CHICAGO, Oct. 24,
2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Wellness West, a coalition of
Chicago's health and safety-net
institutions, and Instacart (Nasdaq: CART), the leading grocery
technology company in North
America, today announced a new partnership that leverages
the scale and convenience of Instacart to help food-insecurity and
chronically ill individuals on the West Side of Chicago.
Through the partnership, Wellness West will launch a new "Food
Connections" program, which will offer eligible Wellness West
members a monthly grocery stipend of $79, delivered through Instacart Health Fresh
Funds, that can be used to purchase nutritious foods like fresh and
frozen produce for delivery via Instacart. The digital stipend can
be combined with other food benefit programs, like SNAP or eligible
supplemental health benefits, allowing members to complete their
full shop in one order, creating a more convenient and accessible
grocery shopping experience.
Wellness West addresses health equity needs of up to 200,000
uninsured and Medicaid-insured patients diagnosed with at least one
of six specific medical conditions who live in 10 West Side zip
codes. Instacart today reaches more than 95% of U.S. households,
including 93% of food desert residents and nearly 95% of households
enrolled in SNAP.1
"We are very pleased to be joining forces with Instacart to
advance the cause of health equity," said Misty Drake, Executive Director, Wellness West,
who also serves as the Vice President, Client Serves and Growth,
for Medical Home Network. "For the communities we serve, a whole
person model of care that addresses social factors such as access
to healthy food is essential. With this
partnership, Instacart's state-of-the-art consumer-tech
platform is brought to the mission of helping people across the
West Side who are facing significant barriers to healthy dietary
options."
"Everyone should have reliable access to healthy and nutritious
food, but today, far too many communities experience nutrition
insecurity. Through Instacart Health, we're using the power of our
technology to bridge the gap and ensure more families can put
wholesome foods on their tables," said Sarah Mastrorocco, Vice President and General
Manager of Instacart Health. "We're proud to partner with Wellness
West to help families on the West Side of Chicago overcome barriers to access and get
the foods they need to support their health and well-being."
Food Insecurity: A Worsening Problem for Chicago's Most Vulnerable
Most
people in Chicago facing food
insecurity are children, older adults and the poor. Food insecurity
can be caused by a job loss, lack of transportation or health
issues. Many Chicagoans are only one paycheck away from facing food
insecurity.
- In Chicago metro, 16% of
households overall and 22% of households with children suffer from
food insecurity. 29% percent of Black households experience food
insecurity.2
- The Food Empowerment Project reports that more than 500,000
Chicago residents live in food
deserts with the vast majority of those living on the South and
West Sides.3
- In the last year, Wellness West has completed over 15,000
Health Risk Assessments of vulnerable populations on the West
Side.4
- 34% of those surveyed reported running out of food or were
worried about running out of food in the last year for lack of
money.5
- 25% reported needing transportation assistance, which is also
an important variable to food access.6
Research published by the University of
Kentucky, No Kid Hungry and Instacart found that online
grocery shopping helps low-income families – including SNAP
households – stretch their food budgets, overcome transportation
barriers, assist with meal planning, and save time and money. The
study also found that families that shopped online purchased more
fruits and vegetables than in-store shoppers, without increasing
their total grocery bill.7
"For too many Chicagoans, choices about what to eat are limited
by access and affordability," said Chicago Mayor Brandon
Johnson. "My administration is committed to advancing
innovative solutions and supporting public-private partnerships to
address these food inequities. It's inspiring to see Wellness West
and Instacart partnering to address these challenges and ensure
more West Side residents can access and afford the nutritious food
they deserve."
Nutrition: The Key to Stabilize Hypertension and
Diabetes
The new Food Connections program with Instacart
is one piece of a broader strategy by Wellness West to stabilize
hypertension and diabetes among its participant populations. Both
chronic diseases disproportionately impact poor and minority
communities. Nutrition and diet have a significant role to play in
fighting these diseases, and Instacart will provide one more option
to support people who are struggling with healthy food access.
