About Us
Our Story
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In 2015, we were inspired by one company's BOLD goal to improve the health of in communities it serves by co-creating solutions that address social determinants and health related social needs. The first step to achieving the collective impact is aligning one's personal commitment to it.
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Social determinants of health are the conditions under which people are born, GROW, live, work and age that impact overall health and well-being. We believe through collective impact that these conditions can improved, lifted UPWARD. While there are many social determinants in the way of achieving the best health possible, our focus is in solving for food insecurity. We believe food is medicine and oftentimes accessibility to the right food at the right time is the solution.
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Our Mission
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Contribute to building a sustainable system by convening individual, business, government and community resources to improve clinical and social health outcomes.
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Our Focus Communities
Together, we can overcome food insecurity and other barriers to health in Military Families. In doing so, we can improve communities we serve, achieve the Readiness mission by lifting them UPWARD.
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The Importance of Addressing
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Food insecurity occurs when people have limited or uncertain access to enough food to live a healthy, active life.5
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See NMFA FOOD INSECURITY INFOGRAPHIC 2021 courtesy of the National Military Family Association.
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"Food defines who we are and where we come from. Historically, the development of cities has been inextricably connected to its production, supply and distribution. But with the migration of rural communities to urban cities, the human population has become increasingly removed from sites of agricultural production and less aware of how their food is made. The direct relationship between producer and consumer is now separated by an ever-expanding line of middle-man entities including distributors, processors and retailers. The local food movement demonstrates the individual and commercial consumer demand to change this relationship, but the scale of most local farms and their distribution networks makes it difficult for suppliers to meet growing demands. Food hubs have the potential to alleviate this bottleneck of inefficiency by consolidating supplies into shared facilities for local farmers and locating them strategically within cities." - oma.eu
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5 U.S. Department of Agriculture, www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/foodsecurity-in-the-us/key-statistics-graphics.aspx
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