Food, Health and the Economic Crisis
February 12th, 2009 by Dan Lavoie
The economic crisis has brought hunger and food access back into the national conversation. Food pantry shelves are picked bare. Milk and bread prices keep climbing. And millions of families across America are resorting to low-cost, low-nutrition food to make ends meet.
Thankfully, though, this renewed attention has also brought smart, pragmatic, and compassionate food policies and programs:
- PolicyLink President Judith Bell presented ideas to increase healthy food access at a recent Center for American Progress policy panel. Click here for the full video and here to view Judith’s PowerPoint.
- The federal stimulus package looks set to include a significant 13 percent boost in food stamps and more than $350 million for local shelters and food banks, emergency food assistance, and Meals on Wheels.
- New York Governor David Paterson proposed a new supermarket development fund, modeled after a highly successful program in Pennsylvania.
- The federal food desert study that PolicyLink and other advocates helped to get in last year’s Farm Bill is well underway. The study will look at the “challenges many Americans face in accessing healthy and affordably priced foods needed for a healthy diet.”
- New Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack gave a promising interview to the Washington Post talking about the importance of healthy food in schools.
The health of millions of Americans will be tested throughout this economic crisis. It is all the more reason to fight for fair, just, and equitable food access for everyone.
Additional resources, conference info and news after the jump…
Policy News:
Legislation recently introduced in Missouri would launch a Healthy Food Pilot Program to help small grocers in up to four low-income urban neighborhoods offer more fruits and vegetables.
Presentations:
School Breakfast = Brain Power: Strategies to Increase Participation, by California Food Policy Advocates, describes why school breakfast is important and how to improve it.
Workshop on the Public Health Effects of Food Deserts, Institute of Medicine, January 26-27
Research:
Community Health Councils (CHC) in South Los Angeles recently released a Health Equity Scorecard that evaluates access to healthy food and many other neighborhood indicators.
This article in the January edition of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine summarizes the academic research on neighborhood food access
Upcoming Events:
Los Angeles: Community Health Councils, Does Race Define What’s in the Shopping Cart?, Feb. 21
New York: Just Food hosts Community Supported Agriculture in NYC conference March 8
Other News
Washington Post, “What are food advocates Fighting For?”
CBS4 Denver, “Healthy Options Promoted in Food Deserts”
Know of other new research, upcoming events or news stories? Please add them in the comments…
Tags: , food access, food deserts, health, health and place, healthy communities, Judith Bell