Partner Impact Story:
Food Security

“Your one-stop resource for finding food-related education and job-training opportunities in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.”

Established by the Bainum Family Foundation (the foundation) in 2017, the Nutrition Navigator (formerly known as the Food Learning Locator) was created to connect community members to locally accessible food-related educational and job training programs. It featured more than 50 organizations, covering locations of nearly 300 education programs and more than 100 job-training programs. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many in-person programs were suspended and organizations pivoted in response to the crisis. Thus, the map went into hibernation, and the FS team  began a strategic process of identifying its new home.

With the help of a food systems consulting group, Local Concepts LLC, the FS team hosted community interest meetings that were open invitation but specifically marketed toward existing Food Learning Locator organizations, other key stakeholders in the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) area food space, and national organizations. These meetings were held to share detailed background about the site, discuss the benefits and responsibilities of hosting the site, outline what the transition process would look like, and what kind of support the foundation could provide. As our team traversed through this process, we were intentional about ensuring the new home for the Navigator was sustainable. Since the site was created to fill an identified gap in the food space, we wanted to ensure the need was consistently met — instead of simply hurrying to find a new host.

In the spring of 2022, The Food Trust (TFT) emerged as a natural partner to take over the site.  In addition to their programmatic alignment, they had ample experience working with diverse stakeholders concerning food access (e.g., direct community outreach, SNAP educators, public school systems, farmers markets, health care practitioners, etc.). The Food Trust also already hosts several other online platforms, which the Navigator complemented. To support the transition of the tool, the foundation engaged in a three-year partnership with The Food Trust, providing funding and technical support toward web development, marketing and outreach, data collection, and the launch.

In the fall of 2023, TFT relaunched the Navigator, expanding its original geographic scope to include the Philadelphia region and broadening its programmatic offerings to include points of access to healthy food, such as farmers markets, that offer nutrition incentive programs as a complement to its previous focus on food-related education and job training. In addition to an expanded focus on healthy food access, TFT enhanced the site to allow users to navigate it in various languages. Expanded filters allow users to search by language offered (e.g., Spanish, Vietnamese), specialized audience (e.g., seniors, caregivers), and by venue (e.g., farmers markets, houses of worship). And, to strengthen local connections, TFT established a vital partnership with Montgomery County Food Council to act as the local, on-the-ground partner to help manage and expand the Navigatorʼs offerings for the D.C. area.

Although thereʼs still work left to be done, the transition of the Nutrition Navigator to The Food Trust marks a significant step in our commitment to building knowledge and access to healthy food. The collaborative partnership between our FS team, TFT, and the Montgomery County Food Council has not only revived the original Food Learning Locator — it has expanded and amplified the impact it will make throughout the mid-Atlantic.

We encourage you to explore, engage with, and/or share the Nutrition Navigator with your networks.Visit the site at https://map.thefoodtrust.org/.