Hunger Site Visit: Worcester and Boston, MA

Site Visit Stops

Member Participants: Congressman Ed Perlmutter (CO-07)  Statement, Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11), Chairman Jim McGovern (MA-02)

• Tour of Worcester Public Market 

  • Multi-vendor, food-oriented marketplace located in Worcester’s resurgent Canal District. The Market’s mission is to support the growth of small, diverse, and locally owned businesses while enhancing the viability of regional agriculture and food production

• YouthGrow Farm  Statement

  • Urban agriculture empowerment program for Worcester teens who gain leadership and job skills while learning how to grow food. Produce from the farm is delivered to families in need across the city through mobile markets that accept SNAP and participate in the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) which puts money back on a participant’s EBT card upon purchase of health, local produce, doubling the purchasing power of SNAP

• Community Servings  Statement

  • Organization providing critically ill individuals and their families made from scratch, medically tailored meals. Community Servings develops individualized nutrition care plans for its clients and teaches people how to prepare food at home. Additionally, the organization runs a job training program for people interested in careers in food service who face barriers to full-time employment.

    • Additional Materials for the Record 

      • "Meal Delivery Programs Reduce The Use Of Costly Health Care In Dually Eligible Medicare And Medicaid Beneficiaries", by Seth A. Berkowitz, Jean Terranova, Caterina Hill, Toyin Ajayi, Todd Linsky, Lori W. Tishler, and Darren A. DeWalt, April 2018

      • "Association Between Receipt of a Medically Tailored Meal Program and Health Care Use", by Seth A. Berkowitz, MD, MPH; Jean Terranova, JD; Liisa Randall, PhD; Kevin Cranston, MDiv; David B. Waters, MA; John Hsu, MD, MBA, MSCE, April 22, 2019

      • "I was able to eat what I am supposed to eat”: Patient reflections on a medically-tailored meal intervention", by Seth Berkowitz, Naysha Shahid, Jean Terranova, Barbara Steiner, Melanie Ruazol, Roshni Singh, Linda Delahanty, Deborah Wexler, December 12, 2018

• Tour of Boston Medical Center's Food as Medicine Programs 

  • Boston Medical Center has developed a three-tier Food As Medicine program to promote food security and optimal health. Rules Committee Members will tour the facility and learn more from physicians and specialists on the importance of addressing the root cause of poor health outcomes. In many cases, food security is at the center of duplicative tests and preventable visits to the hospital and emergency room.

    • "Nourishing Underserved Populations Despite Scarcer Resources: Adaptions of an Urban Safety Net Hospital During the COVID-19 Pandemic" by Olivia Weinstein, MS, RD, LDN, Kate Donovan, MS, RD, LDN, Ashley C. McCarthy, BA, Latchman Hiralall, Lindsay Allen, BA, William Koh, MEM, MPH, and Caroline M. Apovian, MD, 2021

    • "Implementation of a Rooftop Farm Integrated With a Teaching Kitchen and Preventive Food Pantry in a Hospital Setting", by Aviva A. Musicus, BA, Kelsey A. Vercammen, MSc, Aarohee P. Fulay, MPH, Alyssa J. Moran, ScD, RD, Tracey Burg, RD, LDN, Lindsay Allen, BA, David Maffeo, BBA, Andi Berger, MA, and Eric B. Rimm, ScD, June 20, 2019

  • Children's Health Watch  Statement 

    • Children's Health Watch Policy Action Report September 2021

    • "Loss Of SNAP Is Associated With Food Insecurity And Poor Health In Working Families With Young Children", by Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba, Mariana Chilton, Allison Bovell-Ammon, Molly Knowles, Sharon M. Coleman, Maureen M. Black, John T. Cook, Diana Becker Cutts, Patrick H. Casey, Timothy C. Heeren, and Deborah A. Frank, May 2019

    • "Experiences of Racial and Ethnic Discrimination Are Associated with Food Insecurity and Poor Health", by Pam Phojanakong, Emily Brown Weida, Gabriella Grimaldi, Félice Lê-Scherban and Mariana Chilton, October 2, 2019

    • "A Brief Indicator of Household Energy Security: Associations With Food Security, Child Health, and Child Development in US Infants and Toddlers", by John T. Cook, Deborah A. Frank, Patrick H. Casey, Ruth Rose-Jacobs, Maureen M. Black, Mariana Chilton, Stephanie Ettinger deCuba, Danielle Appugliese, Sharon Coleman, Timothy Heeren, Carol Berkowitz and Diana B. Cutts, October 2, 2008

