The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have partnered to coordinate and administer the NEHA-FDA Retail Flexible Funding Model (RFFM) Mentorship Program as part of an ongoing effort to increase the use of FDA’s Retail Program Standards by retail food regulatory programs. Retail food regulatory programs supported by the mentorship program receive peer-to-peer assistance and intensive technical support to advance the practice of the Standards among state, local, territorial, and tribal (SLTT) regulatory jurisdictions. Through the mentorship program, participating jurisdictions benefit from the experience of their peers in understanding how to best apply the Retail Program Standards to improve their retail food protection program.
Participating jurisdictions also gain insight on how to best accomplish key Retail Program Standards milestones, such as completing self-assessments, developing improvement plans, and conducting verification audits. The program began in 2012 with nine local health departments and has now grown to include 103 SLTT jurisdictions.