Expanding Our White House Commitments: How Instacart Health Is Increasing Food Access For Families And Communities In Need

More than a year ago, the White House challenged public and private sector leaders to rally around a shared mission — to end hunger, improve nutrition, and drive better health outcomes for communities across the country. At Instacart, we were proud to answer that call, and we’ve been delivering on our many commitments to support the President’s National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. 

For example, we’ve built new tools and technologies that are helping health care providers, health plans, governments, and nonprofits expand access to nutritious food and scale food as medicine programs. We’ve partnered with top academic and research institutions to power cutting-edge studies on the impact nutrition interventions can have on health outcomes. And — delivering on one of our very first commitments — last year we became the first online grocery marketplace to offer SNAP payments in all 50 states and D.C. 

And that was just the start. 

Today, the White House highlighted several new commitments Instacart has made to advance the National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Our latest commitments are intended to expand food access and continue to scale nutrition programs to support several distinct communities, including seniors, members of the military and their families, people who live in food deserts, historically marginalized communities, and more. 

(1) First, Instacart committed to working with No Kid Hungry and Mercy Housing to expand access to nutritious food and nutrition education for families in affordable housing communities located in food deserts — as well as study the health outcomes of such interventions. Through the partnership, 200 families living in affordable housing communities in California and Georgia will receive ongoing nutrition guidance and support from No Kid Hungry, Instacart+ memberships, and monthly Instacart Health Fresh Funds grocery stipends for a full year.

(2) The White House also highlighted Instacart’s commitment to expand access to nutritious food for seniors by bringing health benefit acceptance online — including Medicare Advantage plan benefits — allowing millions of seniors to use their supplemental grocery and over-the-counter benefits on Instacart in 2024. Through this work, beneficiaries with Medicare Advantage cards, for example, will be able to use their benefits to purchase nutritious foods and essentials online for delivery. In the process, Instacart is proud to empower many local grocers to serve and support seniors in their communities in a new way.

(3) Instacart also committed to supporting the military community by launching new programs and partnerships and supporting new research to help combat food insecurity, expand access to nutritious food, and expand the benefits of food as medicine to active duty military, veterans, and their families. This pledge builds on Instacart’s recently announced partnership with the Military Family Advisory Network to provide free groceries and delivery to military families following relocation to a new base.

(4) The White House also highlighted Instacart’s recently announced collaboration with Meharry Medical College’s Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved to produce and publish a special issue of the public health journal. The issue will focus on research related to food access, nutrition security, and associated health outcomes for individuals in historically marginalized communities, including Black and Hispanic households, urban and rural communities, and families with low incomes.

(5) DC Health and Instacart committed to partner on a new food is medicine intervention designed to integrate nutrition and health while addressing diet-related disease for food insecure individuals in Washington, DC. Through the partnership, eligible DC residents will receive monthly Instacart Health Fresh Funds to purchase fresh produce on a custom-built Instacart Health virtual storefront for home delivery or pick-up. 

(6) Continuing our collaboration with cities, the White House lifted up Instacart’s partnership with Mayor Daniel Rickenmann and the City of Columbia to improve access to nutritious food for families in the city’s food deserts. Through the initiative, known as the Grocery Access Pilot (GAP) program, Columbia residents living in food deserts are receiving a complimentary Instacart+ membership and monthly Instacart Health Fresh Funds stipends for one year. Together, the membership and monthly stipends are designed to help cover the cost of online grocery delivery — helping individuals and families more easily get nutritious food and essentials delivered directly to their door.

(7) Finally, Growers for Grace and Allendale County Hospital in Fairfax, South Carolina will be using Instacart Health technology to power a new food as medicine pilot program for individuals living with Type 2 Diabetes who are also experiencing food and nutrition insecurity. The program is intended to help develop a scalable intervention model that combines locally grown food with more traditional food is medicine programming to help ease nutrition and health disparities, lower rates of disease, reduce healthcare costs related to chronic conditions, and support communities in need. 

These new commitments build on the tremendous progress we have made over the past year and a half and continue Instacart Health’s momentum to start the year.

In the past month alone, we announced a new public-private sector partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to scale food as medicine interventions and increase access to nutritious food; released new data showing the powerful impact of Instacart Health-powered food as medicine programs on health outcomes; and announced online SNAP payment integration with over a dozen new grocery banners — including all Kroger banners and Costco nationwide — allowing Instacart to now reach 96% of U.S. households enrolled in SNAP. 

As the leading grocery technology company in North America, we believe deeply in the power of food and nutrition to improve health outcomes, and we are proud to be delivering the ingredients for healthier living. We look forward to working with these new partners and so many others across the public and private sectors to ensure every individual and family has access to the nutritious food they need to thrive.

Dani Dudeck

Author

Dani Dudeck is the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Instacart.