Rebranding UC's Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program

In order to lift stigma and to capture the essence of healthy eating, the Food Stamp program was renamed "CalFresh" in California last fall. Now UC, which operates a Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program (FSNEP) in 35 California counties, is considering how its program should be renamed to match the new brand, according to a Fast Company expert blogger.

Writer Lauren Sutton served on a panel at a CalFresh forum last month with UC FSNEP director David Ginsburg. Sutten wrote that a lot of effort went into making sure that the new program name appealed to the target audience (people who use Food Stamp benefits) and that the name was in line with other California state programs like CalPERS, CalTrain and CalJOBS.

At the forum, Ginsburg shared the results of a survey conducted to gauge acceptance of possible new names for FSNEP. The top 10 contenders are:

1. UC-CalFresh Nutrition Education
2. UC-Nutrition Education Program
3. UC-CalFresh
4. UC-CalFresh Nutrition Education Program (Logo option 1)
5. CalFresh Nutrition Education Program
6. UC-CalFresh Nutrition Education Program (Logo option 2)
7. UC-SNAP Ed.
8. UC-FIT (Food and Interactive Teachings for a Healthy Life)
9. UCCE Nutrition
10. UC-FUN (Families Understanding Nutrition)

Another option, Ginsburg said, is using "UC CalFresh" with the tag line "Growing Healthy Families."

"That would allow us to link to California’s CalFresh and also can build off of California’s agriculture," Ginsburg said.