This morning, the government of Montgomery County, Maryland, and Instacart unveiled a “groundbreaking” public-private partnership that will leverage Instacart’s Health Fresh Funds and Virtual Storefronts technologies to distribute up to $1.8 million in county online grocery grants to area families who earn too much to qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program but too little to regularly afford nutritious food.
According to a Montgomery County study, a family of four in the area must earn nearly $120,000 annually to pay for food, child care, housing and other basic needs—an enormous burden that local households, which total at least 36,000 children, cannot handle. The result is widespread food insecurity.
The MC Groceries program, created by Instacart and Montgomery Country as part of a special appropriation in the 2024 federal budget for the Office of Food Systems Resilience, is designed to help close this “SNAP gap” by providing participating families with $100 per month per child under 18 and up to $400 from Instacart Health Fresh Funds.
With online grocery grants, you can purchase food and other essentials and have them delivered or picked up at any of 80+ grocery stores in 20 locations in Montgomery County that partner with Instacart.
“The dignity of choice is crucial”: Instacart technology offers convenience without restrictions
To simplify the shopping experience, Montgomery County is using Instacart’s Virtual Storefront technology to create a custom landing page with healthy, county-selected products that can be purchased with the grant, including fresh and frozen produce, meat, dairy, pantry staples and more. While there are some restrictions, such as alcohol, on what the grants cover, participants are not limited to the items promoted in the MC Groceries Virtual Storefront.
“When we think about food access solutions, the dignity of choice is critical,” Casey Aden-Wansbury, vice president of policy and government affairs at Instacart, told FoodNavigator-USA. “That was a key consideration for us as we developed our Instacart Health technologies. That is, how can we not only give people food, but empower them to choose the foods that are right for their families and meet their individual tastes, budgets, cultural preferences and health needs.”
Aden-Wansbury added, “For example, our Instacart Health Fresh Funds tool—one of the technologies the county is using to support this program—allows individuals to choose the exact foods that meet their family’s needs from the local retailers they know and trust. Through this dignity of choice and individual empowerment, we can create lasting, sustainable solutions to improve food security.”
Additionally, Instacart’s delivery capabilities may give participants a wider choice of shopping options, allowing them to order from stores that may not have been as easily accessible in person.
“We know that hunger and food security are often linked to health issues, mobility challenges, transportation barriers, time constraints and more. And this is where we’ve seen that online grocery shopping and delivery play such an important role for families who may not be able to go to a store in person,” explained Aden-Wansbury.
Citing a recent study by Instacart, No Kid Hungry and the University of Kentucky, Aden-Wansbury added that online grocery shopping helps low-income families manage their budgets, save time, reduce stress and purchase healthier foods.
“That’s why we were so impressed with Montgomery County’s ingenuity and vision in addressing these challenges holistically and their vision to leverage the power of online grocery shopping and delivery to support local families,” added Aden-Wansbury.
MC Groceries is a role model for supporting families, local grocers and the economy
The program – and the public-private partnership – came about in late 2023 after Montgomery County learned about Instacart Health’s tools and technologies, including its Fresh Funds (or online grocery shopping grant opportunities) and Virtual Storefronts, which launched in 2022.
County officials and Instacart worked closely — and quickly — to develop the MC Groceries program to help alleviate food insecurity among Montgomery Country residents whose household income is at or below 400% of the federal poverty level, who do not receive SNAP benefits and have at least one child under the age of 18.
According to Instacart, in less than a month since the program launched, MC Groceries participants have placed more than 700 grocery orders containing more than 12,000 nutritious foods and beverages using their Instacart Health Fresh Funds.
“While every state, county and community faces unique food supply challenges, we believe this partnership between Instacart and Montgomery County represents a model that can be adapted and replicated to support families across the country experiencing food insecurity. It demonstrates how local expertise and government ingenuity, combined with our Instacart Health technology, can create new and sustainable solutions to long-standing food supply and food security challenges,” said Aden-Wansbury.
“We know from our conversations that many government leaders are looking for innovative solutions to these problems,” added Aden-Wansbury. “We are ready to work with any government official who wants to address these challenges in their community, and I would encourage them to reach out to me or our team at any time.”
The partnership with Montgomery County is just one example of how Instacart is using its technology to combat food insecurity in the United States in collaboration with local governments, nonprofits, academia and the private sector.
For example, Instacart recently expanded its Instacart Health Fresh Funds to support more than 1,000 families experiencing food insecurity in Chicago, New Orleans and Wichita, Kansas, as part of its work with the Partnership for a Healthier America.
