The USDA released a much-anticipated study of food deserts today. The full study can be found here. Below are statements from PolicyLink and The Food Trust about the study.

Statement from PolicyLink President Judith Bell

“The new USDA food desert report provides yet another confirmation that access to healthy food is a significant problem for millions of Americans. The report shows that about one in every 13 Americans – 23.5 million people — live in low-income communities that are more than a mile from the nearest large grocery store.

As more than 70 studies have shown during the past decade, the lack of access to healthy food is a real challenge in many low-income urban communities, rural communities, and communities of color. This is a public health issue, plain and simple. As we demonstrated in the 2008 report, Designed for Disease: The Link Between Local Food Environments and Obesity and Diabetes, people living in neighborhoods crowded with fast-food and convenience stores but relatively few grocery or produce outlets have a significantly higher prevalence of obesity and diabetes. (The report was prepared by PolicyLink in partnership with the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the California Center for Public Health Advocacy).  Other studies demonstrate that in addition to providing access to healthy foods, supermarkets and large grocery stores are important neighborhood economic engines, bringing jobs and revitalization.

This USDA report adds to the growing body of research on the ways that where you live affects your health. Now is the time to implement proven, impactful policies to address America’s food desert crisis.”

Statement from John Weidman, Deputy Executive Director, The Food Trust

“Improving access to grocery stores in both urban and rural communities must be part of our national strategy to improve children’s health and prevent obesity and diabetes.  The Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative has demonstrated that supermarkets can thrive in food deserts and offers a strong model for solving this problem nationally.   Expanding this program is one of the Top Ten recommendations of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Commission To Build a Healthier America.”

This week’s updates on equity news. 

“Poor? Pay Up,” - Associated Press

Having Little Money Often Means No Car, No Washing Machine, No Checking Account And No Break From Fees and High Prices

Prices in urban corner stores are almost always higher, economists say. And sometimes, prices in supermarkets in poorer neighborhoods are higher. Many of these stores charge more because the cost of doing business in some neighborhoods is higher. “First, they are probably paying more on goods because they don’t get the low wholesale price that bigger stores get,” says Bradley R. Schiller, a professor emeritus at American University and the author of “The Economics of Poverty and Discrimination.”

“Fresh food choices coming to West Oakland,” - Oakland Tribune

If James Bell ever doubted during the past three-plus years that the Mandela Foods Cooperative would become a reality, he wasn’t owning up to it Friday.

“I knew it would happen, I just couldn’t say when,” Bell said, pausing between carting in boxes of natural juices and setting up display shelves inside the soon-to-be-opened store on Seventh Street. “The reason I stuck around is I wanted it to happen.”

“Tracking Stimulus Spending May Not Be as Easy as Promised,” - Washington Post

Shortly after the economic stimulus bill was signed, Vice President Biden was talking up the administration’s Web site to track the spending, Recovery.gov, when he accidentally directed people to Recovery.org.

As slip-ups go, this one had an upside: Unlike the government site, the privately run Recovery.org is actually providing detailed information about how the $787 billion in stimulus money is being spent.

Update on this week’s equity news.

“Study finds 1 in 5 obese among 4-year-olds,” - Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — A striking new study says almost 1 in 5 American 4-year-olds is obese, and the rate is alarmingly higher among American Indian children, with nearly a third of them obese. Researchers were surprised to see differences by race at so early an age.

Overall, more than half a million 4-year-olds are obese, the study suggests. Obesity is more common in Hispanic and black youngsters, too, but the disparity is most startling in American Indians, whose rate is almost double that of whites.

“Louisiana, a Test Case in Federal Aid,” - The New York Times

NEW ORLEANS — Years before Washington spent $787 billion on a national stimulus bill, it staged an unintended trial run in Louisiana, a huge injection of some $51 billion for which historians find few, if any, precedents in a single state.

