Access to nutritious food is essential for preventing chronic disease and promoting long-term health, yet many individuals live in food-insecure environments that increase their risk. FlourishRx supports at-risk populations, such as those with prediabetes, diabetes, prehypertension, and hypertension, and addresses upstream factors by working with children and adolescents impacted by complex trauma.
Our approach includes food-as-medicine education, partnerships with healthcare providers, and collaboration with local farmers and community gardens. Participants receive health-focused resources including cooking, farming, and gardening tools while also establishing connection to clinical care. Additionally, this initiative works to establish a sustainable financial model for growers and food producers as key partners in addressing food insecurity.
Why is this needed?
Our community continues to face significant health disparities, with certain populations experiencing higher rates of illness and premature death. At the same time, many local farmers, growers, and community gardens struggle to remain financially sustainable while working to combat food apartheid. This program responds to these urgent challenges by equipping residents with skills that support healthier lifestyles, while also providing a sustainable model to help food producers continue their vital work.
What’s happening with this work in the next 6-12 months?
Over the next year, we will engage in several strategic activities to advance food access and health equity within the community. These include participating in at least one community event each month to foster support and gather data on local produce prescription programs, with the objective of gaining a comprehensive understanding of community needs. Provider surveys will be administered at one of our clinical partner sites to evaluate provider awareness and involvement in produce prescription initiatives.
Additionally, we will offer food preservation workshops, and classes focused on farming and gardening skills to equip community members with practical tools for sustainable food access and improved health.
We are collaborating with the Little Africa Food Co-op to support the launch of a community-based produce market, and partnering with the Urban Farming Collective to highlight urban farmers by expanding their product reach through an online grocery platform. To address transportation barriers, we will work with food delivery services and food trucks. Collectively, these efforts aim to strengthen the connection between healthcare, food systems, and community well-being.
Collaborators
- Community organizers/organizations
- MetroHealth
- Cleveland Clinic
- Care Providers (Nurse Practitioners, PAs and Physicians, Case workers, CHWs)
- Local farmers/gardens
- Little Africa Food Co-Op
- Urban Farming Collective
- Congress members
- Greater Cleveland Food Bank
- Nourish & Flourish Cleveland
- Coit Road Farmers Market
- Collinwood Friends Community Garden
- Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition (NEOBHC)
How can you get involved?
We are looking for individuals with expertise in marketing, community organizing, gardening, farming, facilitating, cooking, repair/restoration, and fundraising. We are also asking farmers and gardeners to commit to at least two crops that can be sold at our market.
BreJona Whitlock
BreJona is a food justice coordinator, Full Spectrum Doula, and communications strategist committed to advancing health equity in low-income communities. Drawing from lived experience and community-rooted wisdom, BreJona designs and leads initiatives that address the social determinants of health, particularly for individuals living in food-insecure environments. Their approach is grounded in sustainability, cultural preservation, and mutual aid. Through projects like Nourish and Flourish, they empower communities with hands-on skills in food preservation, land stewardship, and ancestral practices to help people reclaim relationships with food, wellness, and one another.
She seeks to develop her idea for a produce prescription program by teaching people to recognize food as medicine and empowering patients with the resources to make sustainable dietary changes, while also supporting local growers and food systems. Her vision is one where health care starts in the community; where healing happens in kitchens, gardens, and communal spaces. She believes transformation happens one garden at a time and her work is a testament to what’s possible when we center community voice, cultural knowledge, and joy in the fight for justice.
Kedon Newton
Kedon is an Addiction Medicine Psychiatrist at Cleveland Clinic. Kedon seeks to develop his idea for a produce prescription program by leveraging partnership with healthcare organizations, food justice leaders, community organizations and local food hub networks.
This team graduated from the REACH Fellowship, a program of the Mary Ann Swetland Center for Environmental Health. For more information about the REACH Fellowship, click here.