    • "Estimating the Health-Related Costs of  Food Insecurity and Hunger", by John T. Cook, PhD, MAEd, Principal Investigator, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine Ana Paula Poblacion, MSc, Project Manager & Research Assistant, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, 2016 

    • "Association of the Implementation of Child Tax Credit Advance Payments With Food Insufficiency in US Households", by Paul R. Shafer, PhD; Katherine M. Gutiérrez, MA; Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba, PhD, MPH; Allison Bovell-Ammon, MDiv; Julia Raifman, ScD, January 13, 2022

    • "Association of Food Insecurity with Children’s Behavioral, Emotional, and Academic Outcomes: A Systematic Review", by Priya Shankar, MPH,* Rainjade Chung, BA,† Deborah A. Frank, MD†, February/March 2017

    • "The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Builidng a Healthy Foundation Today and Tomorrow", by Children's Health Watch

    • "SNAP, Young Children's Health, and Family Food Security and Healthcare Access", by Stephanie A. Ettinger de Cuba, MPH, Allison R. Bovell-Ammon, MDiv, John T. Cook, PhD, MAEd, Sharon M. Coleman, MS, MPH, Maureen M. Black, PhD, Mariana M. Chilton, PhD, MPH, Patrick H. Casey, MD, Diana B. Cutts, MD, Timothy C. Heeren, PhD, Megan T. Sandel, MD, MPH, Richard Sheward, MPP, Deborah A. Frank, MD, 2019 

    • "Unstable Housing and Caregiver and Child Health in Renter Families", by Megan Sandel, MD, MPH, Richard Sheward, MPP, Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba, MPH, Sharon M. Coleman, MS, MPH, Deborah A. Frank, MD, Mariana Chilton, PhD, MPH, Maureen Black, PhD, Timothy Heeren, PhD, Justin Pasquariello, MPA, MBA, Patrick Casey, MD, Eduardo Ochoa, MD, Diana Cutts, MDf, January 22, 2018 

    • "Prenatal WIC Is Associated with Increased Birth Weight of Infants Born in the United States with Immigrant Mothers" by, Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba, PhD, MPH; Mediatrix Mbamalu, MD, MPH, MSPH; Allison Bovell-Ammon, MDiv; Maureen M. Black, PhD; Diana B. Cutts, MD; Félice Lê-Scherban, PhD, MPH; Sharon M. Coleman, MS, MPH; Eduardo R. Ochoa, Jr, MD; Timothy C. Heeren, PhD; Ana Poblacion, PhD, MSc; Megan Sandel, MD, MPH; Charlotte Bruce, MPH; Lindsey J. Rateau, MPH; Deborah A. Frank, MD, February 4, 2022 

• Closing Discussions with "Food as Medicine" Leaders at Tufts University Family Center for Biomedical and Nutrition Sciences 

  • Dariush Mozaffarian, Cardiologist, Dean, and Jean Mayer Professor at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and Professor of Medicine at Tufts School of Medicine  Statement

    • "Food is Medicine", By Julia Hesse-Fong (’23), a first-year student in the Agriculture Food and Environment Program

  • Vicky Negus, Policy Advocate, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute  Statement 

  • Katie Garfield, Director of Whole Person Care and Clinical Instructor, Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation 

  • Nicolene Hengen, Executive Director, Hunger2Health Collaboratory at the Greater Boston Food Bank  Statement

    • Hunger to Heath Collaboratory Overview

  • Erin McAleer, President and CEO, Project Bread  Statement 

    • One-Pager

    • Project Bread 2021 Annual Report 

  • Christina Severin, President and CEO, Community Care Cooperative  Statement

  • Catherine D’Amato, President and CEO, Greater Boston Food Bank  Statement 

    • GBFB-Project Bread Partnership Executive Summary 

    • The Greater Boston Food Bank Nutrition Policy 

Roundtable on Ending Hunger in America: Innovative Approaches to Nutrition Security at UMass Medical School

• Josh Domingues, Chief Executive Officer, Flashfood  Statment  Biography 

• Ashley Stanley, Founder & Executive Director, Lovin’ Spoonfuls  Statement  Biography 

• Justin Amevor, Founder, Doughboyz  Statement  Biography 

• Ayn Yeagle, Executive Director, Growing Places  Statement  Biography 

• Amanda Barker, Lead Farmer and Owner, Cotyledon Farm  Statement  

• Charles Luster, Executive Director, 2Gether We Eat  Statement  Biography 

• Gina Plata-Nino, Staff Attorney, Central West Justice Center  Statement  Biography