“Building a healthier America starts with access to good food,” said Stacy Dean, Carbonell Family executive director at The Global Food Institute. “The Good Food for All Summit brings together leaders from across sectors — food distributors, healthcare, business, policy and advocacy — to drive the conversations and partnerships we need for real progress. Together, we can transform our food system for the better.”
The event kicked off with an inspirational fireside keynote from Nishant Roy, chief communications and impact officer for Chobani, and Leslie Sarasin, president and CEO of FMI - The Food Industry Association.
Two panel discussions followed: the first about what levers need to be pulled to realize the power of food to build health, which featuring speakers like Alex DiNovo, president and COO of DNO Produce, and Noah Cohen-Cline, director of food initiative at The Rockefeller Foundation; and a closing panel highlighting a collective impact model for healthy corner stores featuring Bill Dietz, director of research and policy for the Global Food Institute, Yael Reichler, Healthy Corners director at DC Central Kitchen and Julie Burns, CEO of Jump IN for Healthy Kids.
Attendees also had the opportunity to attend two breakout sessions: technology as a disruptor, which featured speakers from Instacart, AFFI and Flashfood; and social determinants of health and their connection to access to healthy food, which featured speakers from the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, University of Michigan School of Public Health and Cornell University.
“At Instacart, we believe that every family should be able to fill their plates with nutritious food,” said Sarah Fleisch, senior director for policy research and development at Instacart. “Together with PHA and local community partners, we’re removing barriers to access and helping families adopt healthier habits. This work is a testament to what’s possible when organizations come together in support of a shared mission, and we’re very proud to participate in this year’s Good Food for All Summit.”
The day concluded with a lively outdoor reception to introduce and privately launch PHA’s Good Good Food campaign, a vibrant and empowering public awareness campaign that is scheduled to launch publicly on June 25.
Good Good Food is part of PHA’s Good Food Cities initiative — a collective impact model with the ambitious vision to double produce consumption in 15 cities. The campaign is generously supported by PHA partners Amazon Access and Novo Nordisk.
“At Amazon Access, we believe everyone should have access to healthy food – no matter their zip code,” said Nancy Dalton, director, Amazon Access. “We are proud to be teaming up with PHA for this year’s Good Food for All Summit and to be working together to build bridges to better nutrition for all America.”
As two organizations committed to public health, PHA and The Global Food Institute believe that improving access to and consumption of fruits and vegetables is key to changing the trajectory of our current food system and to creating thriving, healthy communities. The hope is that this is just the beginning of continued, iterative work to center health in the food system and to use the power of food to lift up communities.
“Novo Nordisk is pleased that the public conversation is shining a light on the root causes of serious chronic diseases,” said Jennifer Duck, vice president of public affairs at Novo Nordisk Inc. “We must — collectively — tackle multiple social determinants of health and that is why we are proud to continue our partnership with Partnership for a Healthier America and their Good Food Cities initiative, to combat food insecurity for vulnerable populations. Together, each doing our part, we can make meaningful progress to improve the whole health of our communities — and defeat chronic diseases.”
