History
Since its founding in 2018, the Hunger to Health Collaboratory (H2HC) has evolved from a Boston-based collaborative into a national nonprofit organization that identifies, invests in, and amplifies innovative solutions advancing food, nutrition, and health equity.
H2HC was founded by leaders from Stop & Shop and The Greater Boston Food Bank to bring together healthcare, philanthropy, business, government, academia, and community organizations around a shared goal: addressing the root causes of hunger to improve health. Early work included supporting groundbreaking research that quantified, for the first time, the healthcare-related costs of food insecurity at the state level: $2.4 Billion: The Avoidable Cost of Food Insecurity and Hunger in Massachusetts.
H2HC brought together healthcare leaders, policymakers, businesses, and community organizations to explore how the healthcare sector could play a greater role in addressing food insecurity. H2HC convened Mobilizing Healthcare for a Hunger-Free Massachusetts with Congressman James McGovern and UMass Chan Medical School President and CEO Dr. Eric Dickson. This was followed by the first Hunger to Health Summit, Acting Together to Address Food Insecurity, which brought together regional and national leaders.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought the connections between food, health, and economic stability into sharper focus. H2HC supported its network in responding to the pandemic while creating opportunities for leaders to share lessons and consider more sustainable and integrated food and health systems. Through virtual events, H2HC brought together stakeholders to examine how the pandemic exposed and exacerbated longstanding inequities.
With H2HC support, statewide research in Massachusetts and Connecticut examined food access, the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and generated new evidence based on the experiences of more than 4,000 residents. With the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, H2HC explored the economic and health impacts of food insecurity and the role of the business community as changemaker. H2HC also supported a Children’s HealthWatch economic mobility pilot designed to help low-wage families move toward greater stability.
In July 2021, H2HC hired its first Executive Director, strengthening its organizational foundation and positioning the Collaboratory for its next phase of growth.
As a member of the National Task Force that helped shape the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, H2HC contributed to the recommendations that guided the national strategy to end hunger and reduce diet-related disease. H2HC also expanded its leadership structure, strengthened national partnerships, and continued to convene leaders around promising solutions.
Recognizing that communities across the country were developing effective, locally driven solutions, H2HC launched its national Prizes for Innovation. The inaugural $100,000 prizes recognized organizations demonstrating upstream approaches to advancing food, nutrition, and health equity.
The White House recognized H2HC’s commitment to invest $1M in its Prizes for Innovation to support the national Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities. H2HC also expanded its national convenings and recognized a second cohort of winners advancing systemic change.
Through a collaboration with Newman’s Own Foundation, H2HC expanded its Prize program to include organizations advancing health equity for young people through food and nutrition policy work, a focus on nutrition education and school food, and Indigenous food justice. More than 100 participants from 17 states gathered at the annual H2HC Summit to share innovative models and strengthen partnerships across sectors.
In 2026, H2HC joined a $1.4M prize-making collaboration, the Food Justice for Kids Prize, with Newman’s Own Foundation, Humanitix, and The Henry P. Kendall Foundation.
H2HC continues its work to discover, elevate, and accelerate creative solutions that address food, nutrition, and health equity challenges across the U.S.
