The Food is Medicine Coalition’s (FIMC) Accelerator is thrilled to announce our fifth cohort of the Accelerator Program. The cohort is composed of five nonprofit agencies from around the country, as well as our first international agency!
Our Year 5 Cohort is:
An initiative co-led by Community Servings, FIMC, God’s Love We Deliver, the Nonprofit Finance Fund, and the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School, the FIMC Accelerator works to refine, replicate, and scale the medically tailored meal (MTM) model to ensure that people coping with food insecurity and severe illness have access to MTM, regardless of where they reside.
The Year 5 cohort recently kicked off their training with two webinar sessions. Enrolled cohorts participate in 10-months of online, in-person, and web-based training on operational processes for starting their own MTM program, which includes instruction on everything from nutrition standards and recipe development to financial coaching, distribution, and compliance. Cohorts also receive policy assistance to explore state and regional contracting opportunities, as well as guidance for funding opportunities, particularly for vulnerable populations.
Accelerator participants over the years have found tremendous value in the program:
“The resources you shared at the onsite meeting are “fantastic,” one participant shared. “The program gave us a “fire” to plan and launch our MTM programs when we return.” We heard a lot of: “This is doable! At the start it was intimidating, but after our time together, we can do this!”
FIMC agencies created the MTM intervention nearly 40 years ago and are known for the impressive outcomes our nutrition programs produce. We know that these results are only possible with nutritious food, community connection and a client-centered approach. FIMC recently released the first-ever standard for the medically tailored meal intervention – The FIMC Medically Tailored Meal Intervention Accreditation Criteria and Requirements – which codifies our decades of experience and offers it to the field as a guidebook for meeting community needs. The FIMC Accelerator curriculum is designed around the ACR and is central to scaling equitable access to this lifesaving intervention across the country.
Have questions? Learn more about the FIMC Accelerator.