Note from the Executive Director | |
|
Dear friends,
As H2HC faces a new year of growth and change, I'm reflecting with gratitude on the exciting and significant ways in which we have moved forward over the past 12 months. From launching national innovation prizes, to learning more from Admiral Rachel Levine, to engaging with our growing national community of collaborators, H2HC is on the move.
-
In response to the Biden-Harris Administration’s national call to end hunger and reduce diet-related disease by 2030, last spring H2HC boldly committed $1M to our new national Prizes for Innovation. With more than 70 nominations from 22 states in our first year, we are looking forward to engaging in a new round of discovery in 2024.
-
We celebrated our first two $100,000 prize winners, Alameda County Recipe4Health and DC Central Kitchen, at our Fall 2023 Summit in Boston and look forward to working with them, and all of our collaborators, as we continue to build a national community for learning and sharing.
-
In her keynote at our Fall Summit, US Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Rachel Levine reminded us that, "We have to close gaps in support of human thriving by addressing socioeconomic disparities." Below you'll find more detail on the 2022 Federal Plan for Equitable Long-Term Recovery and Resilience, also called the 'People and Places Thriving' Initiative, that she described.
- And finally, I encourage you to read our summary report detailing July 2023 conversations at MGB headquarters that focused on state-based models of SDOH innovation (see below).
We look forward to collaborating with you in 2024.
Warmly,
| |
|
Nicolene Hengen
Executive Director
| |
H2HC Joins Health Resources in Action | |
|
In December 2023, The Hunger to Health Collaboratory joined Health Resources in Action (HRiA), a nationally recognized public health organization based in Boston. "I am excited about our new collaboration with H2HC and its important work to advance health equity, which is closely aligned with our mission and values. We look forward to exploring new strategic opportunities together as H2HC continues to evolve."
- HRiA President and CEO Steve Ridini
Please note H2HC's new contact information:
| |
H2HC Inaugural Prizes for Innovation | |
|
"We want to have a no-wrong-door policy, treat all patients with a health equity approach, and offer Recipe4Health to all of our providers and patients. So thank you for the opportunity, recognition, and resources to help us sustain and grow this work, and for the community that's forming here to do this work cross sectorally."
- Dr. Steven Chen, Chief Medical Officer, Alameda County Recipe4Health
| |
|
"This powerful investment from the Hunger to Health Collaboratory will allow DC Central Kitchen to welcome thought partners and practitioners … to our brand-new facility in Washington DC, and provide in-depth open source insights from an array of workforce development and healthy food access programs. Over the next two years, we will engage in mutual learning with hundreds of mission-aligned partners and work to scale the power of nonprofits and social enterprises like us to make lasting change at the intersection of food, food, health, and economic inclusion."
- Ja'Sent Brown, Chief Impact Officer, DC Central Kitchen
| |
|
Fall 2023 Summit:
Cross-Sector Approaches to Health Equity
| |
At the November H2HC convening focused on advancing food, nutrition, and health equity locally, regionally, and nationally, ~200 public and private sector stakeholders from 18+ states gathered or tuned in to the hybrid H2HC Fall Summit at WBUR CitySpace in Boston. | |
|
Admiral Rachel Levine, US Assistant Secretary for Health, offered national context in her live virtual keynote.
“In public health, we see the human consequences of housing insecurity, lack of transportation, nutrition insecurity, limited educational options, environmental injustices, and even political issues. We need to collectively understand our relationship to these issues and how our shared resources can help create enduring solutions.”
| | | |
|
Panelists from Amazon Access, Geisinger Health, Instacart, and Stop & Shop discussed corporate approaches to advancing health equity.
A second panel featuring experts from the Cambridge Community Foundation, Columbia University, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and the Worcester Community Action Counsel explored the role of basic income in advancing health equity.
Spotlight conversations featured leaders from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Innovation Center and the Health Equity Data Lab at the University of Notre Dame.
Throughout the day participants exchanged ideas and considered questions such as:
- What is the best way to shine a light on scalable models so that our work is collaborative and not duplicative?
- Can we create standard metrics to measure health equity, and how do we know when we've reached the "finish line"?
- How can we ensure basic income models are truly universal and avoid the exclusion of vulnerable groups?
- How do we make healthy food not only accessible, but the most affordable choice for consumers, while still creating return on investment?
| |
|
JULY 2023:
SDOH National Context and State-Based Models of Innovation
| |
|
In July 2023 at Mass General Brigham headquarters, speakers from private, public, academic, CBO, and healthcare organizations focused on incorporating food access and nutrition services into healthcare to support health equity.
The resulting report, Focus on the Social Drivers of Health: National Context and State-Based Models of Innovation, summarizes the cross-sector group’s best thinking and recommendations.
| |
|
“Going forward, I think innovation will be more of a team sport that includes your data scientists, your school nurses .... We need innovation in the development of infrastructure, in the creation of models that begin to define the dimensions of sustainability, and in being able to coalesce a research agenda that really helps us to reduce the cycle time in being able to demonstrate what works.”
- Sheila Hanley, Senior Advisor, Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services Innovation Center, HHS
| | | |
Federal Plan for Equitable Long-Term
Recovery and Resilience
| |
|
As mentioned by Admiral Rachel Levine at the H2HC Fall Summit, The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) released its 2022 Federal Plan for Equitable Long-Term Recovery and Resilience (ELTRR), which lays out a whole-of-government approach to strengthen resilience and improve wellbeing in communities nationwide.
Championed by the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health and ODPHP on behalf of more than 35 federal departments and agencies, the 10-year plan addresses our nation's deep disparities in health, wellbeing, and economic opportunity.
The plan is built on Seven Vital Conditions for Health and Well-Being and makes recommendations for harmonizing and maximizing federal resources to improve national resilience.
Read more
| |
|
Every organization has a role to play in advancing health equity and eliminating disparities in health and wellbeing between and within countries. Boston Medical Center (BMC), one of H2HC's innovative partners, is among more than 80 domestic and international organizations that have committed to the World Economic Forum's 2023 Zero Health Gaps Pledge (ZHGP).
The Pledge represents a formal commitment by CEOs on behalf of their organizations to advance health equity and eliminate disparities in health and wellbeing outcomes by embedding health equity into core organizational strategies, operations, and investments.
The Pledge was developed in early 2023 by the World Economic Forum's Global Health Equity Network (GHEN). GHEN brings together leaders from the private sector, government, academia, and civil society to advance a collective vision of "Zero Health Gaps".
Read more
| |
|
About H2HC
The Hunger to Health Collaboratory (H2HC) catalyzes integrated solutions to food, nutrition, and health inequities by engaging cross-sector leaders, uplifting innovative models, and educating stakeholders, all through a focus on the social drivers of health.
| | | | |