The experiment is still playing out, but some indicators suggest that what occurred in Louisiana — dumping a large amount of reconstruction money into a confined space in the three and a half years since Hurricane Katrina — has had a positive outcome. The state’s unemployment rate of 5.7 percent in February was considerably below the national average of 8.1 percent, and it was the only state to see a drop in unemployment from December to January. It was also the only state with an increase in non-farm employment in February.

“Stimulus Aid Being Doled Out, Slowly,” - Washington Post
Meeting Guidelines Is Taking Time

Building repairs are underway on public housing in Imboden, Ark., and Cumberland, Ill., states across the country are receiving money to weatherize the homes of low-income residents, and the Silver Star Construction Co. is about to start work on two road-resurfacing projects in south-central Oklahoma with a total cost of $12 million.

“We were thrilled to get some work,” said Steve Shawn, president of the company. “Some of the work had started slowing down from the economy. The new work came in just around the right time.”

In findings that echo the results of the “Designed for Disease” report from last year, Berkeley and Columbia released a joint report today showing that kids who go to school in close proximity to fast food joints are at a much greater risk for obesity. The study looked at the obesity rates of 1 million California school children. The upshot from the LATimes:

The presence of an outlet within easy walking distance of a high school — about 530 feet or less — resulted in a 5.2% increase in the incidence of student obesity compared with the average for California youths, a correlation deemed “sizable” according to the findings.

The link vanished when these fast-food joints were located farther from campus, presumably because students couldn’t easily reach them. Nor was it present in schools located near full-service eateries, whose prices and service times don’t typically match student budgets, tastes or schedules.

“Fast food offers the most calories per price compared to other restaurants, and that’s combined with a high temptation factor for students,” said Stefano DellaVigna, a UC Berkeley economist and one of the paper’s authors.

A recap of this week’s equity.

“No Lunch Left Behind,” - The New York Times

THIS new era of government bailouts and widespread concern over wasteful spending offers an opportunity to take a hard look at the National School Lunch Program. Launched in 1946 as a public safety net, it has turned out to be a poor investment. It should be redesigned to make our children healthier.

Under the program, the United States Department of Agriculture gives public schools cash for every meal they serve — $2.57 for a free lunch, $2.17 for a reduced-price lunch and 24 cents for a paid lunch. In 2007, the program cost around $9 billion, a figure widely acknowledged as inadequate to cover food costs. But what most people don’t realize is that very little of this money even goes toward food. Schools have to use it to pay for everything from custodial services to heating in the cafeteria.

 ”EPA moving toward regulation of greenhouse gases,” - Los Angeles Times

Washington — Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson says the agency is moving toward regulating the gases blamed for global warming.

In an interview on Tuesday with the Associated Press, Jackson said the agency would decide whether greenhouse gases are a danger to human health and welfare, the legal trigger for regulation under federal law.

“White House Urban Affairs Chief Picked;
Bronx Borough President Lays Out Vision for New Policy Office ,” - Washington Post

NEW YORK, Feb. 19 — Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión Jr., who was named Thursday to direct the new White House Office of Urban Affairs, said he wants cities to become economic centers that can pull the country out of a recession and improve American competitiveness in a global market.

Carrión said he would help coordinate urban policy in traditional areas such as education, health care and public safety. But he also said he would look to develop urban neighborhoods in environmentally thoughtful ways, such as by offering incentives for companies to locate in densely populated areas and improving mass transit.

A recap of this week’s equity news

 ”Food Banks Finding Aid in Bounty of Backyard,” - New York Times

Natasha Boissier did not expect an epiphany while pushing her baby’s stroller exhaustedly around the neighborhood. But eyeing her neighbors’ yards, Ms. Boissier began noticing the abundance of fruit trees — and how much of their succulent bounty wound up on the ground.

“There was all this fruit going to waste,” she said of the apples, pears and plums in her midst. “It seemed like such a natural way to deal with hunger.”