An Impactful Model
Instacart Health Fresh Funds
have been successfully implemented in communities across the
country through Instacart's partnerships with healthcare and
nonprofit organizations. In Indianapolis, Instacart partnered Partnership
for Healthier America (PHA) to compare the impact of pre-packaged
produce box deliveries with produce credits delivered through Fresh
Funds digital grocery stipends. The results showed that Fresh Funds
supported significant improvements in food security for families
and that 80 percent of respondents preferred the Fresh Funds
produce credits over pre-packaged produce boxes. Participants noted
that they favored the selection and choice available on Instacart
as well as the dignity of choice to purchase groceries that meet
their unique tastes, needs and budgets. 78 percent of program
participants also said that produce credits helped their family
build a healthy habit, and 79 percent reported they planned to
continue to eat more produce moving
forward.8
Engaging Small and Family-owned Grocery
Stores
Through the partnership, Wellness West will also
work closely with Instacart to identify and engage small, local
grocery stores on the West Side that are well-suited to launch
online grocery ordering and delivery through Instacart. For
Wellness West members, this means more local shopping choices, and
for small grocery operators on the West Side, this means new
potential revenue streams to help them stay competitive. Grocery
retailers of all sizes have struggled lately to build sustainable
business models in underserved areas throughout Chicago, as evidenced by recent closures of
well-known grocery brands on Chicago's West and South Sides.
"We applaud this new initiative and the grocers who have chosen
to participate," said Rob Karr,
President and CEO, Illinois Retail Merchants Association. "Wellness
West's Food Connections program, in partnership with Instacart,
comes at a crucial time as SNAP households have seen a significant
cut in monthly allotments this past year. This program will
provide additional relief to help many families purchase nutritious
foods, which helps lower the risk of serious health-related issues
for Chicago's West Side
residents."
About Wellness West
Wellness West is the coming
together of proven, well-respected hospitals, community health
centers, community behavioral health centers and social service
organizations on the West Side. Through this collaboration,
Wellness West is creating a transformational continuity of care, to
address some of the most pressing health issues such as
hypertension, diabetes, severe mental illness and substance use
disorder. The program is focused on the vulnerable populations
within ten key zip codes on the West Side and takes a holistic
approach by addressing all the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH)
a person may face, including food insecurity. Wellness West is
funded by an initiative of the Illinois Department of Healthcare
and Family Services to invest in closing gaps in care and
increasing health equity for Illinois. For more information, visit
www.wellnesswest.org.
About Instacart
Instacart, the leading grocery
technology company in North
America, works with grocers and retailers to transform how
people shop. The company partners with more than 1,400 national,
regional, and local retail banners to facilitate online shopping,
delivery and pickup services from more than 80,000 stores across
North America on the Instacart
Marketplace. Instacart makes it possible for millions of people to
get the groceries they need from the retailers they love, and for
approximately 600,000 Instacart shoppers to earn by picking,
packing and delivering orders on their own flexible schedule. The
Instacart Platform offers retailers a suite of enterprise-grade
technology products and services to power their e-commerce
experiences, fulfill orders, digitize brick-and-mortar stores,
provide advertising services, and glean insights. With Instacart
Ads, thousands of CPG brands – from category leaders to emerging
brands – partner with the company to connect directly with
consumers online, right at the point of purchase. With Instacart
Health, the company is providing tools to increase nutrition
security, make healthy choices easier for consumers, and expand the
role that food can play in improving health outcomes. For more
information, visit www.instacart.com/company, and to start
shopping, visit www.instacart.com.
1 Based on the number of people in
the U.S. enrolled in SNAP (USDA) in 2022. Instacart estimate (as of
July 2023) based on the number of EBT
SNAP households in areas serviced by EBT SNAP-enabled retailers on
Instacart.
2 "Hunger in Our Community: A Spring
2022 Status Report," Greater Chicago Food Depository.
https://www.chicagosfoodbank.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022_HungerInOurCommunity-Spring-FINAL.pdf
3 Food Deserts / Access & Health / Food
Empowerment Project (undated). Retrieved Sept. 27, 2023, from
https://foodispower.org/access-health/food-deserts/
4 Based on Wellness West's internal research.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Anderson Steeves, E., DeWitt, E., Gillespie, R., Trude, A., Gustafson, A.,
"Barriers and facilitators to online grocery shopping among
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Participants: A
Mixed Method Study". Ecology of Food and Nutrition, accepted for
publication 2022.
https://www.nokidhungry.org/sites/default/files/2022-09/NKH-Instacart-Online-Shopping-Micro-Report-v2.pdf
8 Good Food for All in Indianapolis - Research Conducted by Altarum
about the Effectiveness of Produce Incentives. August, 2023.
https://www.ahealthieramerica.org/indyresearch
SOURCE Maplebear Inc. dba Instacart