Food Equality Initiative

Background

The Food Equality Initiative is a left-of-center nonprofit organization based in Kansas City that was founded by Emily Brown in 2014 to advocate increased funding for food-welfare programs and to offer a food pantry for individuals with food allergies or celiac disease. Brown founded it after her children were diagnosed with severe food allergies, and she reported that food pantries and welfare programs were insufficient for her to be able to provide her children with an appropriate diet. In 2021, the Food Equality Initiative expanded to offer its food pantry to include individuals with diseases that it reports can be treated with dietary changes. ¹

In 2024, the Food Equality Initiative reported distributing 9,289 pounds of food through its food banks and delivering 2,167 pounds of food to 424 families in Jackson, Missouri; Johnson, Kansas; and Wyandotte, Kansas areas that had members diagnosed with a diet-related illness and reported being food insecure. In its 2024 Impact Report, the Food Equality Initiative reported that it spent $300 per month per household for its food deliveries and claims that SNAP beneficiaries require an additional $500 per month in benefits to afford average-cost groceries. ²

Advocacy

The Food Equality Initiative advocates for increased funding for food assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). It claims that such funding increases are necessary to address food insecurity, citing research stating that SNAP recipients are three times as likely to die from diabetes. It also advocates administering benefits based on how ethnic minorities and lower-income individuals are more likely to suffer from what it describes as diet-related chronic diseases. ³

The Food Equality Initiative also advocates for “produce prescriptions” where individuals can receive free produce if they have diabetes, obesity, hypertension, or other health conditions related to diet. It advocates for programs that provide vouchers to recipients to be spent on produce and for using the “Food is Medicine” diet of Food is Medicine Massachusetts. ³ Food is Medicine Massachusetts advocates for using government funding to subsidize dietary interventions for individuals suffering from diet-related health conditions, claiming that a “holistic” approach to medicine incorporating dietary changes is a more effective way to treat chronic illnesses. ⁴

Food Equality Initiative founder Emily Brown advocates for increases in subsidies through food welfare programs by arguing that it is a “diversity and inclusion issue” that is harmful and discriminatory to individuals with dietary restrictions. It advocates for using the identity politics concept of intersectionality to determine welfare benefits and claims that individuals with dietary restrictions are required to purchase more expensive food substitutes like milk and flour substitutes. ¹

Activities

Food Delivery Program

Food Is Medicine Access Home (FIMH) is a Food Equality Initiative program that provides home-delivered groceries for individuals it claims are food insecure, and it advocates for the concept of “food as medicine.” The program is administered in Jackson, Missouri; Johnson, Kansas; and Wyandotte, Kansas through partner organizations. ⁵

FIMH’s webpage states eligible participants must include persons with a “prescribed diet-treated condition,” listing prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, food allergies, and celiac disease as example conditions. To meet its food insecurity requirement, participants must confirm in a screener that they at any point in the previous 12 months had run out of money for food or “were worried” they would run out of food before getting more money. ⁵

People

The Food Equality Initiative was founded by Emily Brown, a mother of children with dietary restrictions after claiming that her welfare benefits were insufficient to afford groceries for her children with dietary restrictions. ¹ Brown worked as CEO until the end of 2021 when she stepped down to found and lead a for-profit organization called Free From Market that delivers groceries to individuals with dietary restrictions. Starting in 2022, Brown was replaced by then-Food Equality Initiative director of operations Erin Martinez as CEO. ⁶

Financials

In 2023, the Food Equality Initiative reported $347,856 in total revenue, $112,724 of which came from grants received to fund its food pantry and voucher programs. It also reported $402,437 in total expenses, including $175,534 for its food pantry and voucher programs. ^{7 8}