NRP Convenes Food Sector to Review Food First Platform

June 1, 2023

NRP convened our food sector partners in May 2023 to update them on the Food First referral platform. 

NRP is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose purpose is to create a truly food secure Nantucket. We foster collaboration between island organizations to create an efficient and sustainable food security system. To achieve our mission, we raise awareness about food insecurity on Nantucket, conduct research and analyze data to identify gaps, prioritize solutions, and track progress, develop and implement innovative technologies to connect people to needed services and secure adequate system-wide resources. 

Nantucket residents are struggling to access needed services in the food security sector. NRP created the Food First system and served 159 customers by making 391 referrals to food provider programs. In addition, NRP introduced the Fresh Connect program – a debit card program that pays for eligible fresh produce purchases at most food retailers – including Stop & Shop.  

In addition, NRP has facilitated creation of a prepared meals program at the Food Pantry, expanded Nourishing Nantucket program to 80 families per week and increased the number of referral partners utilizing the Food First platform. 

At NRP, our long term goals are:

• To create a Community scorecard to evaluate how well we are addressing food insecurity
• To expand the Food First referral program to allow for self-referral
• To work with food security partners on the potential for a customer database

We thank our partners in the food sector for their endless support and efforts and we look forward to the next meeting in November 2023.

To learn more about NRP, please visit our website at thenrp.org and follow us on Instagram at @resource_partnership.