DoorDash Partnering With Mount Vernon Mayor to Broaden Food Access

MOUNT VERNON, NY — DoorDash has partnered with mayors across the U.S. in a unique program intended to broaden food access in their communities, including Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard.

As part of a commitment to broaden food access, DoorDash will work with 18 mayors across the country to help reduce food insecurity. The program is tied to DoorDash’s support of the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. This is only the second time in the history of the U.S. that the conference has been held and DoorDash and local leaders are joining together to advance the conference’s goal of solving hunger by 2030.

DoorDash’s Project DASH — which is responsible more than 2.5 million deliveries of over 50 million meals to people in need — will support local food banks, food pantries, and other community organizations through delivery, technology, data, and gift cards to serve vulnerable families struggling with food insecurity.

DoorDash has partnered with:

• Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard – Mount Vernon, New York
• Mayor Kathy Sheehan – Albany, New York
• Mayor Malik Evans – Rochester, New York
• Mayor Luke Bronin – Hartford, Connecticut
• Mayor André Sayegh – Paterson, New Jersey
• Mayor Vic Carstarphen – Camden City, New Jersey
• Mayor John Giles - Mesa, Arizona
• Mayor Regina Romero - Tucson, Arizona
• Mayor Libby Schaaf - Oakland, California
• Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson - Riverside, California
• Mayor Michael Hancock - Denver, Colorado
• Mayor Jane Castor – Tampa, Florida
• Mayor Andre Dickens – Atlanta, Georgia
• Mayor Brandon Scott – Baltimore, Maryland
• Mayor Andrew Ginther – Columbus, Ohio
• Mayor Donald Grebien – Pawtucket, Rhode Island
• Mayor Levar Stoney – Richmond, Virginia
• Mayor Victoria Woodards – Tacoma, Washington.

DoorDash will support these cities in their efforts to broaden food access by providing $1 million in Community Credits gift cards, proprietary DoorDash data on local food access needs, direct funding for in-kind delivery of charitable food, and DoorDash logistics via Project DASH to meet the unique needs of each community.

"The White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health places a spotlight on the urgent need for collaboration across the public and private sectors to break down barriers to food access," DoorDash VP Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean explained. "Since 2018, DoorDash has helped broaden food access through Project DASH by empowering food banks, food pantries, and other social impact organizations to better serve people experiencing food insecurity through local delivery. We’re proud to partner with mayors across the United States by providing resources to help combat hunger and support for local communities."

While the pandemic put a spotlight on hunger in the U.S., the need for solutions that help people experiencing food insecurity remain, according to DoorDash. In 2021, more than 34 million people, including 9 million children, faced food insecurity. Barriers to food access are a major major driving force of food insecurity, which can include lack of transit, a disability, as well as work or child care commitments.

Local delivery can help break down these barriers and broaden food access by ensuring that food travels to families in need – not the other way around. That’s the mission of Project DASH, the DoorDash social program aimed at strengthening access to food in local communities across the country.

Since 2018, Project DASH has helped broaden food access in local communities, according to the company. Project DASH uses the same technology available to DoorDash’s merchants to empower community organizations to reach their clients and increase access to food and other important resources in their communities.

As of September 2022, Project DASH was behind more than 2.5 million deliveries of an estimated over 50 million meals across the U.S. and Canada, and actively partners with more than 50 food banks in the Feeding America network.

As part of the announcement, DoorDash also unveiled data illustrating the impact of Project DASH charitable deliveries in various communities across the U.S.:

• In 2021, Project DASH powered 885,000 deliveries to people in need. This would take consumers an estimated 660,000 total hours and cost them over $800,000 in fuel if they traveled by car to pick up items themselves. This estimate could be higher if the wait time at the food bank or the additional time required for those using public transport were considered.
• To date, 61 percent of Project DASH deliveries (approximately 30+ million meals) were made to low-income communities, including more than 4.5 million meals to communities deemed as food deserts.
• Up to now, Project DASH powered the delivery of approximately 18.8 million estimated meals which were made to census tracts with a higher rate of households receiving SNAP/EBT than the national average (11.4 percent).
• To date, Project DASH powered the delivery of approximately 15 million estimated meals which were made to census tracts with a higher rate of people with disabilities living there than the national average (12.7 percent)

The White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health is considered just the first step in developing a coordinated strategy to end hunger, improve nutrition and physical activity and close the socio-economic disparities surrounding these challenges in the U.S.

DoorDash said they are committed to working with the current administration and other partners in the public and private sectors to address the urgent needs of people experiencing food insecurity. Noting that ending hunger is a monumental challenge that will take coordination and commitment from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors

Recently, DoorDash released a whitepaper, Broadening Food Access Through Innovative Public Policy, outlining the importance of broadening food access through local delivery and other opportunities to expand and invest in anti-hunger programs.