Hunger to Health Collaboratory Announces 2024 $100,000 ‘Prizes for Innovation’ Winners

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 16, 2024

Contact: Nicolene Hengen, Executive Director, Hunger to Health Collaboratory
617-599-2889, info@h2hcollaboratory.org

Hunger to Health Collaboratory Announces 2024 $100,000 Prize for Innovation Winners: StreetCred and The Giving Grove

In 2023, the Hunger to Health Collaboratory (H2HC) established its national Prizes for Innovation with a five-year, $1 million commitment. The Prizes celebrate innovative, systemic work in food and nutrition that advances health equity in the U.S. This year’s winners of H2HC’s two $100,000 prizes are StreetCred and The Giving Grove.

StreetCred (www.mystreetcred.org), based at Boston Medical Center (BMC), was launched in 2016 to help families build nutrition security through enhanced economic security. Pediatric care, which includes seven well-child visits in a baby’s first year, is the single largest catchment area within medical care, reaching 90% of children nationwide every year. Redesigning pediatric care to include support for a family’s economic well-being has significant potential to break down barriers and improve health equity.

StreetCred offers families comprehensive financial coaching, helps them access proven asset-building services like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) benefits, and provides free assistance with tax preparation and paid family leave applications. Data show that although these economic tools are associated with better health for both parents and children, they are complicated to navigate and chronically underused. To overcome this burden, StreetCred financial navigators meet with families throughout a baby’s first year of life with the opportunity to continue services as the child grows.

StreetCred is the founding member of the Health by Wealth Collective, a coalition of health systems in 10 states that is working to integrate economic mobility services into medical settings by sharing best practices and technical support. Since 2016, Health by Wealth Collective organizations have returned more than $16.8 million to 7,700 families.

The Giving Grove (www.givinggrove.org), established in 2013, is a national network that supports community-based partners in planting and caring for fruit trees, nut trees, and berry brambles that:

• improve urban environments,
• increase the tree canopy, and
• provide sustainable sources of free, organically grown food in neighborhoods facing high rates of food insecurity.

The Giving Grove partners with existing community gardens, urban agriculture programs, and tree canopy organizations in an aligned network of orcharding programs that enables The Giving Grove to leverage partners’ existing networks, expertise, equipment, and local funding. Leveraging community strengths and building connections from within leads to stronger program foundations, investments, and results. This approach also ensures that the orchards will remain viable, high yielding, and well supported throughout their lifespans. Giving Grove orchards are often part of schools, faith communities, and service organizations, and the program brings community members together in a way that increases civic engagement and promotes community leadership and investment.

The Giving Grove network now has more than 620 orchards across the U.S. growing more than 4 million servings of free, fresh food annually with the lifetime potential to grow more than 88 million servings while re-invigorating urban green spaces from coast to coast. The Giving Grove is working to create a 20-city network by 2026 to support highly populated urban neighborhoods facing food insecurity. This network will impact 15% of all food-insecure Americans and create sustainable, local food systems that provide free produce to neighborhoods with historically limited access to fresh foods.

Along with 2023 Prize recipients Recipe4Health of Alameda County and DC Central Kitchen, the Hunger to Health Collaboratory welcomes Street Cred and The Giving Grove to our national learning community.

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Prize winners will be introduced at the H2HC Fall Summit: Accelerating Solutions, on November 21, 2024, at The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Event details and registration can be found at: bit.ly/H2HC2024.

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Founded in 2018, the Hunger to Health Collaboratory (H2HC) catalyzes integrated solutions to food, nutrition, and health inequities by engaging cross-sector thought leaders, uplifting innovative models, and educating stakeholders, all through a focus on the social drivers of health.

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Please visit h2hcollaboratory.org and LinkedIn for more information.