1801-13707

This investment supports Community Servings to continue its work, in partnership with the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School, to assess the need for, and access to, Food is Medicine (FIM) interventions across the state. Based on this assessment, they will develop, publish, and disseminate a report containing concrete strategies that healthcare organizations and state agencies can use to improve access to FIM over time. Specifically, Community Servings will build on their foundation as an active participant in community-based health care initiatives to develop and disseminate maps and other materials illustrating areas of food insecurity, chronic illness, and poverty; organize stakeholder listening sessions across the commonwealth; analyze data and compile specific recommendations for a statewide plan; and disseminate the plan to lawmakers, community members, and other partners. $50,879.40, a matching investment covering half the cost of the project, will support staff time, expenses for traveling to listening sessions around the state, material development and dissemination, and attorney consultation from the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation. This work aligns with the OH2020 goal to improve the public perception of the value of oral health to overall health and the target that oral health is increasingly included in health dialogue and public policy.