Work in Action

Shipt

In communities struggling with limited access to healthy food options, Shipt joins in to support 10 local retailers through the LadderUp program. As part of the LadderUp program, Shipt not only lends their retail experience, but also donated $5,000 in individual grants to the 10 retailers in areas designated as a food desert. In addition, the program has a focus on diversity and inclusion with 60 percent of the retail stores owned by individuals who identified as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and/or LGBTQIA+. Over the span of eight weeks, the retailers received training that aimed to increase their capabilities in key areas such as digital marketing, e-commerce and merchandising. The grant funds provided by Shipt were used toward staffing, website development, digital marketing and the e-commerce and delivery services to drive transformation in their community. In the end, 80 percent of the retailers said they would highly recommend the program to other small business owners to drive positive change.

More Work in Action

UTHealth Houston Partners with Brighter Bites to Evaluate Produce Prescription Strategy

As part of the White House commitment to Hunger, Nutrition and Health, UTHealth Houston and Brighter Bites non-profit organization, are partnering together to implement and evaluate the impact of a comprehensive produce prescription strategy consisting of access to fresh produce plus nutrition education for implementation among food-insecure children and their families through school-based health centers. There are more than 3,200 school-based health centers across 48 U.S. states with over 7 million children receiving primary care at these clinics. The initiative will start in Texas with partners such as Legacy Community Health, the largest Federally Qualified Health Center in Texas. With the national footprint of Brighter Bites, the produce prescription approach will be scaled so that it is available for implementation across school-based health centers nationwide.

Building A Successful Partnership Starts with a Shared Vision

Both NACDS and the Milken Institute’s Feeding Change (Feeding Change), shared a common vision to make Food Is Medicine easily accessible to all. Together, with NACDS’ expertise on pharmacies and Feeding Change’s expertise on food systems, the opportunity to explore how pharmacies could be leveraged to advance access to Food Is Medicine became a natural fit for collaboration.