Food Is Medicine Coalition Receives Support From The Rockefeller Foundation To Expand Access to Food Is Medicine Programs for Veterans and Individuals Living With Illness

NEW YORK | November 11, 2025 ― The Food Is Medicine Coalition (FIMC) has secured two years of funding from The Rockefeller Foundation to strengthen, scale, and sustain medically tailored nutrition interventions nationwide, particularly through referrals from the Veteran Affairs health system. Veterans in the United States experience chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity at disproportionately higher rates than the general population. This investment will address key challenges in health care integration, build capacity among community-based providers, and elevate the national conversation around the power of nutrition to improve health outcomes.

For 40 years, FIMC agencies have advanced access to lifesaving, medically tailored nutrition interventions through policy change, research and evaluation, and best practices. Most recently, the coalition has led efforts to integrate medically tailored meals (MTMs) and medically tailored groceries (MTGs) into health care systems through standards and regulatory frameworks, advancing nutrition as a core component of treatment for people with chronic and complex illnesses. Today, FIMC represents a national coalition of nonprofit, community-based agencies that delivers millions of MTMs, MTGs and Produce Prescriptions for free to some of the nation’s most vulnerable populations.

This new grant supports three interconnected initiatives:

• Advance Policy and Nourish Veterans: Strengthen efforts to integrate medically tailored nutrition into health care delivery systems and expand relationships with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to address high rates of food insecurity and chronic illness among U.S. Veterans. Through this collaboration, FIMC will pilot and evaluate their best practices in MTM delivery for Veterans who come to agencies through referrals from the VA system.
• Build Capacity: Empower community-based nonprofits to expand MTM services for Veterans and other individuals living with severe or chronic illness in underserved areas through targeted training, technical assistance, and strategic support built into the FIMC Accelerator program. The initiative also includes a first-of-its-kind national scan to streamline the fragmented technology landscape supporting MTM and MTG programs, helping agencies make more efficient, data-driven decisions.
• Communicate Value: Amplify the stories, outcomes, and successes of FIMC agencies nationwide to increase awareness of food is medicine programs, drive policy change, and position medically tailored nutrition as an essential component of equitable health care so that more Veterans and others benefit.

“The Rockefeller Foundation’s support comes at a pivotal moment for the Food Is Medicine movement,” said Alissa Wassung, Executive Director, Food Is Medicine Coalition. “With this leadership investment, we will accelerate the scaling of high-quality, evidence-based nutrition services that are proven to improve health, reduce costs, and transform lives.”

“The Food Is Medicine Coalition continues to lead the way in making medically tailored nutrition a standard of care for people living with serious and chronic illness,” said Devon Klatell, Vice President, The Rockefeller Foundation. “We’re proud to support their vision and substantial efforts to advance Food is Medicine, a transformative solution that can lower health care costs, foster healthier communities, and save lives.”

Over the next two years, this partnership will help FIMC and its member agencies expand Veterans’ access to medically tailored nutrition interventions, strengthen nonprofit infrastructure, and advance sustainable models for coverage through health care and policy channels.

“Our vision is to build a sustainable, adaptable framework that can scale and share the transformative power of medically tailored nutrition,” concluded Wassung. “With the support of partners like The Rockefeller Foundation, FIMC will continue to drive meaningful change, ensuring that medically tailored nutrition is recognized as medicine, beginning with those who need it most.”

About the Food Is Medicine Coalition

The Food is Medicine Coalition (FIMC) is the national convening coalition for nonprofit medically tailored meals and medically tailored grocery providers. We advance access to these life-saving interventions through policy change, research, and best practices. FIMC agencies created the medically tailored meal intervention as a response to community need 40 years ago. FIMC offers a community of learning for existing practitioners, equips new organizations to launch medically tailored meal programs, and accredits agencies against our fieldwide standard for MTM. Learn more at www.fimcoalition.org.

About The Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a pioneering philanthropy built on collaborative partnerships at the frontiers of science, technology, and innovation that enable individuals, families, and communities to flourish. We make big bets to promote the well-being of humanity in food, health, energy, and finance, including through our public charity, RF Catalytic Capital (RFCC). For more information, sign up for our newsletter at www.rockefellerfoundation.org/subscribe and follow us on X @RockefellerFdn and LinkedIn @the-rockefeller-foundation.