“Yes, there’s a difference in the stores in our area compared to the stores in (higher-income) Montclair or somewhere else. You know, the vegetables are great up there, everything is so beautiful. And you come down here, and I think we get ours last off the truck.”

That is how one Oakland resident describes the state of healthy food access in their community — one of more than 180 voices that helped create Healthy Food For All: Building Equitable and Sustainable Food Systems in Detroit and Oakland, a new report by PolicyLink, the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems at Michigan State University, and the Fair Food Network.

The report shows clearly that our food system – from farm to table to landfill – is broken, unhealthy, unsustainable, and unjust.

One of the worst symptoms of this broken system is the grocery gap in low-income communities of color: Twenty-six million urban residents live in low-income neighborhoods where there is no supermarket within walking distance.

The report not only highlights residents’ struggles, it also lifts up the successes we’ve seen driven by residents, advocates, and community groups. Promising strategies showcased in the report include:

* Developing or attracting new neighborhood grocery stores
* Expanding local food production through urban farms and community gardens
* Enabling the use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits at farmers’ markets
* Establishing food policy councils
* Linking low-income residents to jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities in food businesses

The movement for equitable access to healthy food is gaining strength every day. Read the report for more ideas on how to ensure better access for all communities.

The Gotham Gazette, a New York news and policy site, teamed up with The Huffington Post for a piece on fresh food availability in New York City.

The article, complete with interactive map, shows a huge disparity between food availability in Manhattan and the outer boroughs.

According to the map, some Manhattan neighborhoods have over 20,000 square feet of supermarket space per 10,000 residents. In a neighborhood like that, all residents could fit into their local supermarkets with two feet of wiggle room. Some neighborhoods have as much as 30,000 square feet per 10,000 residents.

Compare this to neighborhoods in the outer boroughs; the map tells us that Brooklyn’s tenth district has around a third as many square feet per residents as Manhattan’s 10th. That’s around 7000 square feet of supermarket space for 10,000 residents.

But not all of Manhattan has satisfactory fresh food availability;

“I live in the West Harlem area, and it is incredibly difficult to find quality fruits and vegetables,” writes Erin Barker. “It’s a big problem. Even when stores have this stuff, it’s usually not in good shape — bruised or not usable. I think it is more difficult in my neighborhood than it is in wealthier areas of Manhattan that have more upscale grocery stores.”

Check out the article for more, it really puts food access in the NY metro area in perspective.

The city is working on the problem, Gov. Paterson’s office sent out this press release in May.

On the other side of the country, in Oakland, an effort is being made to bring fresh foods to low income neighborhoods, as covered by The San Fransisco Chronicle.

Opened this past June, Mandela Foods Cooperative is located near an affordable housing complex called the Mandela Gateway.

Drawing about 300 customers a day, the new co-op only stocks healthful things, barring products including common ingredients like high fructose corn syrup from their shelves.
They have an interesting business model:

It’s a worker-owned cooperative. Eight local residents are worker-owners who make all the store’s business decisions and perform all its functions - including cashiering, stocking shelves, cleaning, taking inventory and ordering.

One third of the profits will be returned to the community in the form of a credit union next door.

This week’s update on equity news. 

“Administration to Reveal Plans for Katrina Housing Transition,” - Washington Post

The Obama administration will announce plans today to virtually give away roughly 1,800 mobile homes to 3,400 families displaced by Hurricane Katrina who are living in government-provided housing along the Gulf Coast, officials said.

The administration also will make available $50 million in rental vouchers to income-eligible trailer occupants who move to targeted housing projects, and take over from Louisiana the job of helping residents find permanent homes, said a senior White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity before the formal announcement.

“Measure would help promote groceries in ‘food deserts’,” - Chicago Tribune

The effort to bring more grocery stores to low-income areas–so-called “food deserts”–would receive a shot in the arm from legislation passed this week by the Illinois General Assembly.

The $3.1 billion public spending bill passed Monday includes $10 million for the Illinois Fresh Food Fund, money that would go to urban and rural neighborhoods with reduced access to healthier foods because they’re underserved by supermarkets.

“States, Nonprofits Jockey for ‘Weatherizing’ Funds,” -  The Wall Street Journal

HOUSTON — President Barack Obama wants to make a million houses a year more energy efficient as part of his goal to create thousands of “green” jobs and reduce U.S. carbon emissions.

But the administration’s push to expand an obscure antipoverty program into a centerpiece of that initiative is stirring debate over the best way to use a flash flood of federal stimulus dollars.

This week’s updates on equity news. 

 ”For Victims of Recession, Patchwork State Aid,” - The New York Times

WASHINGTON — As millions of people seek government aid, many for the first time, they are finding it dispensed American style: through a jumble of disconnected programs that reach some and reject others, often for reasons of geography or chance rather than differences in need.

