On behalf of the Food Workgroup of the Alliance for Health Equity and the Cook County Department of Public Health and the Chicago Department of Public Health, we are pleased to announce a Request for Applications (RFA) for the Hospital Food Access Partnerships Pilot initiative. The RFA is open to Alliance for Health Equity (AHE) member hospitals, and the intent of the hospital food access partnerships pilots is to advance hospital partnerships with both food pantries and local food businesses/producers/growers. Questions about the RFA can be submitted to foodaccessRFA@iphionline.org.
Link to RFA: Request for Applications Hospital Food Access Partnerships
The application deadline is Monday, October 7, 2019, 3:00pm Central Standard Time. (via email to foodaccessRFA@iphionline.org)
RFA timeline:
RFA for Hospital Food Access Partnerships Pilot released | September 24, 2019 |
Deadline for Hospital Food Access Partnerships Pilot applications | October 7, 2019 (3:00 p.m.) |
Hospital Food Access Partnerships Pilot sites selected | October 11, 2019 |
Notification of RWJF funding decision | December 1, 2019 |
Hospital Food Access Partnerships Pilot funding period | January 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021 |
Responses to Questions Received
Additional Information:
This RFA process is to select three hospital food access partnerships pilots* for inclusion in the Alliance for Health Equity’s submission to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) Cross Sector Innovation Initiative. While pilot sites will be identified in October, awards for the hospital food access partnership pilots are contingent upon funding from RWJF. Notification from the foundation is expected in December 2019, with funding for hospital pilots commencing in January 2020. Depending on the number of pilot applicants, IPHI and the AHE steering committee may seek additional funding to support additional pilot sites.
*A health system can apply to work with up to two hospitals within one pilot grant, if desired.
Each pilot grant is eligible for up to $20,000 to support pilot site activities and involvement in a learning cohort from January 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021. (A minimum of $10,000 of each pilot grant should be allocated to community partners as described in more detail in the RFA. Because funding under this RFA supports the development of food partnerships, applicants are not required to have identified partners at the time of application.)
The Hospital Food Access Partnerships Pilot is designed to implement components of the AHE food workgroup’s action agenda to systematically address food access and food insecurity in Chicago and Suburban Cook County. Hospitals selected under this RFA will co-create strategies with community food partners to achieve the following goals: (1) improve food access for patients who are food insecure, and (2) increase hospital purchasing of healthy foods from a local food business/producer/grower. Each Hospital Food Access Partnerships Pilot will consist of a collaboration between a hospital (or up to two hospitals within a system) and both a local food pantry and a local food business/producer/grower. As grantees, hospitals will:
- Identify and advance policies and procedures that can be improved to strengthen healthcare/food security/food access partnerships.
- Advance at least one food access/food security strategy for screening and referral to emergency food services.
- Establish (or strengthen) a relationship with at least one local food business/producer/grower and develop steps to establish a procurement connection, including exploration of the Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP).
- Collaborate with food partners to develop strategies, workflows, policies and procedures to achieve pilot goals.
- Participate in three meetings of a learning cohort