“Community organizers have deep roots in democracy,” - Los Angeles Times

The elementary school moms didn’t ask a lot of questions about this man Bill. They were too eager to tell him — to tell anybodyanybody — about the loose and snarling pit bulls, the gun-toting gangsters, and the dogcatchers and police who always seemed to come too late.

The principal, Helena Lazo, had introduced him simply: “Bill nos va a ayudar.” Bill is going to help us.

“Rebuilt N.O. homes at risk without required elevation,” - USA TODAY

Thousands of homes in New Orleans are at risk from floods because local officials let their owners skirt rebuilding requirements aimed at preventing massive losses and billions in costs to taxpayers.

In New Orleans, city records show at least 2,300 homeowners — many in areas obliterated by Hurricane Katrina and imperiled again this month as Hurricane Gustav strained at the city’s levees — escaped requirements that they elevate their homes.

A recap of the week’s equity news

 ”Farmers’ market trying to attract food stamp users,” - Toledo Blade

Farmers’ markets are practically overflowing this time of year with fresh, healthy produce - corn, zucchini, watermelon, tomatoes, and more.

But many of the most nutritionally needy consumers don’t shop often at farmers’ markets.

“The Trouble with Transportation,” - Newsweek
High gas prices have dimmed private equity’s hopes of rosy returns on infrastructure and transportation projects. Government could be the loser

For private equity investors, the sheen is wearing off purchases of public asphalt. A year ago, banks and private investment firms were racing to pour money into infrastructure projects such as highways and light-rail systems. Compared with an investment in stocks, buying or leasing a highway seemed like a low-risk bet with easily estimated, long-term returns. After all, competing highways or mass transit systems couldn’t just spring up overnight to divert toll- and ticket-paying customers.

But $4-a-gallon gasoline slowed the enthusiasm for such projects. Many commuters are choosing to leave their cars in the garage and take mass transit, or don’t have a job to drive to anymore. “If you look at the publicly reported forecasts for the Chicago Skyway or Wall Street estimates of global traffic, they are completely different now,” said George Bilicic, a managing director at NYC private equity firm Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts who spoke on a panel held Sept. 3 at the University of Minnesota. “It goes into the risk assessment associated with the investment decision.”

“Miles of Aisles for Milk? Not Here,” - New York Times

HARMAR TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Like cars and homes, grocery stores are beginning to shrink.

After years of building bigger stores — many larger than a football field and carrying 60,000 items — retailers are experimenting with radically smaller grocery stores that emphasize prepared meals, fresh produce and grab-and-go drinks.

The idea is to lure time-starved shoppers who want to pick up a few items or a fast meal without wandering long grocery aisles or paying restaurant prices.

This has been a lively discussion about community organizers and why they matter.  I thought I would add a story to showcase the role of organizers, the different kinds of impacts they have, and the different kinds of people who end-up as organizers.  I’m hoping that others will add their own stories, so we can underscore how deep and wide the culture of organizing is, and how many different kinds of people are organizing in communities, large and small, across the country.  Here’s the story-from rural California, north of Sacramento…

The Wal-Mart in Anderson, Calif., may look like any other. But thanks to community organizers, several check-out lanes are now lined with healthy snacks - trail mix, granola bars, dried cranberries, diced peaches, and animal crackers - instead of the junk food that normally populates the impulse-buy aisle.

The organizers responsible for this progress probably don’t fit the harsh stereotypes of the profession we’ve been hearing about recently. They’re just regular neighborhood students - part of Kids Make A Stand, a project to promote healthy eating in Shasta County.

The students made a pretty compelling case to store manager Tim Trimble that the healthy snacks would help develop their bodies and minds.

“They put me on the spot in a big way, but in a good way,” Trimble told the Redding Record-Searchlight newspaper.

The students designed the “Kids Healthy Choices” stands in two check-out aisles and hoped people would respond. The reaction has been phenomenal. Since the project began, sales of the healthy snacks have doubled.