Health care, housing, food stamps and cash — each forms a separate bureaucratic world, and their dictates often collide. State differences make the patchwork more pronounced, and random foibles can intervene, like a computer debacle in Colorado that made it harder to get food stamps and Medicaid.

“SUPER MARKETING: BETTER FOOD CHOICES MAY BE AHEAD,” - City Limits Weekly

New York City is famous for innumerable gut-busting culinary delights enjoyed at delis, street carts and restaurants – though not as much for veggie-laden meals prepared at home. But a host of new proposals aimed at improving city residents’ access to healthy food could take a bite out of the city’s high-calorie culture.

The city is widely expected to soon introduce new zoning and financial incentives aimed at encouraging supermarket development in neighborhoods with few grocery stores. The Department of City Planning last week would confirm only that the city is working toward announcing the details of the plan – but details have been emerging.

“Cities Cry Foul on Stimulus Cash,” - The Wall Street Journal

As he unveiled his proposed budget earlier this month, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg threw in a comment about the dollars that got away.

While the city stands to collect more than $2 billion of federal stimulus money over three years to help pay Medicaid costs, “we’re getting a half billion less than Congress was intending to give us,” said Mr. Bloomberg, an independent.

A recap of this week’s equity news.

 ”The Culture Warriors Get Laid Off,” -  The New York Times

SOMEDAY we’ll learn the whole story of why George W. Bush brushed off that intelligence briefing of Aug. 6, 2001, “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” But surely a big distraction was the major speech he was readying for delivery on Aug. 9, his first prime-time address to the nation. The subject — which Bush hyped as “one of the most profound of our time” — was stem cells. For a presidency in thrall to a thriving religious right (and a presidency incapable of multi-tasking), nothing, not even terrorism, could be more urgent.

When Barack Obama ended the Bush stem-cell policy last week, there were no such overheated theatrics. No oversold prime-time address. No hysteria from politicians, the news media or the public. The family-values dinosaurs that once stalked the earth — Falwell, Robertson, Dobson and Reed — are now either dead, retired or disgraced. Their less-famous successors pumped out their pro forma e-mail blasts, but to little avail. The Republican National Committee said nothing whatsoever about Obama’s reversal of Bush stem-cell policy. That’s quite a contrast to 2006, when the party’s wild and crazy (and perhaps transitory) new chairman, Michael Steele, likened embryonic stem-cell research to Nazi medical experiments during his failed Senate campaign.

“The benefits of walking around your neighborhood,” - USA Today

Good morning! Did you get up and take a walk today?

Well, if you live in a neighborhood where you can easily walk to nearby shops, you are likely to be more active and thinner than if you live in a place where you have to drive everywhere, a new study shows. This is true no matter what income level the neighborhood.

“Walkable neighborhoods seem to be healthier for both lower-income and higher-income people,” says lead researcher Jim Sallis, director of the Active Living Research Program at San Diego State University.

“A model for Obama‘Different, smarter’ way of helping kids in low-income areas,” - Metro News 

President Barack Obama’s plan to combat urban poverty draws on lessons learned from a New York charity called the Harlem Children’s Zone Project.

The nonprofit offers educational, health and social services to low-income families in a 97-block section of Harlem, with the aim of guiding poor children from birth to college.

A recap of this week’s equity news

“Access to healthy foods worse in poor areas,” - Reuters

People who live in poorer neighborhoods in the U.S. are less likely to have easy access to supermarkets carrying a wide variety of fresh produce and other healthy food, an analysis of 54 studies confirms.

But they probably have plenty of unhealthy fast food joints to choose from, Dr. Nicole I. Larson of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and her colleagues found.

“Environmental Groups Slam Stimulus: Green Advocates Question Funding Disparity for Mass Transit,” - The Washington Independent

To hear the Democrats tell the tale, the $825 billion economic stimulus proposal unveiled by House leaders last week would usher in a new era of energy efficiency and green jobs in America. Yet a growing chorus of environmental groups says it falls short of those goals, providing too much funding for new roads and too little for public transportation and other green initiatives.

Under the current proposal, new construction could consume three times as much funding as public transportation. The environmental groups hope more public transit money will be added when lawmakers make changes to the proposal in committee, an amendment process which began Wednesday afternoon.

 ”Fair-Wage Bill Clears The Senate,” - Washington Post

A wage-discrimination bill that narrowly failed less than a year ago moved closer to becoming law last night, when the Senate passed the legislation and sent it back to the House for final consideration.

The measure, approved 61 to 36, would overturn a Supreme Court decision to make it easier for women to sue employers for pay inequity, regardless of when the discrepancies took place. It may become the first legislation signed by President Obama, who campaigned in favor of it.

A recap of this week’s equity news.

