ChangeLab Solutions developed “Food as a Catalyst for Change,” a case study exploring efforts to rebuild the food system in Birmingham. Learn about local efforts to build healthy food enterprises in the region and to glean lessons for other cities and towns.
ChangeLab Solutions’ toolkit describes how to create a strong healthy small food retailer certification program by requiring participating stores to increase the variety of healthy foods they sell, reduce the offerings of unhealthy foods, and proactively market healthy options with help from a sponsoring agency or organization. It provides step-by-step instructions for developing a certification program, with ideas and examples from existing programs.
The Circle Food Store, a New Orleans landmark heavily damaged in Hurricane Katrina, will be coming back. A groundbreaking ceremony was held to dedicate the rebuilding of the famous store.
There are a number of policy options available to catalyze grocery store and supermarket development in food deserts, but most require outlays of public funds. In a fiscally-constrained situations policymakers and advocates seeking funds for these programs must articulate and quantify the full range of societal benefits that grocery stores will bring. This article explores enhanced residential property values as one such benefit and uses data from Oakland, California and a hedonic price model to estimate that proximity to a grocery store adds $20,000 to $30,000 to home values. This increase in value represents increased wealth for homeowners and an expanded property tax base for governments. (Article starts on page 5).
Michele and Erich March, part-owners of the March Funeral Homes in Baltimore, are taking a 180-degree turn to ready a new business venture in East Baltimore: a grocery store called Apples and Oranges.It will offer fresh fruits, veggies, meats and fish, and an array of freshly prepared, healthy foods made daily by a chef who said he knows what it is like to grow up in a community where sodas, French fries, lake trout sandwiches and fried chicken boxes have ruled for years.
In an area where fresh foods are not readily accessible, the opening of a new supermarket is music to the ears of residents in the East Baltimore community near Broadway and North Avenue.Six years in the planning, this weekend marks the grand opening of the new Apples and Oranges.Owners are positioning the market as one that will not only offer healthier foods but will serve as a resource on how to eat healthier as well. Community leaders hope this will attract other businesses to the city.
Residents in east Baltimore are excited about the opening of a new grocery store in a community that's been asking for one for a long time. Apples and Oranges Fresh Market opened on North Broadway off North Avenue in a food desert. Prices are affordable and customers have a wide array of healthy options to choose from.
The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), which has teamed with Honorary Chair First Lady Michelle Obama and the private sector with the goal of eliminating childhood obesity in a generation, has released its first report on the progress of private-sector commitments, including those of the grocery industry, to address the issue. Among the report’s findings:141 new or renovated grocery stores or other retail locations have opened in or near food deserts.and 507,293 underserved individuals have visited new or renovated grocery stores so far.
State officials are launching a pilot program to encourage food stamp recipients to eat more fruits and vegetables. Starting in June, food stamp customers at select grocery stores in Minnesota will get a $5 coupon for fruits and vegetables. They'll be able to use that coupon during their next visit to the grocery store. Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson expects the incentive will encourage people to try produce they haven't tried before.
This report assesses and graphically depicts walkable access to healthy food retailers in Philadelphia for 2010 and 2012. It focuses additional attention on low‐income neighborhoods in which residents may have the fewest resources to purchase healthy foods and/or to travel to distant retailers. This analysis includes supermarkets, corner stores, convenience stores, farmers’ markets, and produce carts. Based on published research, each food retailer is assigned a score and service area reflecting its relative size, operating hours, and the availability and quantity of healthy foods for purchase.