Refugee Collective tells Public Health Commission it has delivered 78,000 pounds of culturally preferred food since 2022
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Summary
Refugee Collective staff told the Austin-Travis County Public Health Commission their farm and community-farmer programs have delivered 78,000 pounds of food to refugee households since 2022, supported by ARPA and a federal Office of Refugee Resettlement grant and evaluated with UT School of Public Health.
Matt Saino, farm director for the Refugee Collective, and Sarah Sims, program manager for the organization’s Community Farmer Program, presented to the Austin-Travis County Public Health Commission about the group’s food-access work and livelihood programming for recently arrived refugees.
The presentation focused on the Collective’s mix of regenerative agriculture, culturally tailored community-supported agriculture (CSA) shares and workforce-development programs. "We're here to talk about the Refugee Collective's food access initiatives and how that contributes to refugee health," Saino said as he opened the presentation.
Why it matters: Commissioners heard that refugee households participating in the Collective’s programs face higher rates of food insecurity and that tailoring food distribution to cultural preferences can improve usage and health. The presenters said the program combines direct food deliveries with training and employment to support both nutrition and economic stability among newly arrived families.
Saino described the Refugee Collective as a nonprofit founded in 2009 that operates a certified-organic farm near Elgin (near the town of Manor) and a textile studio in downtown Austin. The farm employs eight year-round refugee team members and four seasonal workers; the textile studio employs four seamstresses. The Collective also provides paid English classes and transportation to the farm for participants who lack reliable public transit.
The group highlighted two program strands: culturally desired CSA shares for refugee households and a Community Farmer Program, a six-module curriculum that teaches regenerative-agriculture methods to recently arrived refugee farmers who then grow food for their families and may sell surplus through wholesale partners. Sims said the approach centers refugees in design and delivery: the food is grown by and for the communities it serves.
Presenters said ARPA funding routed through Travis County in 2022 helped the Collective scale culturally tailored CSA deliveries and partnerships with local resettlement agencies, Austin Independent School District, Foundation Communities and the Center for Survivors of Torture. Saino said the program later received a federal grant through the Office of Refugee Resettlement (the Refugee Agricultural Partnership program), which now funds some of the activities. "It's a federal grant through Office of Refugee Resettlement," Saino said.
The Collective also works with the UT School of Public Health on program evaluation. Saino summarized evaluation findings the presenters shared with commissioners: among Community Farmer Program participants the food-insecurity rate was about 21 percent, compared with an overall Austin food-insecurity estimate the presenters cited at roughly 16 percent, underscoring higher need among refugee households. "One of the main things we found... is that in our community farmer population, the food insecurity rate was around 21 percent," Saino told the commission.
On scale and value, Saino said the organization has delivered about 78,000 pounds of food since 2022. When asked to estimate a dollar value, he said wholesale crops generally sell for about $2 to $2.50 per pound, giving a rough wholesale equivalent near $150,000; he also noted that an individual culturally desired CSA share typically sells for about $35 for a 7–9 item box. "So around $150,000 I would say," Saino said when asked to translate pounds to dollars.
Commissioners asked about the practical effects of recent funding cuts to refugee-serving agencies. Saino and Sims said their program itself had received extensions and remained funded, but recruitment suffered because resettlement partners had fewer case managers and less discretionary capacity to refer people into second-stage programs like the Collective’s. Sims said that reduction in referral capacity has been one of the clearest effects of budget pressure on their intake pipeline.
Commissioners also asked about public-health effects of maintaining traditional diets and whether the Collective had considered urban or rooftop farming. Saino said the organization had not prioritized green roofs but was open to exploring urban food-production innovations as land becomes scarcer.
The presenters invited commissioners to volunteer days and public events at the farm; the commission thanked them and the chair said the commission would continue the conversation under its goals and food-access work. The presentation materials and the UT evaluation report were offered to be circulated with the meeting slides.
What’s next: Commissioners signaled interest in continued collaboration — including possible city-level incentives and inclusion in the commission’s FY2026 goals — and staff said they would circulate the materials and follow up by email with presenters for additional questions.
