Dohmen Company Foundation Pledges $75 Million Investment to Eliminate Diet-Related Disease
Commitment Unveiled During White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health
By Carole Pfeil
MILWAUKEE, Sept. 28, 2022 -- Dohmen Company Foundation Chairperson Cynthia LaConte announced today that the Foundation has pledged $75 million over seven years to advance its vision of life without diet-related disease. The commitment was spotlighted during the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition & Health on September 28. President Biden has committed to advancing a national strategy to end hunger, improve healthy eating and physical activity, and eliminate disparities surrounding them by 2030.
"We believe the solution to improve the health of our nation is surprisingly simple. It's food. The very thing that's making us sick can become our prescription to health," said LaConte. "Our unprecedented $75 million investment in comprehensive healthy food solutions and healthy eating education will strive to reduce escalating rates of diet related disease that are costing American lives."
Foundation President and CEO Rachel Roller, who will represent the Dohmen Company Foundation at the Conference, said the Foundation will invest $75 million over the next seven years to design and operationalize three initiatives that promote "food as medicine" and reduce the morbidity of diet-related disease. The Foundation will launch:
- Food For Health, a new Wisconsin public charity that will provide fresh medically tailored meals, people-centered health coaching, and nutrition education to economically disadvantaged populations;
- The Food Benefit Company, a mission-oriented social enterprise that will contract with companies to provide employees with nutrition coaching, biometric screening, and fresh food delivery;
- and a nationwide public awareness campaign to promote healthier food choices, which the Foundation will fund through a $10 million matching grant challenge.
"The Foundation and White House commitments underscore the power of private and public partnerships to collectively accelerate health improvement. We applaud the Biden Administration for advancing a comprehensive strategy to address poor diet, the leading risk factor for death in the United States. The Dohmen Company Foundation is doing its part to empower consumers to make the right food choices through education, awareness, and accessibility to healthy food. Together we can build a healthier and more equitable future for our nation," said Roller.
The focus of the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health on September 28, 2022, is to announce a national strategy to end hunger, reduce diet-related diseases by improving healthy eating and physical activity, and eliminate disparities surrounding them by 2030. In conjunction with the conference, a National Policy Strategy has been released in advance of the Conference that lays out steps the government will be taking and catalyzes the public and private sectors to address the intersections between food, hunger, nutrition, and health. Watch the Conference live — and learn about the soon-to-be released National Strategy for ending hunger and reducing diet-related diseases and disparities and The Dohmen Company Foundation's role in this national movement.