The Alliance for Health Equity Food Access and Food Security Workgroup has been very active the past few months. From April to August 2019 the workgroup has been meeting to discuss where healthcare and food access and food security organizations can coordinate and expand food access and food security programs. The workgroup has developed a draft action agenda for health care and food security/food action partners. Overarchingly, the action agenda focuses on collaboration and alignment with various organizations to strategically address food access and food insecurity in Cook County without duplicating efforts.
The action agenda has three main components:
Economic
The economic component focuses on building entrepreneurship for healthy food, supporting food-related minority-owned businesses (MBEs), and aligning with existing procurement strategies to support local food business.
Policy
The policy component concentrates on a shared policy agenda across food access/security and healthcare partners. The workgroup has discussed policy agenda items such as supporting public benefits systems, institutional policies that build capacity, reimbursement for food as medicine initiatives, and policies that incentivize local health food businesses.
Screen, Refer, Partner
The screen, refer, partner component focuses on building on screening and referral programs, healthcare partnerships with food access/security organizations, and community-driven solutions to increasing food access. The workgroup has developed core components and best practices for screening and referral for healthcare organizations. Additionally, the workgroup has developed core components and best practices for food access/security organizations and businesses to build their partnerships with healthcare organizations.
If you are interested in collaborating with the Alliance for Health Equity Food Access and Food Security Workgroup, please email Andi Goodall at Andi.Goodall@iphionline.org