Cedars-Sinai continues its commitment to food equity by partnering with local organizations that provide nutritious meals and resources across Los Angeles County. Photo by Cedars-Sinai.
In response to growing food insecurity across Los Angeles County, Cedars-Sinai has provided $650,000 in new grants to local nonprofits dedicated to solving hunger and nutrition deficits.
More than 1.5 million people in Los Angeles County struggle with meeting the most basic nutritional needs. Since 2020, Cedars-Sinai has donated $10 million to food equity efforts and to organizations including Food Access L.A., Food Forward, Hollywood Food Coalition and the Karsh Family Social Service Center. Because of the Cedars-Sinai grants, critical resources have reached more than 400 nonprofits, food pantries, soup kitchens and churches. November 16-22 is Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, which recognizes two regional challenges Cedars-Sinai works to address through its grantmaking.
“Cedars-Sinai knows that food access is not just a health issue,” said Andrea Iloulian, MPP, executive director of Grantmaking at Cedars-Sinai. “Our commitment is to health beyond hospital walls, including around dinner tables and in the connections between food security and overall wellbeing. We will keep working alongside community organizations doing the vital work to advance food equity every day.”
Grant recipients include:
- Food Access L.A. aims to build sustainable food systems and ensure that people have access to fresh, affordable, locally grown foods. Every week, eight farmers markets across Los Angeles support small-scale agriculture as well as food and beverage businesses while improving food security in local neighborhoods.
- Food Forward provides fresh surplus fruits and vegetables to those in need. Funding from Cedars-Sinai enables the organization to test and implement new, efficient methods of moving produce from the warehouse to more than 100 of Food Forward’s partnering organizations.
- Hollywood Food Coalition both prepares nightly meals for the unhoused in Hollywood, and routes surplus donations and other food throughout Los Angeles as the lead of a four-organization Collaborative Food Hub. Following the devastating January wildfires, the hub was able to mobilize to target areas with the greatest food shortages. More than 50 organizations that provide assistance to immigrant and low-income communities are on the waitlist for aid from the coalition. Cedars-Sinai has pledged support to help reduce that number.
“Funding from Cedars-Sinai has been a lifeline for Hollywood Food Coalition,” said Arnali Ray, the organization’s executive director. “As our community faces economic uncertainty, SNAP instability and the aftermath of the wildfires, Cedars-Sinai’s flexible support has helped us expand warehouse operations, strengthen local networks and elevate our nightly meal service with our first professionally-trained chef so we can bring nutritious, culturally-relevant meals to those who need them most.”
Peter L. Slavin, MD, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai, said Cedars-Sinai’s food equity initiatives will continue to follow a community-driven, two-part approach that supports both immediate relief and long-term sustainability.
“We care deeply about the people of Los Angeles and Southern California,” said Slavin, the David and Meredith Kaplan Presidential Chair. “We understand that good health and wellbeing require a variety of needs, including effective medical care and the most fundamental necessities, like food and shelter. Our initiatives reflect Cedars-Sinai’s time-honored mission to care for our community and many others around the world.”
Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom: Cedars-Sinai Supports Local Nonprofits with $21 Million in Grants