Winston-Salem, North Carolina has the most USDA-declared food deserts, low-income areas with poor access to full-service grocery stores, in all of Forsyth County. City officials have been trying for years to convince grocery store chain owners to move to these underserved neighborhoods, but with no luck. The state of North Carolina has been actively searching for solutions to get folks the healthy foods they need. On Monday March 24, 2014, the North Carolina state House Committee on Food Desert Zones met for a third time since February in an effort to study the problem and make recommendations on how to deal with it. Representatives from grassroots food co-operatives, food banks and mobile grocers, among other nutrition experts, spoke to the committee about their ...
Families living in parts of Rock Island, Illinois, one of the Quad Cities, don't have a nearby grocery store, which limits their healthy food options. The University of Illinois Extension-Rock Island County hopes to make it easier for these families to get fresh fruits and vegetables through their new initiative. Beginning in March 2014, a bus will pick up residents once a month and shuttle them to the Hy-Vee Food Store, 2930 18th Ave., and Aldi Foods, 1817 38th St.. The ride is free of charge, but that's not all. While they're on the bus, an Extension educator will talk about food, nutrition, wellness, and saving money. The bulk of the funding — about $14,000 — is from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Supplemental Nutritional Assistance ...
Communities in southwest Tampa often struggle to access healthy food, and this includes many Latino families. Nearby Florida Hospital recently did a full community health assessment of the area which found the top health issue in the neighborhood is diabetes. The assessment indicated that the problem stems largely from a lack of readily available, affordable and nutritious food. Wal-Mart, the nation's largest grocery, is opening up a handful of superstores in underserved areas in this community. Currently, Wal-Mart is targeting food deserts across the country in cooperation with first lady Michelle Obama’s campaign to end childhood obesity. Recently-opened Wal-Mart stores in St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Tampa also are inside or within one mile of USDA-designated food ...
Many residents in McLennan County, Texas struggle with diet-related diseases, like diabetes. In this county, where Latinos make up a quarter of the population, community partners are stepping up to identify solutions to these diet-related issues. Students from Baylor University in Waco, TX are canvassing the county during their spring 2014 semester, surveying 111 food stores in seven ZIP codes to assess the cost, availability, and quality of produce. A similar assessment was done in 2012 to assess if small convenience store owners had the capacity to offer fresh fruits and vegetables in their stores. That assessment found that concerns about spoilage and revenue loss kept many store owners from stocking fruits and vegetables. The results of the current study will be a part ...
North Philadelphia has seen hard times. Factories that closed years ago took money and jobs with them, leaving the community depressed and struggling with climbing rates of poverty and crime. A full-service grocery store that sold fresh fruits and vegetables did not exist. But the story is taking a new direction these days, and many folks in the community attribute that to the new supermarket. The new Brown's ShopRite, which sit where an abandoned building once did, finally opened its doors in August 2013, and the community has been praising it ever since. Besides creating jobs and hiring at-risk youth, the store offers high-quality fresh fruits and vegetables, something this neighborhood hasn't seen in a long time. With rates of childhood obesity on the rise, ...
UPDATE: Garcia's grocery store, Alba Snacks & Services, officially re-opened in March 2014, offering several new options of fresh fruit, like bananas and oranges, and healthy snack foods like applesauce. Because his crowd-funding goal was met, Garcia will eventually add more fresh produce as well as a stock of student supplies, a computer lab, and a remittance service where people can transfer money to their home countries. The grand re-opening event held March 30th was well attended by local leaders and folks from the community. With a school two blocks away, health advocates (including Garcia) hope that the store will encourage youth to make smart, healthy snack choices.
Read more here. From February 18, 2014: After college, Nelson Garcia moved from his home ...
H-E-B’s oldest operating grocery store is located on the near West Side of San Antonio, TX. Despite its rich history, the store isn't up to modern standards. Almost a third the size of a typical H-E-B, meat and produce selections are limited, as well as space for parking. For many folks living in this low-income predominately Latino area, this H-E-B is the only full-service grocery store for miles. But H-E-B wants to revitalize the old store. In May 2014, the locally based grocer will start tearing down the 69-year-old store and replace it with a modern, second-story market that features parking in the building on the first floor, a new deli area, the addition of a prepared food department and expanded produce, meat and seafood sections. H-E-B will find temporary work at ...
Many neighborhoods in Topeka, Kansas don't have a grocery store near by, forcing residents to travel far to get healthy food items like fruits and vegetables. When a large grocery store closed in one Topeka neighborhood, the community was left without a place to buy fresh food. Mike Ramirez owns Panaderia Monterrey, a Mexican-style bakery in the neighborhood with the closed grocery store. He decided to begin stocking more fresh food items so that neighbors who lived by the bakery could grab what they needed without going far away. “We were a bakery, but when (the grocery store) closed, now we go with a full line of the eggs and the dairy products, a little bit of the fruits and vegetables,” he said. When store owners are flexible and begin examining the needs of their ...
Law makers in Florida are hoping to encourage full-service grocery stores to move into low-income areas by passing a law that would offer tax breaks to supermarkets offering reasonably priced, healthful food choices in food deserts. The USDA describes a food desert as when a group of low income families in an urban area live more than a mile away from healthy choices. The Florida State House and Senate have each introduced similar laws with the purpose to ensure that every community in Florida has access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Read more and watch a news video ...
