Capstone Project Fall 2022

Link Up Illinois and the Olde Schaumburg Centre Farmers Market

Evaluating the Cost Benefit Analysis of Implementing Sustainable Food Assistance Programs in Chicagoland


Haley Amundsen

Fresh Berries in Market Stall

Introduction

Welcome to my project!


This fall, I collaborated with my community partner, Martha Dooley, at the Village of Schaumburg in Illinois, to research and analyze the need for my community’s farmers’ market to participate in the Link Up Illinois program. Link Up Illinois is a food assistance program operated by Experimental Station in Chicago, IL that aims to provide sustainable and healthy foods to low-income Illinois residents by expanding its network of markets accepting SNAP payments with innovative EBT technology. The primary goal of my project was to create detailed deliverables that provide my local government with essential information and data, to be used now and in the future, as the Village Board considers implementation. These documents are intended to be treated as tools during the policy-making process, as my community partner requested. Below, you will find this information in great detail and how exactly Link Up Illinois will benefit the Schaumburg community as well as how this relates to sustainability, particularly regarding the challenge of food insecurity in Illinois.

My Capstone Project in Three Minutes

Black Twist Pen on Notebook

Literature Review