A Nantucket group is launching a new effort to fight food insecurity.
The Nantucket Resource Partnership, which once had a broader human-service mission, is rebranding itself as Nourish Nantucket and focusing on food.
Brook Mohr, president of the nonprofit’s board, says hunger on the island is more widespread than many people realize.
Contrary to stereotype, Nantucket is socioeconomically diverse — in part because of its isolation: To work here, you have to live here, she said.
Because island housing costs are high, some residents have to divert food money to shelter.
“I hate the idea that folks are making choices and not being able to feed their families,” she said. “That just — that keeps me up at night.”
One in five year-round residents struggles with food insecurity, according to the group.
State education data show more than a third of students in the Nantucket public schools come from families who have low income.
“As our director likes to say, you can't work your way out of housing and food insecurity on Nantucket,” Mohr said. “There's just not enough hours in the day to make enough to compensate for the cost of living here.”
Nourish Nantucket aims to integrate — but not merge — the island’s 12 food-related programs and raise money to help them, making the food-security system more efficient and sustainable.
The group built an online tool for staff at more than 20 local organizations to match clients with those programs.
“This summer we can really go out and raise awareness in a big way, which hopefully then leads us into being able to fundraise,” she said.
Founded in 2022, the Nantucket Resource Partnership spent its first few years researching community needs and building fundraising capacity.
People involved in the organization hope to fill the unmet need they discovered through that research, Mohr said.
The group has one full-time and one half-time employee and a volunteer board. It also created a volunteer advisory council for Nourish Nantucket.
