Whole Foods Market, Austin, TX, has developed a nonprofit organization devoted to increasing access to nutritious food and providing health education in under served communities. The new Whole Cities Foundation will serve the public by building collaborative partnerships with community organizations, and fulfilling initiatives aimed at improving individual and overall community wellness in the U.S.
 
Walter Robb, Whole Foods Market co-CEO and Whole Cities Foundation board chairman stated, “Providing fresh, healthy food has been a driving force at Whole Foods Market for 35 years, and as we’ve continued to expand, it’s become increasingly clear that there is a real and immediate need for more healthy choices and educational resources in underserved communities.” He added, “We founded Whole Cities Foundation to create solutions together with like-minded local partner organizations that will have a meaningful and lasting impact on health and wellness in the communities we serve.”
 
According to Whole Foods, the foundation is an expression of the company’s core values — serving and supporting local and global communities and promoting the health of stakeholders through healthy eating education. The foundation’s objectives also stand to support the work of Whole Foods Market‘s individual store teams by providing additional resources for team members, customers, partner organizations and communities that are separate from the company’s for-profit business. 
 
Executive director Meredith Smith, who brings with her more than two decades of experience in nonprofit leadership and public health, will lead the Whole Cities Foundation. Ms. Smith will work to co-create a long-term vision for the Whole Cities Foundation, establish grant programs, and develop integrated community health outreach models with partner organizations in key markets throughout the country. Whole Foods Market has confirmed it will commit $1 million in seed funding to inaugurate the foundation.
 
The launch of the Whole Cities Foundation was announced at the grand opening of Whole Foods Market’s third New Orleans store. The new store is located inside theReFresh Project, a 60,000-square-foot development that aims to stimulate growth in New Orleans’ Broad Street commercial corridor, and to improve access to fresh, high-quality food and health-related programs in the community.
 
The foundation’s first collaborative partnership will be with the ReFresh Project, which was recently cited by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as one of the most promising models for eliminating food deserts, revitalizing neighborhoods and building healthier communities. The foundation has committed $100,000 to ReFresh’s Community Health Outreach Program and will work hand-in-hand with ReFresh, Tulane’s Prevention Research Center and other ReFresh partners on developing, piloting and evaluating the program, including the training and launching of community health workers.