Project Angel Food has been named to the Food is Medicine Coalition (FIMC) Accelerator Leadership Team, becoming the first West Coast medically tailored meal provider to help lead the national program that trains nonprofit organizations to establish, strengthen and scale high-quality Medically Tailored Meal (MTM) programs in their communities.

Project Angel Food joins Community Servings in Boston, Nonprofit Finance Fund, the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School, and the Food is Medicine Coalition in guiding the Accelerator’s next chapter. Project Angel Food succeeds God’s Love We Deliver in New York, which is stepping away from the Leadership Team following six years of service and the completion of Cohort 6.

The announcement comes as applications open for Cohort 7 of the FIMC Accelerator Program, an intensive six-month training experience designed to give nonprofit organizations the knowledge, tools and support needed to develop and deliver high-quality Food Is Medicine programs in previously underserved areas.

“When Project Angel Food began in 1989, it was neighbors cooking for neighbors who were sick and too often forgotten,” said Richard Ayoub, CEO of Project Angel Food. “Nearly four decades later, that simple idea — that the right food, delivered with care, can be part of health care — has become a national movement. We’ve learned a great deal along the way, and we’re honored to help organizations in other communities build strong programs of their own. Being the first West Coast provider on the Accelerator Leadership Team makes this especially meaningful.”

The FIMC Accelerator works to refine, replicate and broadly scale the medically tailored meal intervention so that people living with severe, complex and chronic illnesses can access MTMs regardless of where they live or their ability to pay. Participants receive training and technical assistance in the essential components of developing a sustainable medically tailored meal program, including nutrition standards and recipe development, food production and safety, operations and home delivery, financial planning, health care partnerships and contracting, reimbursement opportunities, philanthropy, and federal and state Food is Medicine policy.

The program also includes customized organizational coaching and two multi-day, in-person trainings at established medically tailored meal organizations. Accelerator graduates become eligible for FIMC membership and can continue toward FIMC accreditation.

Up to six nonprofit organizations are selected to participate in the intensive six-month program, which combines expert training, individualized organizational coaching, peer learning and in-person instruction at established medically tailored meal providers.

Project Angel Food’s appointment builds on its longstanding leadership in the Food is Medicine movement.  “A founding member of the Food Is Medicine Coalition, Project Angel Food has helped shape the Food is Medicine movement for decades and was among the first organizations to meet the rigorous standards established through the FIMC Accreditation program,” said Alissa Wassung, Executive Director of the Food is Medicine Coalition. “That depth of experience makes Project Angel Food an invaluable addition to the Accelerator Leadership Team. Their knowledge will help organizations across the country build strong, sustainable programs and deliver medically tailored meals at the level of quality patients deserve.”

FIMC accreditation requires organizations to meet exacting requirements for service delivery, including nutritional quality, food production and safety, packaging and labeling, delivery, client services and other aspects of care. The standards are designed to ensure that people living with severe, complex or chronic illnesses receive the same high-quality intervention regardless of the size or location of the organization serving them.

Through the Accelerator, Project Angel Food and its fellow Leadership Team members will help organizations build that same level of quality from the ground up.

Project Angel Food also brings to the Leadership Team the perspective of operating within California’s evolving Food is Medicine landscape, where medically tailored meals are increasingly being integrated into health care through partnerships with health plans and programs such as California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM).

Today, Project Angel Food prepares and delivers more than 1.5 million medically tailored meals each year to 7,744 clients living with conditions including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, kidney failure, HIV/AIDS and other serious illnesses.

“Ultimately, this is about reaching more people,” Ayoub said. “No one battling cancer, kidney failure, heart disease or another serious illness should lose access to the nutrition they need simply because there isn’t a medically tailored meal provider in their community. If what we’ve learned in Los Angeles can help build that lifeline somewhere else, that’s an extraordinary opportunity.”

Cohort 7 Applications Now Open

Applications are now open for Cohort 7 of the FIMC Accelerator Program. The program is designed for nonprofit organizations with experience in food and nutrition services that are committed to developing or expanding medically tailored, home-delivered meal programs for people living with serious illness.

Twenty-seven community-based organizations have graduated over the past six years of the program, including, most recently, Meals on Wheels Sarasota, Inc. (Sarasota, FL), The Delaware Food Bank (Newark, DE), Lanakila Pacific (Honolulu, HI), Freestore Foodbank (Cincinnati, OH), Preble Street (Portland, ME), and Kanbe's Markets (Kansas City, MO). A full list of Accelerator graduates is available HERE.

Ninety percent of graduate organizations have launched or are in the process of launching their MTM programs. One hundred percent of graduate organizations that are FIMC members are actively pursuing FIMC accreditation, with one organization now successfully accredited.

Organizations interested in applying can learn more about program eligibility, requirements and the application process at fimcoalition.org/programs/fimc-accelerator/.