ProHealth Connect Partners with mRelief to Help Shoppers Qualify for SNAP at Their Local Grocer

‍ProHealth Connect is proud to announce the launch of the RISE™ (Retail Intelligence for Screening & Engagement) Food Access Initiative. Developed in close partnership with mRelief, this groundbreaking initiative empowers community-based retailers to serve their neighbors by increasing access to programs like SNAP. As trusted pillars in their communities independent retailers can better understand and reach out to underserved people in their communities than centralized programs. The RISE initiative looks to leverage this trust to help people connect with essential nutrition assistance, wellness resources, and benefit navigation support. 

Addressing a Critical Community Challenge

Across the nation, millions of eligible Americans remain unenrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) due to a simple lack of awareness or complex enrollment processes. Eligible seniors, working families, and underserved neighborhoods needlessly suffer from food insecurity. 

We’ve long recognized at ProHealth Connect that independent retailers are deeply embedded within the fabric of the neighborhoods they serve. They provide convenient access, culturally relevant foods, and a level of neighborhood trust that national organizations cannot replicate. This unique position makes local retailers the ideal bridge to connect families in need with available public benefits.

How the RISE™ Initiative Works

The RISE™ initiative is structured to integrate seamlessly into existing retail environments without adding administrative burdens to store staff or slowing down checkout:

1. High-Visibility Signage: Consumers encounter clear, supportive educational signage displayed within participating retail locations.
2. Instant Digital Access: Customers use their mobile devices to scan a unique in-store QR code or text a dedicated keyword.
3. Private, Multilingual Screening: The digital link securely guides the consumer to the mRelief platform, which conducts a rapid, confidential, and multilingual SNAP eligibility screening.
4. Immediate Next Steps: Shoppers receive immediate, private guidance on their likely eligibility and clear instructions on how to proceed with resource navigation.

By leveraging a simple, user-driven framework, participating stores can serve as gateways to SNAP access without any additional complexity or administrative burden. Retailers and their employees are not responsible for determining eligibility, processing applications, or collecting personal data, ensuring zero compliance risk or added operational overhead.

Tangible Benefits for Independent Retailers

Aligning your business with the RISE™ Food Access Initiative unlocks significant strategic value that strengthens your competitive position in the local marketplace:

• Enhanced Customer Trust: Formally position your store as a meaningful community resource that actively cares about the health and financial well-being of its patrons.
• Stronger Customer Loyalty: Helping families privately maximize their nutritional purchasing power builds deep, lasting goodwill and stabilizes household food budgets.
• Increased Neighborhood Relevance: Solidify your business's role as a vital piece of neighborhood infrastructure, reinforcing your value to customers and community leaders alike.

A Vision for a Retail-Centered Future of Health

Our initial rollout of the RISE™ initiative will focus on high-impact pilot markets characterized by a strong density of independent retailers and diverse populations, including regions across New York, California, Texas, Florida, and Illinois to start. 

However, SNAP eligibility screening is merely the foundational layer of a much larger vision. ProHealth Connect has long seen how important independent, local retailers are to their communities. People in those communities are valuing their local retailers more than ever before, not simply as retail locations, but as places of trusted exchange of news, information, and goings-on relevant to the neighborhood. We believe that this is not only an inevitable future trend, but a long overdue grassroots restoration of community health, values, and trust. 

As we work to build healthier, more resilient communities, we expect that with the success of RISE that this is only the first of many yet to come. ProHealth is proud to partner with mRelief on this initiative to bridge the gap between these critical programs and the families in our neighborhoods who need them most.

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