Hunger to Health Collaboratory Announces Two Inaugural $100,000 ‘Prizes for Innovation’ Winners
October 31, 2023
Contact: Nicolene Hengen, Hunger to Health Collaboratory
617-599-2889
info@h2hcollaboratory.org
H2HC is Awarding its First Two Prizes to
Alameda County Recipe4Health and DC Central Kitchen
The Hunger to Health Collaboratory (H2HC) is an innovative national model that convenes cross-sector thought leaders to explore systemic solutions to food, nutrition, and health challenges with a focus on equity and the social drivers of health.
Following the historic 2022 White House Conference and Food, Nutrition, and Health, and to support the Biden-Harris Administration’s call to end hunger by 2030, H2HC has launched its inaugural Prizes for Innovation. The Prizes for Innovation identify and highlight creative, systemic efforts to address food and nutrition inequities and advance health equity in communities throughout the United States.
Alameda County Recipe4Health and DC Central Kitchen are the first two organizations to win the H2HC Prizes for Innovation.
Alameda County Recipe4Health (https://recipe4health.acgov.org/) is a nationally recognized, award-winning model that integrates food-based interventions into healthcare settings (Food as Medicine) to treat, prevent. and reverse chronic conditions; to address food and nutrition insecurity and other social determinants of health; and to improve health and racial equity. By sourcing the food from BIPOC organic and regenerative farmers, Recipe4Health leverages healthcare and agriculture to generate multipliers for human health, economic health, climate health, and equity.
“We are grateful to H2HC for highlighting models that are intentionally cross sectoral and systemic. Alameda County Recipe4Health brings together a variety of ingredients–Federally Qualified Health Centers, a local farm, County agencies, community-based health coaches, and a Medicaid Health plan–to prescribe patients nutritious organic and regenerative food and health coaching support.”
DC Central Kitchen (DCCK) (https://dccentralkitchen.org/) is an iconic nonprofit and social enterprise that combats hunger and poverty through job training and job creation. The organization provides hands-on culinary job training for individuals facing high barriers to employment while creating living wage jobs and bringing nutritious, dignified food where it is needed most – including public schools, neighborhood corner stores, and food-insecure communities throughout the city.
“DC Central Kitchen is honored to be selected for this prestigious and competitive national prize. This powerful investment from the Hunger to Health Collaboratory will allow DC Central Kitchen to welcome thought partners and practitioners from around the country to our brand-new, cutting-edge facility in Washington, DC, and provide in-depth, open-source insights from our array of workforce development and healthy food access programs. Over the next two years, we will engage in mutual learning with hundreds of mission-aligned partners and work to scale the power of nonprofits and social enterprises like us to make lasting change at the intersection of food, health, and economic inclusion.”
“In a time of increasingly convergent food and health challenges, the need for successful, upstream community-based models and solutions could not be clearer,” said H2HC Executive Director Nicolene Hengen. H2HC recognizes that transforming our national food and nutrition ecosystem requires models for change-making that are groundbreaking, scalable, and engage people at all levels of experience. H2HC seeks to identify and elevate programs that reach across established disciplines to catalyze new collaborations and pathways to address food and nutrition equity challenges through effective systems. H2HC plans to create a national learning community to widely share best practices and promising outcomes.
Prize recipients will be introduced at the H2HC Fall Summit on November 16, 2023, at WBUR CitySpace in Boston. See bit.ly/H2HC2023 for registration details.
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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 leaders, uplifting innovative models, and educating stakeholders, all through a focus on the social drivers of health.
H2HC Leadership Council members include Keurig Dr Pepper, Stop & Shop, and The Greater Boston Food Bank. Boston Medical Center is an Advisory Council member.
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Please visit https://h2hcollaboratory.org and LinkedIn for more information.