2024 Reflections: Putting Good Food on the Table
As the year comes to an end, we’re reflecting on our team’s hard work to put good food on the table for thousands of families across the country. Though we’ve made great progress, food insecurity rates continue to rise. According to the USDA, in 2023 an additional 3.2 million people lived in households experiencing hunger compared to the previous year — bringing the total to 47.4 million people or 1 in every 7 American households.
These numbers are startling, but PHA is committed to improving the lives of all families through our programs and partnerships.
Providing 5 Million Servings of Produce to Families
In 2024, we launched Good Food at Home programs in nine cities: Denver, Englewood, NJ, Milwaukee, Washington D.C., Chicago, New Orleans, Wichita, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Good Food at Home is our signature program which helps families experiencing food insecurity build healthy habits of fruit and vegetable consumption. In partnership with Instacart, we provided over 2,750 families with a monthly Fresh Funds stipend and a complimentary Instacart+ membership to buy fruits and vegetables and get them delivered right to their door.
Survey results found that the program helped participants significantly increase their fruit and vegetable consumption and adopt lasting healthy habits.
Since launching our partnership with Instacart in 2022, we’ve provided over 5 million servings of produce to underserved families, and we’re committed to providing 5 million more by 2025.
Scaling Good Food: Doubling Produce Consumption in 15 Cities
Providing families with access to produce in the short-term is important, but we know it’s not enough.
Food insecurity is a systemic issue and to get to the root of it, cities must reevaluate their food policies and practices to ensure everyone has easy and affordable access to good food. That’s what Good Food Cities is all about.
Good Food Cities is a collective impact model with the ambitious vision to double produce consumption in 15 cities by 2030. In partnership with the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) and supported by Novo Nordisk, PHA is uniting the public, private, charitable, and philanthropic sectors in cities across the country to enhance and expand nutrition security by increasing the supply, access, and marketing of fruits & vegetables.
In the first three Good Food Cities － Denver, Indianapolis, and Chicago － PHA is already:
- Securing agreements with anchor partners and aligning on shared goals
- Joining industry associations to support our programming and develop new private sector commitments
- Developing new opportunities for our private sector commitments by joining industry associations that will support our programming
- Improving the healthfulness of products by working with companies like Happy Family and Nurture Life to make changes at scale
- Connecting hundreds of families with fresh produce through our Good Food at Home program
- Tracking baseline data and making it publicly accessible through a dashboard on our website
- Planning for the launch of a public awareness campaign in 2025
Our progress doesn’t end there. We’ve also already developed an expansion plan for the next five years to ensure that every family, in every zip code, has access to affordable, good food in the long-term.
Supporting Families and Farmers in the Mississippi Delta
Some of the richest soil in the U.S. can be found in the Mississippi Delta. Over 30% of the state is farmland. Yet, the Delta has one of the highest rates of food insecurity in the country.
To help address this issue, PHA is working on several initiatives in the Delta, including:
- Supporting the remodel and reopening of J’s Grocery, a corner store in Clarksdale, MS, to integrate fresh, affordable, local food in the community
- Providing grants directly to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) farmers to help rebuild a strong, local economy
- Working with local farm cooperatives and aggregators to source and distribute local produce to families in need of good food
- Fostering cultural connections to food, land, and heritage through community partnerships, events, and storytelling initiatives in partnership with Rootswell
Our work in the Delta is part of our effort to build a nationwide Good Food Movement and will inform how we work with other communities around the country to create custom, place-based programs that fit their unique needs.
Creating a Generation of Veggie Lovers
To create a healthier America, we need to raise healthier kids. That’s why Veggies Early and Often is raising a generation of veggie lovers.
Currently, only 10% of children consume the daily recommended amounts of vegetables. PHA is changing that by bringing together early childhood educators, medical professionals, industry partners and caregivers to increase and sustain consumption of vegetables among young children.
Earlier this year, PHA launched its first Veggies Early and Often Influencer Campaign, partnering with four kid-feeding experts to inspire families to introduce veggies early and often to their little ones. These trusted influencers created engaging content, including videos and infographics, to educate parents on the importance of vegetable consumption for young children. The campaign reached over 140,000 people and garnered 220,000 impressions across social media!
This collaborative effort aims to make it easier for parents to provide nutritious meals and snacks for their little ones and inform them on why it’s essential to overall health.
Looking Ahead to 2025
With food insecurity rates continuing to climb, we’re doubling down on our commitment to provide 100 million servings of fruits and vegetables to families in need of good food by 2025. So far, we’ve provided over 45 million servings towards that goal and counting!
If you would like to help us in our mission, please consider making a donation. From now until Tuesday, December 3, every $5 dollars donated helps provide 28 servings of produce to a family in need of good food, up to $50,000, thanks to a generous match by our Board!