The kids of Anderson continue organizing for positive change. They’ve made presentations to the managers of the Wal-Mart stores in Redding and Red Bluff, who are replicating the healthy food aisles in their own stores. The also plan to lobby the Anderson City Council for an ordinance to have healthy food sections in every store in the area.

Kids Make A Stand is a project of the South Shasta Healthy Eating, Active Communities (HEAC) initiative. HEAC is a four-year, $26-million initiative to combat childhood obesity, spearheaded by The California Endowment. The project increases opportunities for physical activity and healthy eating throughout California and develops policies to reduce the risk factors for diabetes and obesity.

Kids Make A Stand is one of many efforts Shasta County HEAC has undertaken, and one of several that show the power of young people when they’re organized and focused on making change. In another example, young people’s organized efforts helped convince the City of Anderson to install sidewalks along the road to a skate park and pressed the Anderson parks director to refurbish park restrooms and replace basketball nets. They have helped farmers in unincorporated Happy Valley create a trail map to encourage purchase of local produce and to preserve agriculture in the community. Farmers report an increase in visits to their farms.

These projects are making a big difference in the area.  It’s the organizers and those who participate that make the difference.

“HEAC is becoming part of the psyche of this community,” says Sheryl Vietti of Shasta County Public Health, a partner in the Shasta County HEAC project. “There’s a growing awareness that people care about healthy eating and physical activity. And the community has been receptive and responsive to all of our efforts.”

Please share your stories of successful organizing in the comments.

Judith Bell is president of PolicyLink and an experienced organizer for policy change.

Photo of Kids Make A Stand students by Michael Woodward, reporter, Anderson Valley Post. From left to right, Jonni Hinton, Emily LaFayette, Ally LaFayette, James LaRiza and Rebecca LaRiza.

The good folks at the California Center for Public Health Advocacy sent around this great new YouTube video they made showing how impossible it is for real consumers to use the “helpful” menu labeling brochure produced by the fast-food companies.

From CCPHA’s email blast:

The restaurant industry continues to claim that nutritional brochures  are more helpful to consumers than putting the information directly on the menu board.

See what happens when real customers try to use the industry’s helpful brochures.  We hope you will watch this clip and then forward it to colleagues, friends and family.

…snip…

Support for menu labeling on menu boards and menus is increasing daily: today two members of LA County Board of Supervisors introduced a measure calling for mandatory menu labeling in the unincorporated areas of LA County, and Monday, Senator Padilla (author of SB 1420) cited the findings from the newly released study, Kids Meals: Obesity on the Menu, as another reason California must have strong menu labeling.

In New York City, summer doesn’t officially start until we hear the sweet calliope music pumping from the scratchy speakers of a Mister Softee ice cream truck. Kids bounce out of brownstones and off of playgrounds to grab a chocolate-vanilla twist.

But upstate, they’re looking at a whole new paradigm. The Veggie Mobile is bringing locally grown, healthy and AFFORDABLE produce to the people of Albany. Run by Capital District Community Gardens, the Veggie Mobile looks to serve folks not served by full-service grocers. The results look promising:

When compared to New York Supermarket — a small grocery in the poor Arbor Hill neighborhood of Albany — the Veggie Mobile offered dramatic savings, more selection and fresher options. Bananas sold for $0.99 a pound at the supermarket, but went for $0.59 a pound from the Veggie Mobile. Iceberg lettuce was $1 each at the mobile grocery, and $1.99 at the New York Supermarket. Cucumbers sold for $0.89 each at the neighborhood market, but were 3 for $1 from the Veggie Mobile.

The difference means that poor families cannot only afford and access fresh produce, but can buy more than if they relied on the neighborhood options.

Instead of going to a big chain grocery store each week, where volume sales and competition mean lower prices, families in urban food deserts and rural communities tend to rely on gas station convenience stores, or corner stores where milk, bread and other staples cost more.

For more ideas on how to put an end to food deserts and increase access to healthy foods, check out the PolicyLink Center for Health and Place.