Good Food Cities: Healthy Eating Starts Here
The fight for food equity is a massive undertaking, yet Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) has provided over 35 million servings of fresh fruits and vegetables since 2020. How did we do it? We forged strong relationships with city governments, food producers, local food banks, grocery stores, and other food equity partners.
Now, we’re building on past success and setting a bold new goal: to double produce consumption in 15 U.S. cities by 2030.
In partnership with the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) and supported by Novo Nordisk, PHA is crafting the first-ever playbook for establishing Good Food Cities — cities where produce consumption is high and access is easy.
Turning Towns Into Good Food Cities
Working hand in hand with city leaders, we’re refining and enacting these critical aspects of our Good Food Cities strategy:
Proven Programming
We’re helping to create and implement policies and programs that are proven to increase access to and consumption of fruit and vegetables, such as our signature Good Food at Home program.
“We were able to increase our fruit and vegetable consumption by 50%.” – Good Food at Home Program Participant in Milwaukee, WI
Private Sector Partners
We engage with the private sector to enhance affordable access to fruits and vegetables at grocery stores, convenience stores, corner stores and bodegas, dollar stores, restaurants, and other places where people shop for food.
Good Food Awareness
PHA is developing and launching public awareness campaigns to help drive demand for fruits and vegetables and expand people’s knowledge about food’s impact on health.
Cultivating a Coalition
We’re always growing our coalition of cross-sector partners and experts because we know we can accomplish more together. By sharing what we’ve learned and revealing our best practices, we can pool our resources and help any city establish a good food foundation for its residents.
Progress to Date
We’ve already secured commitments from Indianapolis, Indiana, and Denver, Colorado. In these first two Good Food Cities, PHA is already:
✅ Tracking baseline data to inform our Good Food Cities strategies
✅ Engaging key city stakeholders in every step of our strategic planning
✅ Launching programming that connects families with fresh produce
✅ Ensuring successful programming by investing in high-priority infrastructure needs
✅ Holding regular convenings — including the first-ever Produce for All Leadership Summit in partnership with IFPA this June. Produce industry experts and leaders from the public and private health sectors will gather to share knowledge, innovation, and resources.
Throughout 2024, PHA will be recruiting even more cities to help realize the human right to nutritious food.
Together, we can make every city a Good Food City!
Want to see your city become the next Good Food City? We want to hear from you!