University of San Francisco California
Workshop | Building and strengthening community-academic partnerships to address food insecurity
Presentations from 2025 SIREN National Research Meeting: Advancing the Science of Social Care
Food and nutrition insecurity are significant drivers of health inequalities in the United States (US), especially for nutrition-related chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease. There is growing recognition and interest in Food as Medicine (FAM) as a strategy for addressing food insecurity and nutrition-related chronic conditions. Partnerships between community-based food organizations (e.g., farms, food banks/pantries), community health centers, and Academic Medical Centers (AMC) can advance the implementation and scaling of FAM through research, policy, and advocacy. Community-academic partnerships focused on FAM benefit from the strengths and resources that each partner brings to the table. For example, community-based food organizations contribute their expertise in growing and bringing to market produce and other healthy foods that are culturally-tailored for the customers they serve. Community health centers provide a critical linkage to patients who are disproportionately impacted by food insecurity and nutrition-related chronic conditions and would benefit from FAM. Finally, AMCs can contribute expertise in community-engaged research, implementation science, and dissemination of innovative collaborative models. This workshop presented several examples of FAM programs within community-academic partnerships aimed at closing the research to practice gap. This workshop dove deep into the conversation on the role of AMCs in addressing food and nutrition insecurity by offering an approach rooted in building bi-directional, mutually beneficial partnerships with community-based organizations who are experts in the space. Also discussed were elements of programmatic design that take into account the capacity and needs of CBOs and patients served. The workshop focused on how to facilitate these partnerships, centering on elements of partnership development, as well as lessons learned throughout the process.
