Seeking an Oasis in the Food Desert

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—A “food desert” is the term commonly used to describe areas across the country – both rural and urban – where residents have limited access to healthy, affordable foods. Food deserts are found in every state and typically in low-income areas. Food options available in these areas often are fast food or processed snacks from convenience stores. But now city leaders are using data-driven, strategic plans to replace the one-off efforts that have failed to bring food to unserved areas.

According to an article in SmartCitiesDive.com, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 19 million people in the U.S., or 6.2% of the population, are more than 1 mile from the nearest supermarket or grocery store in an urban area, and more than 10 miles from a grocery store in a rural area.

The responsibility for alleviating food deserts largely rests at the local level. In the past, the most common food desert mitigation practice was to help bring a new grocery store into an area. But cities have found that approach to be inadequate. Grocery stores are considered capital intensive and only marginally profitable, and many make half the sales they would in affluent neighborhoods. Retail owners also voice concerns about security.

In Jacksonville, Florida, 23% of residents reportedly live in a food desert, and Jacksonville leaders are reworking how they handle the problem.

“Like a lot of industries, the grocery distribution industry is changing, so we decided we wanted to take a little bit of a broader look at what might be able to do,” said Kirk Wendland, executive director of the office of economic development in Jackson. The city hired a consultant to study the situation and make recommendations for the Northwest part of the city, where 38% of food deserts are located.

Based on recommendations, city leaders plan to appropriate $3 million to increase food equity. The first effort will involve economic incentives for food retail creation and retention. Another recommendation the city is considering would help convenience stores dedicate a portion of their floor space to fresh foods, even if that means setting up fresh food kiosks outside the store. 

Birmingham, Alabama, where 69% of residents live in a food desert, also hired a consultant. Recently, leaders approved the $500,000 Healthy Foods Fund to finance food equity initiatives. One idea is to create mobile grocery stores that bring fresh foods directly into neighborhoods.

In Baltimore, Holly Freishtat is the city’s first food policy director and is among a pool of nearly two dozen others who collaborate through the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ food policy task force. She helps to oversee and integrate all of Baltimore’s food equity work because “we know that food does not fall into any one agency; it's in many agencies,” she said. "This is the synthesis of the role of city government and operations and how we address food security and food access issues."

The city’s newest initiative created the position of Resident Food Equity Advisor. Now 16 paid advisors, all Baltimore residents, meet with officials to provide insight and recommend healthy food policies.

In Washington, D.C., last year, Lyft launched a six-month pilot, the Lyft Grocery Access Program, to tackle the transportation barriers to acquiring healthy foods. Families identified as living in food deserts received several reduced, flat-fare trips to and from grocery stores each month. In April, Lyft expanded the pilot program to Atlanta and days later announced a formal project launch with 15 additional North American cities participating. More are expected to join later this year.

In Dallas and Chicago, a newly launched program called foodQ also tackles transportation and technology challenges. A joint effort from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Institute and Health Care Service Corporation, the online-based delivery service brings nutritious, affordable meals to people in food deserts.

The program identified 25 ZIP codes in Chicago and 15 in Dallas for the pilot. Using a mobile-optimized website to choose their meals, participants enter the date and time they want food delivered. They then receive a text message confirming an order, plus notifications when the food is in transit and has been delivered.

Meal delivery is not a new concept, but foodQ modernizes the original idea first made mainstream by Meals on Wheels. Although other modern meal kit services exist, prices tend to be out-of-reach for low-income residents.

In Oklahoma City, the city council recently impose a six-month moratorium on development of discount and convenience stores in the northeast section of the city, where few supermarkets exist, reports NewsOK.com.

The goal is to stop the spread of stores that sell foods high in fat, sugar and salt and offer few if any, fresh foods.

Councilwoman Nikki Nice, who sponsored the measure, noted that 89% of respondents to a survey said inner-northeast Oklahoma City “is not a physically or mentally healthy community.”

“Imagine people who are responding in their own community saying they do not feel that it is a ... healthy environment for them to be in,” she said. “These are things we can respond to as a city council.”