Rajni Banthia

Eating Good in the Neighborhood?

Where you live determines how you live -- whether it is the schools your kids can go to, the parks you can visit or even the food you can buy. Far too often, the neighborhoods where the working poor live gets the short end of the stick when it comes to many of the services so many take for granted.

The problem is especially clear in the struggles of people in low-income communities to get access to healthy foods. In many neighborhoods, the closest full-service supermarket may be an hour bus ride away. The corner stores and fast food joints that residents are forced to rely upon for many of their meals are crammed with high-fat, low-nutrition junk food and rarely stock fresh fruits and vegetables.

How can low-income folks fight against spiraling obesity and diabetes rates if they can not access the food they need to live a healthy life?

This vital intersection between Health and Place is starting to gain traction in several states across the country and in the media. This New York Times Magazine this weekend had a great piece about how the federal farm bill limits poor people's access to healthy food. On the policy side, Pennsylvania is ahead of the pack with its 2003 Fresh Food Financing Initiative, which has helped build or renovate 14 Pennsylvania supermarkets in under-served communities. Eight more stores are in the pipeline.

Right now, a bill is working its way through the California legislature aimed at providing help and incentives for healthier foods in low-income neighborhoods. The bill, called the Healthy Food Retail Innovations Fund, would provide limited, one-time support to stimulate development or improvement of healthy food retail options in underserved, low-income communities. Loans and grants for land acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, technical assistance, onsite and offsite improvements and other startup costs would be provided to establish or revitalize grocery stores, corner stores, farmers markets, mobile markets, buyers co-ops, and other healthy food retail options.

The 2005 PolicyLink report Healthy Food, Healthy Communities: Improving Access and Opportunities through Food Retailing highlights both the challenges and opportunities to improving healthy food retailing. The report makes clear that we have got to do something to give working folks a fair shake at the supermarket.

People make their own dietary choices -- but everyone must have the opportunity to make those choices healthy ones.

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Posted at 1:15 PM, Apr 25, 2007 in Health Care
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