We are thrilled to announce that Community Servings has received a very prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Foundation “Evidence for Action” grant award. This $358,000 grant, implemented over 30 months, will evaluate the Food Is Medicine approach on health. Jean Terranova, Community Servings’ Director of Food & Health Policy will be serving as Co-Primary Investigator with Dr. Seth Berkowitz from Massachusetts General Hospital. Other key partners include a secondary researcher from the Mongan Institute Health Policy Center and the Massachusetts Department of Health.

The project, “Evaluating the Food is Medicine Approach on Health,” will evaluate the impact of Community Servings’ medically tailored meals program on healthcare expenditures, inpatient hospitalizations, and emergency room visits in severely ill and nutritionally vulnerable adults. A description of the project, including outcomes and methodology, is now available on Evidence for Action’s website.

Since the Evidence for Action program’s inception in June 2015, hundreds of grant applications have been submitted. We are thrilled to be one of just 16 grantees to-date, and the only nonprofit social service organization, awarded funding. This research award is testament to the quality of our program and our Food Is Medicine approach. The resulting data will be instrumental in building the evidence base and furthering our own work and that of the broader Food Is Medicine field.