An Equitable, Inclusive, and Innovative Food Partnership
Supportive housing residents in San Francisco face persistently high levels of food insecurity, with implications for physical and mental health, housing stability, and wellbeing. To address this issue, DISH supportive housing partnered with La Cocina to deliver flexible, free meals to residents made by local, working-class women of color. This innovative solution creates food security and supports housing stability for residents while helping La Cocina entrepreneurs grow their businesses with stable revenue, skill-building, and culinary autonomy.
To tell the story of this partnership, DISH residents and La Cocina entrepreneurs worked with Engage R+D on a participatory evaluation of the program. DISH resident advisors were actively involved in designing the study, from creating research questions to piloting and distributing a survey and interpreting the results together. Likewise, La Cocina entrepreneurs worked with Engage R+D to design a study and conduct interviews with other entrepreneurs to hear about the impact of the program. Through this process, residents and entrepreneurs became active participants in advocating for the future of the program.
