New research in a joint report by PolicyLink and The Food Trust, Access to Healthy Food and Why It Matters: A Review of the Research, underscores healthy food access as the foundation necessary for reaping the positive benefits associated with healthy food. The research reveals that improving healthy food access in low-income communities and communities of color continues to be an urgent need with nearly 30 million people living in low-income areas with limited access to supermarkets. The webinar features report authors along with a local government official. Speakers discuss how findings from the new report can be used to expand healthy food access in communities across the country.

The recent passage of the 2014 farm bill has spurred new discussion and attention to food and agriculture policy. In particular, the media has focused considerable attention on the issue of healthy food access, its relationship to obesity, and policies improving access to healthy, fresh food. Research demonstrates that without access to healthy food, a nutritious diet is out of reach. The following document responds to the recent media attention to the newly published Health Affairs article: “New Neighborhood Grocery Store Increased Awareness of Food Access But Did Not Alter Dietary Habits or Obesity,” and provides key responses to the media framing of the study and the policy implications.

Grocery stores and food co-ops can improve health outcomes, increase employment opportunities, spur economic development, and create access to opportunity for residents of low-income communities and communities of color. Integrating equity into your economic plan will help grow your grocery store or food co-op. This resource includes some strategies to increase store profits by buildinga sustainable community of opportunity where everyone can participate and prosper.

Food hubs have the potential to create a more equitable food system that values quality jobs, healthy food access, local economic growth, small business development, and sustainable agriculture. Food hubs designed with these equity considerations can provide opportunities for growers and producers, aggregators and distributors, and the consumer. This resource outlines strategies for developing profitable, equitable food hubs that create more just, fair, and inclusive food systems and local economies.

Walk Score announced the ranking of the best and worst U.S. cities for access to food. The ranking measures access to healthy food by calculating the percent of people in a city who can walk to a grocery store in 5 minutes.

This toolkit provides  facts, and guidance on how to build, engage, and mobilize a social change movement in your state or community on this critical issue.  The toolkit is wrapped together by a unique theme designed to maximize interest and action on schools foods.

A study indicating what type of products dominate grocery shelves across California, which highlights what is available -  and not available - in grocery stores. The Healthy Stores for a Healthy Community campaign is a statewide collaboration between tobacco use prevention, nutrition, and alcohol prevention partners.

On March 20-21, less than two months after the farm bill authorized a Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), HFFI stakeholders gathered in Washington, DC, for the Third National Conversation on Improving Access to Healthy Food.