Project Open Hand

Older adults (60+ years) and adults with disabilities (18-59 years) enjoy a warm, nutritious meal at congregate sites operated by Project Open Hand's Community Nutrition Program and situated in community centers located across San Francsico. As the largest congregate meal provider for these populations in San Francisco, these meals are available 365 days a year through our Community Nutrition Program. Older adults and adults with disabilities who visit our sites experience decreased risks of isolation and loneliness and enjoy the positive effects of social integration and improved quality of life. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, our congregate meal services have a takeaway model in addition to the dine-in option. This allows for client choice and better meets the needs of our community.

POH is the fiscal sponsor of the California Food is Medicine Coalition (CalFIMC). POH and CalFIMC lead policy and advocacy efforts to integrate medically tailored meal (MTM) interventions into health care services, eligible for payments. This advocacy has been instrumental in the CalAIM expansion to include medically tailored nutrition interventions into Community Supports in California for eligible Medi-Cal populations. Subsequently, Project Open Hand has been working with managed care plans in Alameda County, Contra Costa County and San Francisco County since 2022 broadening its reach. This has led to strong partnership with our local health plans to better support shared patient populations and has increase meal and grocery access to a large volume of new clients and health plan members.

"Project Open Hand's Wellness Program provides medically supportive nutrition interventions for people that have a chronic health conditions in San Francisco, Alameda County, Contra Costa County and some parts of Sacramento. Our medically tailored services are accessed through our grocery centers in San Francisco and Oakland, satellite grocery center locations in San Francisco, and weekly home delivery of meals and groceries. As part of our nutrition interventions, all clients have access to not only our meals and groceries but educational services offered through our Nutrition Services team. This includes individual counseling sessions with our Registered Dietitians, cooking demonstrations, food demonstrations and various other classes and resources. Taking a client-centered approach in our nutrition services, our team is also available to provide added support to clients needing assistance and linkage to other beneficial resources that address various social determinants of health.