Food as Medicine

Nutrition is essential to supporting the wellbeing of our families and communities; and to the treatment and management of diseases.  In our work as food systems changemakers, we believe that no one should have to face the dual crises of diet-related illness and hunger. 

Our current food system is a major contributor to poor public health, rising healthcare costs, nutrition insecurity that disproportionately affects communities of color, and an emergency food assistance system based on caloric return on investment rather than nutrition-driven hunger relief.  We believe a strong connection must be made between the food we consume and the  farmers that grow our food, valuing the quality of nutrition long before it reaches our plates.

Future Food as Medicine Initiatives:

Our future initiatives include:

• Expansion of and improved access to the SNAP and WIC programs, especially matching funds that support doubling the purchasing power for customers using federal food assistance dollars at their local farmers market

• Creating and expanding Farm to School initiatives to improve nutrition access and education for children through local food, especially when produced with regenerative agriculture

• Developing ProduceRX programs that use prescriptions to improve the affordability of healthy food and value food as a powerful medicine to fight disease 

• Prioritizing locally-sourced food in food security work in NW indiana

• Supporting regenerative agriculture to produce not only the most nutrient dense foods, but also to support the resilience of local communities and the wellbeing of our environment–all intertwined factors that contribute to our public health.