 ”A Governor With No Money Seeks to Improve the People’s Health,” -  New York Times

Snacking on shrimp and carrot sticks, doctors and nurses gathered at N.Y.U. Langone Medical Center to celebrate the opening of a new research center called the Center for Healthful Behavior Change.
 
They were tapping into the spirit of the times, and now Gov. David A. Paterson has done so as well, turning the familiar call for political change into an appeal for healthful living as he promotes a number of anti-obesity measures, from a sugar tax on soft drinks to posting calorie counts in chain restaurants.

“House Votes to Expand Child Health Insurance,” - Washington Post

The House easily approved an expansion of government health coverage for low-income children yesterday, a top priority for President-elect Barack Obama and the first in a series of stalled measures expected to move quickly through the Democratic Congress as President Bush leaves office.

Obama hailed the 289 to 139 vote and nudged the Senate to act with the “same sense of urgency so that it can be one of the first measures I sign into law when I am president.”

“In recession, poverty strikes middle class,” - Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chaun Frost ran up her credit cards when the U.S. economy was booming, and now the single mother is paying a heavy price.

To service her debt and buy food for her two children, she has taken a second job selling pizza on weekends and some week nights, supplementing the $2,200 a month she earns from her job coordinating volunteers at a children’s hospital.

A recap of this week’s equity news

“Nutrition grant will refresh local ‘food deserts’,” - The Courier-Journal
Grant to boost nutrition at two corner stores

They’re called “food deserts” — poor, urban neighborhoods where residents lack cars to drive to distant supermarkets, prompting many to rely on nearby fast food or convenience-store fare.

Now, after months of delays, a project is about to bring healthful food to two such “deserts” in Louisville by helping two corner stores in disadvantaged neighborhoods begin selling fresh fruits and vegetables.

“How Obama can partner with philanthropy,” - San Francisco Chronicle
 
With violence in the Mideast, the spreading economic crisis, the tragedy in Mumbai and the risk of state failure in troubled regions, President-elect Barack Obama has had a glimpse of the in-box that awaits him. Already on his checklist had been the problems of new poverty at home; uneven access to health care and quality education; the climate crisis; and the need for post-war reconciliation and reconstruction abroad.

Yet the president-elect was quick to acknowledge on election night that, “government can’t solve every problem.” He will need to tap all available sources of innovation, including from the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. In the case of the social sector, its most important asset may be its independence, not only from governments but from the snap judgments of markets or electoral politics, influenced by the 24-hour news cycle. In a world of complex problems, the social sector - philanthropy and those it supports - may be the only sector able to take risks, withstand criticism and make long-term investments in the public interest.

“A Pitch for Mass Transit,” - New York Times

Unlike President Bush, Barack Obama is going to enter office with a clear appreciation of the urgent problems of climate change and America’s growing dependency on foreign oil — and a strong commitment to address both.

One way he can do this is to give mass transit — trains, buses, commuter rails — the priority it deserves and the full financial and technological help it needs and has long been denied.

The inimitable Garry Tredeau gets in on the menu labeling action this week. Visit Doonesbury.com to follow Zonker’s long, sad journey through the post-labeling world.

The tool at walkscore.com has been touted by hipsters, realtors, and advocates alike for its usefulness in calculating how “walkable” a neighborhood is. The basic premise is that a high walk score indicates a good neighborhood because of its proximity (in walking distance) to grocery stores, restaurants, shops and other amenities. I agree wholly with the site that “buying a house in a walkable neighborhood is good for your health and good for the environment.”

However, there’s a significant challenge with this tool.

The walk score tabulation does not distinguish between grocery stores and liquor stores, nor does it recognize a full-service restaurant separate from a fast-food joint.

Yes, my North Oakland (Calif.) community gets a promising score of 75 out of 100–technically “very walkable.” But let me tell you, my neighborhood is rife with liquor stores—six in a half mile radius–and a KFC, Carl’s Jr. and McDonald’s are within blocks of each other and me. In fact, I’d have to walk at least 20 minutes to a full-service grocery store or produce market.

Using the Retail Food Environment Index (RFEI) recently highlighted in the PolicyLink “Designed for Disease” report, I fall into the 28 percent of California adults who can’t even calculate how bad their food environment is because my home falls into the dismal category of having absolutely no access to produce or fresh food in walking distance.

The people at WalkScore do recognize the and highlight the positive health effects of living in a walkable neighborhood– and the limitations their data sets put on the score accuracy of a particular neighborhood. Most of the problems do seem to come from the way Google Maps organizes its data, rather than anything that WalkScore is doing.

The potential of this tool to highlight inequities is quite high. While no doubt cool, this tool needs a bit of a redesign to get to a neighborhood’s true “walkability.”

Check it out yourself (this is the map around our PolicyLink headquarters in downtown Oakland–apparently a “walker’s paradise”) :