Enhancing Food Access with Strategic Partnerships
Denver Public Library
Innovation Synopsis
The Denver Public Library (DPL) partners with The GrowHaus, a local, community-led nonprofit, to establish a grant-supported food box program at 14 branch library locations. Funded by the Healthy Food for Denver’s Kids (HFDK) initiative—a tax-funded program promoting healthy food and food-based education for Denver’s youth and their caregivers—this partnership has significantly expanded and enhanced the food box program. Initially launched independently by DPL, the inclusion of The GrowHaus since 2022 has allowed the program to flourish, providing youth employment opportunities and improving food access in neighborhoods disproportionately affected by a lack of healthy, fresh food. This collaboration leverages DPL's role as a trusted community connector and The GrowHaus' expertise in food delivery, creating a powerful synergy that helps advance food justice in local communities.
Challenge/Opportunity
During the pandemic, food insecurity in Denver surged, prompting DPL to leverage its role as a trusted community resource and launch a free food box program through the city-funded Healthy Food for Denver's Kids (HFDK) initiative. Recognizing its limited expertise in food distribution while also wanting to expand the program to meet an increased community need, DPL sought a partner with specialized knowledge in community food access. The GrowHaus, with its extensive experience, emerged as an ideal collaborator. DPL relaunched and expanded the food box program in partnership with The GrowHaus to provide 14 libraries with 400 fresh food boxes weekly and employ youth from local communities to help with food distribution. By sharing power and leadership in this partnership, both organizations advance their individual missions while optimizing service delivery, enhancing organizational learning, and fostering continuous process improvement.
Key Elements of Innovation
This collaboration highlights the transformative power of libraries partnering with community-led nonprofits, demonstrating how such alliances can effectively tackle pressing social issues. It sends a strong message to library advocates and allies about the value of integrating community expertise and power-sharing into library programs to ensure they are responsive and impactful. The program's leaders are from the served neighborhoods, bringing lived experience and ensuring strategies are practical and community-aligned. This thoughtful approach brings equity and a community voice to the program. This partnership serves as a model for future strategic library-nonprofit collaborations by demonstrating how libraries can effectively address community needs through strategic partnerships, showcasing the potential for leveraging existing community infrastructure and expertise to scale impact and enhance service delivery.
Achieved Outcomes
Since officially partnering in 2022, The GrowHaus and Denver Public Library have distributed over 30,000 fresh food boxes, providing more than 633,000 meals, to 14 library branches across Denver. Leveraging libraries, often located in areas lacking food access as distribution points, the program serves those most affected by systemic food injustice. Through this partnership, DPL and The GrowHaus address food insecurity, provide wellness education, and strengthen community leadership, aligning with their mission to create inclusive spaces and vital services, enhancing community-led information sharing and support.
Notably, through this partnership, The GrowHaus expanded its reach, hired additional community members, and secured additional partners, doubling the individuals served to over 5,000 and tripling its food access points to 21.
