News & Notes

• May 2026 — The HSHC Lab is proud to share the three-year summary report of our SNAP-Ed work, Food Matters: Nourishing the Body and Soul. From October 2022 through December 2025, Food Matters successfully reached thousands of DC residents in Wards 4, 5, 7, and 8 through a flexible, community-embedded, evidence-based nutrition education model. As a result, participants showed meaningful improvements in
  • healthy eating behaviors, including increased daily consumption of fruits and vegetables and decreased consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, and
  • use of nutrition education tools, such as MyPlate and the Nutrition Facts Label
  
  We thank the DC Department of Health for their funding of this project and their commitment to improving health for all DC communities.

• April 2026 — The Resilient Food System Mid-Year Update highlights our year three progress to date, showcasing momentum toward a more resilient food system in Washington, DC, and across the Mid-Atlantic. This includes investments in partners across production and distribution as well as convenings to strengthen alignment and collaboration across the food system. This update features our ten subawardees and support for 16 local farms through round two of the agriculture infrastructure and equipment grants.

• April 2026 — We are proud to share the 2025 Agriculture Infrastructure & Equipment (AIE) Grant Impact Report, highlighting how targeted investments are strengthening local agriculture in the DC region. In 2025, more than $55,000 was awarded to 12 small and mid-sized farms across the Mid-Atlantic, supporting efforts to expand production and increase the availability of locally grown food. Beyond these immediate outcomes, the grants are helping farms build capacity for long-term viability and contributing to a more resilient regional food system.

  Following the success of this initial round, the program expanded in Spring 2026, with over $72,000 awarded to 16 farms across the region to continue advancing this work. Check out the report to learn more about the grant’s impact and hear directly from farmers supported through the program.

• March 2026 — The HSHC Lab recently launched the second round of funding for the Agriculture Infrastructure and Equipment (AIE) Grant, investing more than $72,000 to support 16 farmers and producers across the Mid-Atlantic region, including grantees from DC, Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. These investments aim to help expand access to fresh fruits and vegetables for Washington, DC residents, particularly those in Wards 7 and 8 and neighboring communities.
• 2026 Agriculture Infrastructure & Equipment Grantees: Novo Nordisk Inc. is a proud supporter of American University and its collaborative effort to build an equitable food system in D.C.'s Wards 7 and 8.
  • Area 2 Farms
  • Blue Berwyn Farm
  • Chicano Sol
  • Cultivate the City
  • Diddly Squat Farming
  • Dreaming Out Loud
  • EightFold Farms
  • Elizabeth's Corner
  • Garden International
  • Loves Garden
  • My Seniors Keeper
  • Owl's Nest Farm
  • Sligo Creek
  • Spice Creek
  • Steptoe Farms Whitt's Farm
• December 2025 — We are pleased to announce that the second round of Agriculture Infrastructure and Equipment (AIE) funding has been released. This funding supports mid-Atlantic farms in expanding production capacity through infrastructure and/or equipment. Grantees will be announced in February 2026.
• November 2025 — The Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities Lab has released its FY25 DC Resilient Food System Report. The report highlights outcomes across the Production, Distribution, and Consumption pillars from the second year of the project. Progress in coalition alignment and cohesion efforts that strengthen cross-sector collaboration towards a food system aligned around people and planetary health is also shared. The Lab outlines its strategy for monitoring and evaluating the DC food landscape to secure access to healthy, local foods for all residents.
• October 2025 — The 9th Annual Healthy Corners Evaluation report was released, highlighting the program’s strengths and identifying opportunities to enhance fresh food access in underserved DC communities. 
• September 2025 — Watch how Deep Roots Farm, recipient of an Agriculture Infrastructure & Equipment grant, expanded their harvests and are delivering more local, fresh food to DC communities that need it. 
• September 2025 — Check out this story on NBC4 highlighting the thousands of pounds of food grown by the Franciscan Monastery Garden Guild for DC families. FMGG received an Agriculture Infrastructure & Equipment grant through the HSHC Lab's Equitable Food System project funded by Novo Nordisk.
• September 2025 — The HSHC Lab is proud to have been a part of DC Health’s efforts to elevate health literacy for DC residents. Reducing health disparities and improving health for all means being able to access and understand trusted health information and apply it to our lives. As our long-time partner Ms. Mary at Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church says, “when we know better, we do better.”

• May 2025: The Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities Lab is proud of our work towards a more resilient local food system in DC. This Equitable Food System graphic shares our year two progress, with partners funded across Production, Distribution and Consumption, while zooming in on equipment and infrastructure investments for 12 local farmers.
• March 2025: The Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities Lab hosted a Nutrition Education Forum on March 25 — read the full Forum Report. The event highlighted the strong nutrition education partners and programs in DC, and discussed opportunities on the horizon to ensure nutrition education stays responsive and relevant to the communities we serve. It was an engaging morning of collaboration and networking. 
  
  Health, nutrition, and the climate are all connected to the foods we eat. There is much focus on eating fruits and vegetables to support good health and balanced nutrition and on the resources that go into growing produce are significant. Dr. Stacey Snelling wrote an article suggesting we consider incorporating more frozen produce into our weekly diets for the health, environmental, and economic benefits.
• January 2025: The Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities Lab released the Resilient Food System Summit Report. The report shares written and illustrated summaries from keynote and breakout sessions that took place at the October 9, 2024 Summit. Next steps for developing indicators to measure progress toward a more resilient and equitable regional food system in the areas of production, distribution, and consumption are also outlined.
• December 2024: The Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities Lab shared its FY24 DC Equitable Food System report. This report shares the outcomes of stakeholder activities within the pillars of Production, Distribution, and Consumption, as well as our process for monitoring and evaluating the changing food landscape in Wards 7 and 8.
  
  Check out the latest publication from the lab in the Journal of Child Nutrition Management, demonstrating the increases in consumption of fruits and vegetables among elementary school children when offered as appetizers and other choices.
  
  The Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities Lab was also highlighted in the East of the River News for their Produce Project with Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church, as part of the Equitable Food System work to improve access and consumption of fresh produce.
   
• November 2024: The 8th Annual Healthy Corners Evaluation report was released, detailing strengths and opportunities of the program to support fresh food access in underserved areas of DC.  
   
• October 2024: We welcomed representatives from over 50 organizations to American University for the Resilient Food System Summit on October 9, 2024 — see the Resilient Food System Summit Report. Food system leaders Renee Catacalos and Ellie Bomstein, along with three insightful panelists, Alexander Moore, Christopher Bradshaw, James Tate, shared their personal and professional commitment to the local food system. The discussions fostered meaningful connections and highlighted the importance of collaboration in building a resilient food system in the Washington, DC, area. See videos from the summit playlist.
   
• September 2024: The two-year HEAL-DC project focused on advancing health literacy for DC residents has wrapped up. We are so grateful to our partners, Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church, Urban Outreach Ministries, and Wesley Theological Seminary.  Partnerships with trusted community-based organizations enhances the reach and impact of pop-up health events, so people can FIND, KNOW, and USE health information for lasting empowerment.
• April 2024: The Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities lab's $2.8 million grant from Novo Nordisk to address food insecurity in DC and support local Black farmers was featured in a story by The Eagle.
• February 2023: Watch the 3-mintue video on Faithfully Fit's work in the community: "DC pastors are promoting healthy living among congregants."