In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a Food is Medicine movement is growing as community leaders connect food, nutrition, and health.
An estimated 15 percent of households in the city experience food insecurity, according to Feeding America. And the Philadelphia Department of Public Health reports that unhealthy food stores outnumber healthy options by ten to one.
Across the city, organizations are tackling these challenges, providing medically tailored meals, operating choice-based food pantries, and helping families afford nutritious groceries. Together, their work demonstrates how community-led solutions can address hunger while supporting health and well-being.
On October 27, the Food First Health Summit Philadelphia will bring together policymakers, health experts, farmers, food system innovators, and advocates to discuss these solutions and the future of Food is Medicine. Hosted by Food Tank, FareRX, AmeriHealth Caritas, and Temple University, the event will feature conversations and interactive breakout sessions exploring how Philadelphia and communities across the country can expand access to healthy food. Join us in person by registering here or tune in online by clicking here.
Ahead of the Summit, Food Tank is highlighting 13 organizations working to advance food and nutrition security across Philadelphia.
1. Bebashi — Transition To Hope
Since 1985 Bebashi — Transition To Hope has served as a full-service healthcare organization serving low-income individuals to improve their wellbeing. The organization runs the Food First Pantry, offering produce, meats, and nonperishable foods. Modeled after a grocery store, the pantry centers client-choice, allowing people to select the foods they need and want.
Caring for Friends is tackling both hunger and loneliness in the Philadelphia region. They provide food and friendship to seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities, by delivering a week’s worth of meals and visiting with clients. In their Caring Kitchen, they prepare sandwiches, soups, and snack bags for people facing homelessness.
3. FarmerJawn
This 128-acre farm wants to build a model of regenerative food production that’s built by and for underserved communities. Through storefronts, they provide access to fresh food grown without harmful chemicals. Their CornerJawn model of corner stores is designed to make healthy foods more accessible. “I want to make sure that nobody feels like nutrient density is above them,” Christa Barfield, FarmerJawn’s Founder, tells Food Tank. They also offer on-farm and in-school educational programming to help students and adults understand how and where their food comes from.
For two decades, Feast of Justice has been committed to ensuring that the Northeast Philadelphia community has access to nutritious food and other household goods. The volunteer-run food pantry operates two locations where families and individuals can pick up fresh produce, dairy, meat, baked and dry goods, and home essentials. Last year, they served close to 11,000 neighbors.
5. Food Connect
Food Connect works alongside local partners to deliver nutritious and culturally relevant foods in five regions across the United States, including the Greater Philadelphia area. Through a partnership with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, they offer home delivery for a Food as Medicine program to support patient health. They also work with Sharing Excess (also highlighted below), providing the transportation and delivery logistics that move surplus produce from the nonprofit’s warehouse to schools across the city.
6. MANNA
MANNA believes that healing starts with food. By providing medically tailored meals and nutrition education, they empower people facing serious illness to improve their health and quality of life. Thanks to their work, MANNA’s clients see reduced hospital visits, shorter stays, and an increased likelihood that they will be released to their homes instead of a long-term care facility. The organization is also part of the Food is Medicine Coalition, a national network advancing the Food is Medicine Movement.
Feeding America member Philabundance is combining short- and long-term solutions to curb hunger today and ultimately end it for good. They serve nine counties across Southeastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey and work with over 300 community partners to distribute food to those in need. They also run initiatives to reduce food waste, increase access to nutritious meals, and support workforce development.
8. Philadelphia Food as Medicine Coalition
The Philadelphia Food as Medicine Coalition is a new coalition working at the intersection of food and health in Philadelphia. A growing network of advocates, food businesses, practitioners, they welcome community leaders to join them and help scale Food is Medicine solutions. The Food First Health Summit on October 27 represents the Coalition’s first convening, where the people and organizations taking part will help shape what it becomes.
In 1986, Share Food Program started as a food co-op, offering low-cost items to the Philadelphia community. Today, they are one of the leading hunger relief organizations in the region and one of the largest independent food banks in the nation. Their Senior Food Box Program delivers a monthly box of groceries to qualifying seniors. The Philly Food Rescue project focuses on food recovery and donations. And at Nice Roots Farms, they grow fresh produce that they distribute to the community, pantry partners, and mutual aid networks.
10. Sharing Excess
When Evan Ehlers was a student at Drexel University in 2016, he began using his extra meal swipes to buy and give away meals in Philadelphia. The decision helped him realize that hunger wasn’t a problem of supply, but one of access. Two years later, he started Sharing Excess to overcome the barriers that keep perfectly good food from reaching people who need it most. Since the organization’s founding, they have rescued and redistributed more than 317 million pounds of food.
11. St. Christopher’s Foundation for Children Philadelphia
St. Christopher’s Foundation for Children was founded to support the health and well-being of young people served by the St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children. Their Farm to Families program helps families access low-cost, high-quality fresh fruits and vegetables. They also run My Family Kitchen, an eight-week program where elementary- and middle-school-aged children learn how to prepare simple, healthy, and affordable meals.
12. The Food Trust
The Food Trust takes a holistic approach to nutrition security to ensure everyone can access healthy, delicious food. The organization runs several programs to including the Healthy Corner Store Initiative, where they help small, independently owned grocery stores increase their offerings of fresh produce and other healthy items. And their Nutrition Incentives program helps to stretch eaters’ dollars to make nutritious foods more accessible and affordable.
13. The People’s Kitchen Philadelphia
Launched at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, The People’s Kitchen is a collaborative of chefs, students, and community members fighting for food sovereignty in Philadelphia. They help build a people-centered, inclusive model and relationship to food as they tackle systemic issues of poverty and hunger in the city. Today, they combine free nutritious meals, gardening, and food education to empower and transform communities.
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Photo courtesy of Tomas Martinez, Unsplash
