Since 2018, Project DASH has helped broaden food access in local communities across the U.S. and Canada, powering more than 3.5 million deliveries of over 60 million estimated meals to people experiencing food insecurity.
Providing the communities we serve with access to food is an integral part of what we do every day at DoorDash. Central to DoorDash’s work to broaden food access is Project DASH, our initiative to empower food banks, food pantries, and other social impact organizations to deliver charitable food to people experiencing food insecurity.
In 2021, more than 10 percent of U.S. households experienced food insecurity over the course of the year, and though COVID-19 shined a brighter light on the hunger emergency in the United States, food insecurity both predated the pandemic and continues as we head into 2023. To help address this urgent challenge, DoorDash has continued to expand Project DASH to meet the needs of our communities, now supporting hundreds of nonprofit partners. Today, we’re proud to announce that Project DASH has powered over 3.5 million deliveries of food on behalf of our nonprofit partners, estimated to amount to more than 60 million meals provided to people experiencing food insecurity across the U.S. and Canada.
2022 highlights include:
DoorDash’s Food Access Week
This past June, DoorDash held its first Food Access Week in Washington, D.C. Throughout the week, DoorDash hosted a series of events with stakeholders and policymakers to discuss how food access can be enhanced through innovative policy and public-private partnerships. These events included:
On Capitol Hill, DoorDash partnered with the Alliance to End Hunger and the Food Bank of Delaware to host a congressional staff briefing featuring Rep. Lisa Blunt-Rochester on food insecurity in conjunction with the Congressional Hunger Caucus.
DoorDash hosted an event with Bread for the City in Washington, D.C. alongside DCRA Director Ernest Chrappah and several DC Councilmembers to celebrate an estimated nearly 500,000 meals delivered to local residents and the ceremonial 30,000th Project DASH delivery of the partnership.
DoorDash also partnered with Punchbowl News to host a conversation with Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern, a food access champion, to discuss hunger-related policy opportunities. DoorDash’s VP of Communications & Policy Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean and Feeding America’s VP of Agriculture & Nutrition Government Relations Carrie Calvert also joined Punchbowl News’ Anna Palmer for a fireside chat on new practices to broaden food access.
White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health
This September, as the White House convened the first conference on hunger in more than 50 years, DoorDash announced a partnership with nearly 20 mayors from across the United States to help end hunger in their communities. Through this new initiative, 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.
DoorDash’s Whitepaper on Broadening Food Access Through Innovative Public Policy
Earlier this year, DoorDash published a whitepaper outlining our public policy goals and proposals to improve food access in the United States. These goals are centered on three pillars we believe will address food access, which is a core cause of food insecurity:
Increasing resources and support for food banks and food pantries;
expanding and investing in anti-hunger programs; and,
engaging local delivery as a tool to help end hunger, increase dignity, and meet communities’ nutrition needs.
Looking Ahead
Throughout the pandemic, COVID-19 illuminated the urgent challenge of hunger. Millions of people experience food insecurity every day, and the pandemic exacerbated challenges that affect vulnerable populations such as seniors, people with low incomes, immunocompromised individuals, and people with transportation or mobility challenges. Our investment in Project DASH began in 2018 when we first launched the program and has grown exponentially. In the two years prior to the pandemic, we powered about 20,000 deliveries on behalf of social impact partners; since 2020, we’ve powered over 3.5 million deliveries.
Local delivery should be an integrated part of a suite of solutions to increase food access in our communities. Food banks, food pantries, and other Project DASH partners have broadened the ways they serve their clients by including local delivery in their strategy and operations.
To increase access long-term and make this program more sustainable moving forward, DoorDash is evolving Project DASH to a model that includes support from DoorDash but also leverages diverse funding streams. We will provide donated, low-cost, and subsidized delivery services to our nonprofit partners, and continue to advocate for increased philanthropic and government funding to support the work of food banks. We’re excited to grow Project DASH in a way that continues expanding access while also exploring new products and services that can increase food access in local communities in new ways. We’re excited to work with all stakeholders, including our customers, philanthropic organizations, and governments, to help increase access to dignified and convenient local delivery of charitable food across communities.
“CARE is committed to tackling food insecurity and looks forward to continuing to work with Project DASH and local partners to ensure the most vulnerable communities have the necessary resources so that no one goes hungry,” said Amir Farokhi, Executive Director, US Programs, CARE.
