Rachel Chadderdon

Rachel Chadderdon manages the Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB) project for Fair Food Network. She works with market managers, vendors, and community partners to implement the SNAP matching project at participating markets. She also helps new markets around Michigan join the DUFB project, and oversees evaluation of results, so that as families and farmers benefit from Double Up Food Bucks, knowledge about the project can help improve federal food assistance policies.

Rachel is a recent graduate of the University of Michigan, where she earned a Master of Public Health degree in health behavior and health education, as well as a Master of Science in natural resources. Her coursework focused on the health and environmental benefits of building sustainable local food systems, and her thesis research examined alternative funding strategies for nonprofit urban gardening organizations. In 2008, she managed the Downtown Ypsilanti Farmers Market, the third market in Michigan to begin accepting electronic SNAP benefits. No matter where she is, she would almost always rather be at a farmers market.

A native of Kalamazoo, Rachel’s earliest memories involve crawling in her family’s vegetable garden, planting pea seeds and eating fresh-picked asparagus, and she wants to help create a food system that allows everyone—especially children—to have access to real, good food.