In low income communities across the country, the only places to buy food are fast-food and convenience stores that sell fatty, sugary, processed foods. Some communities have no food vendors of any kind.   This lack of access to healthy foods makes it difficult for families to eat well, fueling the country’s growing obesity epidemic and the severe health problems that accompany it. Bad food makes for bad economics as well. Communities without full-service grocery retailers also lose out on the benefits these retailers bring: steady jobs, decent wages, and foot traffic that promotes additional commercial activity. Fortunately, scalable solutions are emerging—solutions that can improve health, spark economic development, and help transform underserved communities into communities of opportunities.

One of those solutions lies in public-private programs like the innovative Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative (PFFFI). Begun in 2004, the state has invested $30 million, which has supported $165 million in total project investment. The initiatives 78 projects have provided more than 400,000 Pennsylvanians with healthier food choice in their communities and have created or preserved 4,860 jobs and 1.5 million square feet of food retail space. PFFFI’s successful efforts are attracting attention across the country. (For more information on the Pennsylvania and national efforts, please visit: http://www.trfund.com/financing/realestate/NFFFI.html)

For more than a year, PolicyLink, The Food Trust, and the Reinvestment Fund have been working with the White House, the Senate, and the House to create a national-scale version of the PFFFI. In his fiscal year 2011 budget, President Barack Obama has proposed the Healthy Fresh Food Financing Initiative, calling for more than $400 million in investments in new and expanded supermarkets, farmers markets, and other food stores.   Legislation will soon be introduced in the United States Senate and in the House of Representatives. 

• Sign on in support of HFFI and get regular updates about it.
  
• For “A Healthy Food Financing Initiative” fact sheet (02.19.10), click here.
  
• Learn more about HFFI and other promising strategies to improve access to fresh, healthy food, download Healthy Food, Healthy Communities: Promising Strategies to Improve Access to Fresh, Healthy Food and Transform Communities. (pdf)

Congress Steps Up for Healthy Food for All

A bi-partisan group in the US House of Representatives took an important step to improve access to healthy foods and create jobs in low-income communities across America.

Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) and 39 co-sponsors just introduced a resolution in support of A National Fresh Food Financing Initiative, based on a highly successful program in Pennsylvania. Read the full resolution here.  This Congressional resolution is just the first step, though. We anticipate a bill creating a Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) will be introduced in the Senate in early 2010. We need your help to make that happen.

Sign on to have your voice heard. Tell Congress all communities deserve good jobs, fresh food, and smart, long-term investment.