Special to the Patriot-Bridge
Mayor Michelle Wu gathered with partners of the Greater Boston Collaborative Food Access Hub for a one-year progress update on the Hub’s operations as partners work to address food insecurity exacerbated by the federal government shutdown and delay in SNAP benefits. In its first year of operations, the Food Access Hub served an average of 20,000 individuals every month, distributing almost 62,000 pounds of produce, on average, every single week. In one year, organizations collaborating through the Food Access Hub have distributed over 1,700,000 pounds of food to residents in need, which is the equivalent of almost 1.5 million meals made possible. The Food Access Hub also recovered 164,000 pounds of food that would have otherwise been wasted, rescuing the equivalent of 4 tractor trailers filled with food from being sent to landfills.
The Greater Boston Collaborative Food Access Hub is a 27,000 square-foot warehouse space managed by the YMCA of Greater Boston, in partnership with 8 anti-poverty, food access, and food recovery organizations, with support from the City of Boston’s Office of Food Justice and Mass General Brigham and serves as a regional center for recovering, storing, and distributing fresh and healthy food to address food insecurity across Boston. Located at 30 Northampton Street in Roxbury, the Hub supports the Wu Administration’s strategy of unlocking larger-scale recovery from food manufacturing and distribution companies not previously possible without this scale of storage and collaboration, while simultaneously supporting expanded access to fresh produce for food distribution sites around the City.
“In the face of growing food insecurity, our city departments and community partners have worked tirelessly to protect our residents and coordinate all available resources,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “I am grateful for the many partners who have gone above and beyond to collaborate. The Greater Boston Collaborate Food Access Hub has helped expand our capacity to ensure every family in Boston has access to the nutritious food they need to be happy, healthy, and safe.”
The emergency food system in Boston faced unprecedented demand during the pandemic and remains strained today. As food prices continue to soar, and Boston faces some of the highest grocery prices in the country, the need for storage — particularly cold storage — is critical. The Food Access Hub takes direct action on several recommendations from the Office of Food Justice’s Food Recovery Assessment Report, released in November 2024, which identified an increased need for collaboration and cold storage infrastructure among organizations serving food insecure residents. In addition to supporting the Hub, the Office of Food Justice also awarded 12 grants, totaling $500,000, to support neighborhood-based food distribution non-profits in procuring expanded cold storage for perishable food, including recovered and donated food.
The Food Access Hub partnership dovetails with action earlier this month by the City and the Boston Foundation to launch a Fund to keep food on the table for residents impacted by the federal uncertainty surrounding SNAP funding. Two weeks ago, the City and the Foundation seeded the effort with an initial $1 million, and thanks to the Boston Foundation and generous partners, commitments to the Fund have grown to $3.2 million. To-date, $2 million has been distributed to the Greater Boston Food Bank and more than 60 food pantries and community-based organizations across Boston and the region. As part of this effort, the YMCA of Greater Boston has also received funds to work with a dozen partners to deliver more than 10,000 grocery gift cards to residents to purchase food at local stores.
“Mayor Wu’s swift, compassionate leadership in this moment of federal failure reflects the best of our communities values, and the Boston Foundation is proud to stand with her—and with our remarkable community of donors—to ensure our neighbors don’t go hungry,” said Lee Pelton, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation. “Together, we are rallying the generosity and commitment of this community to support the food banks, pantries, and frontline organizations working tirelessly to make sure every family in Greater Boston has fresh and healthy food.”
According to the National Resource Defense Council, an estimated 130,000 tons of food are wasted in Boston each year from the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors, comprising over 25 percent of all waste. In 2023, the City of Boston signed onto the Milan Food Policy Pact, the world’s first international agreement focused on urban food policies, guiding cities toward sustainable, equitable food systems. In March 2024, Mayor Wu and Boston City Council allocated $2 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act to launch the Food Access Hub — a pilot project based on Milan, Italy’s innovative Food Waste Hubs — and support cold storage at additional sites across the City. Mass General Brigham later committed $3 million in September 2025 to support the project over 5 years and will evaluate how the project impacts local health outcomes.
The YMCA of Greater Boston has partnered with 30 local food access, food recovery, and food system organizations to develop a strategy and collaborative structures, leased the former Amazon warehouse at 30 Northampton Street with 5,500 square feet of refrigeration and freezer space, and begun working with partners to expand the Food Access Hub’s food recovery and distribution operations.
“Recent events even further illustrate how critical it is that we have the most innovative, collaborative, efficient food system possible to meet the needs of our neighbors,” said David Shapiro, President and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Boston. “This collaborative food hub is more than a storage and distribution center — it’s a model for how we can remove barriers, share capacity, and collaborate, as individuals and organizations, to reduce waste, increase access to fresh and nutritious foods, and strengthen the resilience of communities across Boston. None of this happens alone. We are grateful to Mayor Wu, the City Council, Mass General Brigham, and our partners across the city who believe, as we do, that reliable access to healthy food is a fundamental part of community health and thriving.”
“At Mass General Brigham, we believe that food is medicine and that investing in partnerships like the Food Access Hub strengthens the foundation for long-term health,” said Dr. Elsie Taveras, Chief Community Health and Health Equity Officer at Mass General Brigham. “Our research shows that one in three Massachusetts residents faces food insecurity, underscoring how urgent this work is. By embedding these efforts directly in the neighborhoods we serve and collaborating with organizations that know these communities best, we can make nutritious food more accessible, support better management of chronic disease, and move closer to creating a healthier Boston for everyone.”
“Like many cities around the world, far too much food comes to Boston but does not get consumed, which is why 8 percent of all global carbon emissions come from food waste,” said Brian Swett, Chief Climate Officer for the City of Boston. “This Hub is a win-win for Boston, putting healthy and nutritious food on the tables of families in need while simultaneously reducing our City’s carbon footprint.”
“The model of the Greater Boston Collaborative Food Access Hub has demonstrated the value of investment in a more resilient and collaborative food system that creates collaboration that builds on our strengths,” said Aliza Wasserman, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Food Justice. “We intend to continue our progress until we have drastically reduced the amount of fresh, healthy food that goes to waste while our neighbors struggle to afford nutritious, culturally relevant food.”
“Our work to address skyrocketing food insecurity by maximizing scaled food recovery opportunities is drastically improved through this partnership” said Rachel Albert, Executive Director of Food Link. “The radical collaboration in every phase from visioning to operations will allow us to maximize this infrastructure investment.”
The Greater Boston YMCA and the City of Boston are currently working with partners across the city to develop a network with innovative, grocery-style pilot distribution centers for fresh food. The City anticipates this phase of the pilot project to begin in early 2026.