited for your interest!
We would love to learn more about your food shelf so we can
better understand how to support you.
To begin the process, please submit an online
SuperShelf Transformation Interest Form.
Someone from our SuperShelf Leadership Team*
will be in touch with you within 30 days.
*Leadership Team partner organizations working together to review and respond to Interest Forms include The University of Minnesota, HealthPartners, Valley Outreach, The Food Group, Foundation for Essential Needs (FFEN), Community Action Center, and The MN Department of Human Services.
Our aim is for food shelf participants to access healthy, culturally
appropriate foods in the easiest and most dignified way possible.
Everything we do at SuperShelf, from our methods to our
standards, exists to ensure the best possible
experience for food shelf participants.
We look forward to working in collaboration with
you on these shared goals!
In the meantime, take the following steps using resources available on our website to help build critical foundations to prepare your food shelf for a SuperShelf transformation in the near future. Creating a welcoming environment with access to healthy, culturally appropriate foods is something that your organization can start on right away!
1. Review the SuperShelf Values and talk to your leadership team, staff, and volunteers about how these values align with the values of your organization. Incorporate SuperShelf values into your operations and practices wherever you can.
2. Take a deeper look at your sourcing and the SuperShelf Stocking Standards, and consider what items you may be missing or have a difficult time sourcing. This will include:
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Work with Foundation for Essential Needs (FFEN) who can support you with a robust Food Sourcing Analysis.
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Work with your food bank partners to help increase the items that clients want and need based on the SuperShelf stocking standards and the Food Sourcing Analysis.
3. Take a look at TEFAP resources around civil rights and equity.
4. Engage your clients in a survey. Surveying your clients helps you better understand their needs so you can create positive change in our hunger relief system. Information on the Minnesota Statewide Survey is available here. If you did not participate in 2019, You can use a blank version of the survey to collect feedback.
5. Join our mailing list. We periodically send out newsletters when new funding opportunities arise and new resources become available
Please note, you are welcome and encouraged to move forward
with SuperShelf transformational work with a SuperShelf consultant
at your own pace in 2020. However, we will not be offering the formal
SuperShelf Certification process until after fall 2020.
FAQ
Is submitting an Interest Form an application process?
No, unlike the NIH evaluation study, this process is not an application. When a food shelf submits an interest form, someone from our SuperShelf Leadership team will be in touch with next steps for you to take with a SuperShelf consultant or someone from our community partners team that will help provide guidance to move forward with SuperShelf related changes at your food shelf. Our intention is to work with all food shelves that submit an Interest Form.
How do I become a Certified SuperShelf?
Becoming a certified SuperShelf is a more in depth process than transformation and includes support from a lead SuperShelf consultant in addition to a local consultant. Due to this, we will not be certifying new SuperShelf sites while we complete the NIH evaluation. We will not be certifying any new sites until fall 2020. However, by filling out the interest form above, someone from our SuperShelf Leadership team will be in touch to move you forward with SuperShelf values and methods. Any food shelves undergoing transformations prior to fall 2020 will be eligible for Certification once we begin those again at the end of 2020.
Are you accepting Interest forms from food shelves outside of Minnesota?
No. Currently we are only working with food shelves in Minnesota. We do hope to expand across state lines in the future, so please stay tuned!
What about the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Evaluation?
Our NIH evaluation is underway in 16 food shelves across Minnesota. We expect results to be available in fall 2020. While the NIH evaluation is wrapping up, there are still great ways to engage with or start working towards SuperShelf now listed above! And more opportunities coming soon!