For more than a decade, Instacart has been proud to serve Chicago – helping families access the groceries they need, supporting local retailers across the city, and creating flexible earning opportunities for shoppers in neighborhoods from Rogers Park to Roseland. We’ve also been proud to support local community partners on the front lines of nutrition insecurity. 

Today, we're excited to share the next chapter of that work in collaboration with Chicago-based Sanad and  Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA).

Since 2022, we've teamed up with PHA to address nutrition insecurity through Good Food at Home — first launching the program in Chicago in 2024 and running this innovative program ever since. Instacart's contribution to Good Food at Home equips families with monthly Fresh Fund grocery stipends to purchase fresh, frozen, and canned produce. We're now announcing a third cycle of that program: 250 nutrition-insecure families in the Chicago metro will receive $80/month in Fresh Funds for six months, plus a complimentary Instacart+ membership – bringing the total number of Chicago-area families we've supported through Good Food at Home to more than 1,000. 

How it comes to life: our local partner, Sanad, identifies nutrition-insecure families to receive a unique Fresh Funds code each month, which they can redeem on Instacart to purchase fruits and vegetables at 1,800+ retail banners. Families also receive a complimentary Instacart+ membership for the duration of the program, giving them access to free delivery and pickup on orders over $35. The result is a straightforward, dignified experience: a family gets a code, shops for the nutritious foods that work for them, and has groceries delivered directly to their doorstep or prepared  for pickup. This iteration also marks the longest program PHA and Instacart have run in Chicago to date — a deliberate choice to give families more time to build lasting habits and let the model prove its impact over a sustained period.

That is the heart of this work. Beyond proximity, food access requires affordability and trusted community partners who can connect families to support that works. In Chicago, the Good Food at Home program has shown what's possible when technology, local trust, and sustained investment come together.

Community Partners Make the Model Work

None of what we've built in Chicago would exist without the organizations on the ground who make the connection between families and support feel personal, rooted, and real.

PHA has reached more than 5,000 Chicago families through its broader food-access work since 2020, supported by relationships with 20+ neighborhood and city partners. Organizations like Sanad, for example, show up where neighbors already are, build trust over time, and invite people into programs in a way that actually works.

"Our partnership with Instacart and PHA has allowed us to bring real, tangible support to Chicago families in a way that feels accessible and dignified. Seeing neighbors use their Fresh Funds for the first time, and then again the next month, tells us something important: when the barriers are removed and the support is real, people build lasting habits. That's what this work is about." - Aber Abueid, Executive Director, Sanad

"This program has made a huge difference for our family and for so many people in my community. It has been especially helpful for families with young children who have a hard time going out to shop. I have a one-year-old son, and I’m also pregnant, so having groceries delivered directly to my home has been an incredible help. It has saved needed family from waiting for long periods at food distribution programs.” - Israa, member of participating family

“[This program] makes getting groceries much easier and more convenient. It’s helped so many people, and we are incredibly grateful for all the support it provides. Thank you so much for making such a positive impact on our lives and our community.” - Haneen, member of participating family

Grounded in Learnings From Across the Country

Chicago is one of 13 cities where Instacart and PHA have brought Good Food at Home to life, from Washington, D.C. to Sacramento, Indianapolis to Denver. In total, our partnership with PHA has now supported more than 17,000 people — and delivered more than 10 million servings of fruits and vegetables to families nationwide.

Each city deepens our understanding of how the model works and where it can go further, and we carry these learnings into each new community we enter. 

Recently, we launched the program in Oklahoma City, our newest location, where we're supporting 180 families for the first time in partnership with Hunger Free Oklahoma. Through their network, local School Resource Coordinators identified households that needed help over the summer – the stretch when the free school meals many children count on disappear – specifically families not eligible for Summer EBT. 

Oklahoma City is at the very beginning of this journey. Chicago is proof of where it can lead. 

Showing Up for Chicago Families Beyond This Program

Good Food at Home is one piece of a larger story of how Instacart shows up for Chicago families and communities. Through our partnership with Feeding America and local Chicago-area food banks, Instacart supports families facing summer hunger – a particularly acute challenge when school meals aren't available. Right now, we're proud to be working with the Greater Chicago Food Depository and, across the broader state, Northern Illinois Food Bank, as part of our largest ever Summer Hunger Community Carts campaign, supporting more than 300 Feeding America food bank partners and agencies across the country this summer. 

Community Carts reimagines the traditional food drive: anyone can go to instacart.com/donate to find their local food bank, shop from a curated list of the exact items that food bank needs most, and have those items delivered directly by Instacart shoppers. Every donation order has all service and delivery fees waived. Whether someone donates a few items or fills an entire cart, every contribution helps local food banks meet demand with what their communities actually need. If you're looking for a simple way to make a difference this summer, visit instacart.com/donate to find and support a food bank near you.

While these programs are certainly distinct in their mechanics, they are united in their purpose: meeting Chicago families where they are, with the kind of support that makes a real difference in the day-to-day.

Food Access Is One Piece of a Broader Health Commitment

Access to food is foundational. But we've also learned that access to the right food, which proactively supports health, manages chronic conditions, and reduces the burden of diet-related disease, is an equally important challenge. We’re working on that in Chicago, too. 

That's why Instacart has invested in partnerships that go beyond food access to food as medicine. Since 2023, as part of our Instacart Health initiative, we've partnered with Wellness West, a coalition of more than 40 of Chicago's health and social service institutions, to power their Food Connections program on the West Side. Nearly 500,000 Chicago residents live in food deserts, the vast majority on the South and West Sides. Through Food Connections, eligible patients receive a monthly grocery stipend of $79 through Instacart Health Fresh Funds to purchase nutritious foods for delivery or pickup.

The clinical results have been striking. In the program's second year, Wellness West served more than 850 patients and reported:

• 87% of patients with depression saw an improvement in their symptoms
• 79% of patients with hypertension improved their blood pressure
• 49% of patients with diabetes became controlled

This is what it looks like when food stops being separate from health care and starts being part of it. In Chicago, we're proud to be helping make that possible.

Why We'll Keep Investing

The work described here — Good Food at Home, Food Connections, Summer Hunger food drives, and years of investment in the city's food access infrastructure — reflects a sustained commitment to being a company that Chicago families, nonprofits, and local businesses can count on.

Food insecurity is not a problem that yields to a single solution or a single season of support. It requires showing up consistently, forging partnerships with the communities and organizations closest to the challenge, and investing in technology that makes access real and enduring. That is what we're committed to doing in Chicago, and what this next chapter of the Good Food at Home program represents. 

We're grateful to PHA, Sanad, and every organization working alongside us to get good food where it belongs – on more families' tables.