Directory of Innovation

Alameda County Health Recipe4Health is an innovative model that integrates food-based interventions into healthcare settings 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. Through weekly produce prescription deliveries from BIPOC-led organic and regenerative farms and health coaching for patients, along with Food as Medicine training for healthcare staff, Alameda County Recipe4Health is creating sustained improvements in patient health and wellbeing.

The Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School (CHLPI) advocates for legal, regulatory, and policy reforms to improve the health of marginalized populations, with a focus on the needs of low-income people living with chronic illnesses and disabilities. CHLPI works with consumers, advocates, community-based organizations, health and social services professionals, food providers and producers, government officials, and others to expand access to high-quality health care and nutritious, affordable food; to reduce health disparities; to develop community advocacy capacity; and to promote more equitable and effective health care and food systems.

Resource Connect at Children’s Hospital Colorado is one of the few pediatric programs of its kind in the country to robustly address social drivers of health (SDOH) by connecting families in a clinical healthcare setting to the social services they need in an integrated cross-system support model. Primary care patients who screen positive for any social needs are paired with a community health navigator, who guides them to an onsite suite of CBO offices, which include services for nutrition and food access, public benefits, housing, education, workforce training, and legal services.

Community Care Cooperative (C3) is a non-profit Accountable Care Organization (ACO) governed by Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in Massachusetts. In 2016, leaders from 15 FQHCs throughout the state formed C3, the first organization of its kind. C3 leverages proven best practices and is the only ACO in the state founded and governed by FQHCs exclusively focused on advancing integrated and coordinated community-based care for MassHealth (Medicaid) members. With 17 current partner health centers and continued growth, C3's strategy is to unite FQHCs at scale to strengthen primary care, improve financial performance, and advance racial justice.

Community Servings is a leader in providing nutritious, scratch-made meals to chronically and critically ill individuals and their families. Since their founding in 1990, they have provided more than 13 million medically-tailored meals (MTMs) to clients across Massachusetts who are living with severe critical and chronic illnesses such as HIV, cancer, diabetes, and kidney disease. In addition to providing MTMs and nutrition counseling for clients, Community Servings also runs a successful culinary job training program for individuals facing high barriers to employment. In all of their programmatic work, Community Servings prioritize racial and economic justice and health equity.

Corbin Hill Food Project (CH) is a Harlem-based nonprofit working at the intersection of food access, justice, and sovereignty. For over a decade, CH’s mission has been connecting BIPOC growers upstate to communities in New York City. Their community-driven initiatives increase access to affordable, fresh produce while leveraging purchasing power to create economic opportunities for BIPOC growers and producers. Their work focuses on research, advocacy, community engagement, nutrition education, and food distribution.

DC Central Kitchen (DCCK) is a nonprofit and social enterprise that combats hunger and poverty through job training and job creation. Founded in 1989 as the nation’s first ‘community kitchen,’ 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 to the community. DCCK’s social ventures include serving scratch-cooked farm-to-school meals in DC schools, delivering fresh, affordable produce to corner stores in neighborhoods without supermarkets, and operating fast-casual cafes throughout the District of Columbia.

DC Greens advances health equity by building a just and resilient food system. Founded in 2009, they are a multiracial organization that focuses on creating cross-sector collaborations, advancing equitable, city-wide policy solutions, and working in solidarity with marginalized communities experiencing poverty and food insecurity. Their work includes community engagement, policy/advocacy, and running a successful produce prescription program and one-acre educational farm, all with the goal of transformational changes at the systems level.

New Hampshire Hunger Solutions (NHHS) is a statewide non-profit organization working to end food insecurity, improve equitable access to nutritious food, and address hunger’s root causes for all New Hampshire residents. NHHS focuses on four priority areas: 1) Engage in policy advocacy to close the gap between those eligible for and those enrolled in federal nutrition programs; 2) Work with schools and communities to increase participation in school meals; 3) Increase public awareness of the causes of and solutions to hunger in New Hampshire; and 4) Engage in coalition building among existing and emerging food access councils and coalitions.

Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) was created in 2010 in conjunction with Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! effort. A nonpartisan nonprofit organization led by some of the nation’s most respected health and childhood obesity experts, PHA brings together public, private, and nonprofit leaders to broker meaningful commitments and develop strategies to end childhood obesity. Their mission is to leverage the power of the private sector to transform the food landscape in pursuit of health equity. They work with unbiased third parties to monitor and publicly report on the progress their partners are making.

Patrick M. Magoon Institute for Healthy Communities serves as the hub for community-based initiatives at Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago, with a focus on improving social drivers of health. The Magoon Institute leads an innovative cross-hospital Pantry Partnership Model, in which Chicago-based hospitals each support at least one food pantry with the goals of building capacity, increasing fresh food availability, and expanding access to wraparound social services. The Magoon Institute also collaborates with community organizations to convene its Healthy Food Access Strategy Group, which implements upstream strategies to address health disparities, including screening and referrals for food insecurity, bolstering community efforts to strengthen food systems, advocating for supportive nutrition policy, and driving program implementation.

Reinvestment Partners is a nonprofit organization addressing poverty and social injustice in the areas of food, housing, community development, health, and financial services. Reinvestment Partner's nutrition security program, Eat Well Rx (eatwellrx.org), is a clinically integrated produce prescription program, contracted with managed care organizations (MCOs), in which patients with diet-related diseases receive a preloaded debit card with a monthly allotment to spend in fruits and vegetables. Other programs and services offered by Reinvestment Partners include: community development, HUD-certified housing counseling, healthy homes and lead safety services, taxpayer assistance, and research and advocacy.

Wello is a nonprofit organization based in Green Bay, WI, with the mission of co-creating upstream community-based solutions to advance health equity. Wello's Cultivating Community (CC) Healthy Food Access Program is a flexible, relationship-based initiative that supplements current centralized food insecurity channels with a nimble network of relationships that moves fresh local food to food insecure individuals through trusted, culturally-specific community channels including local resource centers serving BIPOC and immigrant clients. The model has been recognized at the state level as an effective, scalable strategy for increasing equity, dignity and health-affirming practices in hunger relief efforts. The model also prioritizes small, local farms in meeting the food needs of their community and supports environmental sustainability by reducing food miles.