Part of the Food Policy Snapshot Series
Policy name: Tangelo mobile app
Overview: North Carolina Cooperative Extension – Wake County Center and Wake County Government have partnered with the national food benefits platform Tangelo to distribute food benefits to at-risk community members.
Location: Wake County, North Carolina, (County Seat: Raleigh)
Population: 1.2 million in Wake County; 500 families participating in this pilot program
Food policy category: Food insecurity
Program goals: To provide food benefits and fresh, culturally relevant foods to food-insecure individuals.
How it works: Tangelo is a national food benefits platform and mobile app that partners with government, healthcare, universities, employers, and non-profits to create food benefits for community members. Wake County has worked with Tangelo to develop member-eligibility criteria (which include food insecurity and/or lack of transportation), design food benefits, and enroll members on the mobile app. When members first log onto the app, they are required to complete a social risk screener before redeeming benefits and having fresh food delivered to their home twice a month.
A local Wake County supplier, The Produce Box, provides the healthy, culturally relevant food that members receive.
This is a pilot program that will run through February 2022 with the option of continuing into the future.
Progress to date: Five hundred families have been enrolled in the pilot program that runs from November 2021 through February 2022.
Why it is important: Twelve percent of the Wake County population, including 37,000 children under the age of 18, is food-insecure. Food insecurity can have negative consequences for both adults and children, such as:
- Greater risk of developing diet-related chronic diseases including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease
- Increased anxiety and depression
- Difficulty managing existing chronic diseases
- In children, increased risk of asthma, frequent illnesses, and poor academic performance.
Food insecurity is often associated with or exacerbated by a lack of access to healthy food in one’s community. The Tangelo platform helps food-insecure individuals purchase healthy foods at an affordable cost, without ever having to leave the house.
Program/Policy initiated: The pilot program began in late fall of 2021 and will run through February 2022.
Point of contact:
Matt Calabria, Chair, Wake County Board of Commissioners
Phone: 919-856-5576
Email
Similar practices: Tangelo works with governments and organizations across the country. to provide food benefits and healthy foods to those in need.
Evaluation: Evaluation has not yet been completed.
Learn more:
- Food Insecurity and Child Health (American Academy of Pediatrics)
- Food Stamps, Food Insecurity, and Health Outcomes Among Elderly Americans (Preventive Medicine)
- Understanding Food Insecurity (Feeding America)
References:
- Food Benefits Platform Used to Address Food Insecurity within Local Communities (Wake County)
- The Impact of Food Insecurity on Health and Well-Being: A Conversation with Heather Hartline-Grafton, Dr.PH., R.D. (Food Research and Action Center)
- New Mobile App Helps Wake County Families in Need (CBS17)
- Tangelo (Tangelo)
- Tangelo Partners With Wake County to Help Fight Food Insecurity; Jeremy Cooley, Courtney Tellefsen, and Matt Calabria Comment (And Now U Know)
- Understanding Food Insecurity (Feeding America)
