Strategies for Food Deserts

Four Degrees to the Streets

Heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes are the leading causes of death in the United States. Across the country it is easier for a family to get a variety of fast junk food than it is to get fresh vegetables and protiens. Food deserts are defined by the USDA (Department of Agriculture) as a low income community more than 1 mile from a grocery store or supermarket, there are 45 million Americans of all backgrounds living in food desert communities. Some are doubly hurt by also living in an area with a lot of liquor stores, tobacco shops, and fast food brands known as ‘food swamps’. Download the episode to learn about the strategies available to solve the food desert problem in urban areas.

Share these insights from this episode:

1. Urban farms, transit oriented developments, zoning, and state-tax credits are some strategies applied to solve improve access to quality healthy food
2. 14% of the U.S population, roughly 45 Million people live within a food desert
3. Programs that increase supply of healthy food in food desert neighborhoods report an increase in consumption of fresh food

Links to resources:

USDA Food Desert Map

USDA Research Report: Characteristics and Influential Factors of Food Deserts

The Social-Ecological Model of Health

Food Swamps Predict Obesity Rates Better Than Food Deserts in the United States

Lyft Up Grocery Access

Brookings Institution Research: Delivering to deserts: New data reveals the geography of digital access to food in the U.S.

New Jersey Healthy Corner Store Program

Truman Olsen Redevelopment

Safe Routes to Healthy Food

MARTA Fresh Markets

Columbia Heights Restoring a Historic Neighborhood

New Jersey Food Desert Relief Supermarket Tax Credit Program

New York State Food Retail Expansion to Support Health