Partnership for a Healthier America Releases Report to Advance Food Equity in America

May 18, 2022

Report defines Food Equity and identifies three pillars necessary to sustainably shift the food landscape to ensure every family, in every zip code, has access to good food

WASHINGTON, DC – Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), the premier national nonprofit organization working to create lasting, systemic changes that transform the food landscape in pursuit of health equity, released a report today that provides guidance on ways the private sector, public sector, and the charitable food system can build an equitable food system in America.

The report comes as PHA kicks off its virtual Food Equity Summit today at 1pm ET, where former First Lady and PHA Honorary Chair Michelle Obama, leaders in the nutrition space, and industry innovators will come together to identify solutions to create a more equitable food landscape.

“The United States has become a place where too many people can’t find healthy, affordable food,” said Nancy E. Roman, President and CEO of PHA. “We urgently need to come together around a shared vision for long-term, sustainable change, and that vision is based on Food Equity.”

In PHA’s “Defining Food Equity” report, the organization recognizes that factors like structural racism and neighborhood segregation, alongside barriers to access, affordability, and targeted food marketing work together to create a food landscape in which fruits, vegetables, and other nutritious foods are inaccessible and unaffordable for under-resourced communities and disproportionately impacts Black, Hispanic and Indigenous Americans. The report asserts that the health consequences of this inequity are serious with food insecure adults experiencing higher rates of diet-driven chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.

The report identifies three pillars necessary to support Food Equity - where every person, in every zip code in the United States has ready and affordable access to healthy, sustainable, nutritious, high-quality and culturally connected food.

1. A healthy food supply, in both public and private sectors, and through the charitable system.

2. Access to affordable, good food in all communities.

3. Awareness, knowledge and skills that empower people everywhere to select good foods and to quickly prepare them at home.

According to the report, only after these pillars are erect and stable will America have a strong foundation for Food Equity — allowing all people to choose and consume health-building food.

PHA recognizes that in order to achieve this goal, a wide range of policy, systems, and environmental change is needed.

The organization has launched a Food Equity movement in conjunction with the release of the paper at www.ahealthieramerica.org.

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ABOUT PARTNERSHIP FOR A HEALTHIER AMERICA

Partnership for a Healthier America is the premier national nonprofit organization working to create lasting, systemic changes that transform the food landscape in pursuit of health equity. PHA develops evidence-based approaches that are implemented in partnership with the private sector, nonprofits, and government, leveraging PHA’s assets and the partner’s knowledge to accelerate the pace of transformation.

Media Contact: Megan Orciari, morciari@ahealthieramerica.org