17 Million Servings: Building the Evidence Base for the Good Food at Home Program
Overview
Access to healthful food supports to better health, but access to affordable produce can be an obstacle for some Americans. Altarum has partnered with Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) to evaluate Good Food at Home, an initiative designed to help families access and consume more fruits and vegetables. What began as a produce-box program serving communities across the country has evolved into a broader effort to identify sustainable approaches to improving food access.
Challenge: Evidence for an Evolving Program
The initiative started as a produce box distribution program implemented in 29 cities across the United States, providing more than 17 million servings of fresh fruits and vegetables to tens of thousands of families. The model has transitioned to a fruit and vegetable incentive program where participants receive funds each month to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables.
PHA needed evidence to understand which approaches best supported participants and where adjustments were needed.
Solution: Longitudinal Evaluations
Altarum, working alongside PHA, evaluated Good Food at Home as it evolved, generating evidence to guide program decisions at each stage. We first evaluated the original produce-box model through a longitudinal study that examined changes in participants' fruit and vegetable consumption over time. As the program shifted toward incentive-based approaches, we expanded our work to include participant surveys, focus groups, and analyses of purchasing data. These evaluations helped PHA understand how program design choices, from incentive amounts to redemption options, influenced how participants purchased and used fruits and vegetables.
Results: A Data-Driven National Model
Findings from Altarum’s evaluations have informed programmatic decisions at each stage of Good Food at Home’s evolution, including shifts from produce box distribution to incentive‑based models and adjustments to incentive amounts, redemption options, and eligible foods. This evidence has helped PHA determine which approaches work best for the families the program serves.
Altarum’s work has positioned Good Food at Home as a data‑driven national model and continues to inform future program design, dissemination, and integration with broader nutrition security efforts.
Read more about our results on PHA’s website and published results from our produce box study in CDC’s Preventing Chronic Disease journal. Our Indianapolis study comparing the incentive model at brick-and-mortar stores versus online was published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.
Altarum created a framework that PHA leveraged into a leading national program. They advised us on practices and methods that created a body of evidence that shines above our peers. We have, together, influenced the health behaviors and beliefs of thousands, and established a new dynamic among the charitable and private sector.
— Michael Waddle, Senior Vice President of Programs, Partnership for a Healthier America