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Supermarket Campaign
Improving access to supermarkets in underserved communities
RECENT NEWS
Obama’s Budget Funds National
Healthy Food Financing Initiative
In his FY2011 budget proposal, President Barack Obama addressed the urgent need for bringing healthy food options to underserved communities by calling for more than $400 million in investments in new and expanded supermarkets, farmers markets and other food stores.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 successful Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative.
Learn more: Healthy Food Financing Initiative release (PDF)
Why a national initiative? (PDF)
The Issue
Lack of access to healthy, affordable foods has a direct, measurable impact on our health. Research has shown that the presence of grocery stores selling fresh fruits and vegetables in a community helps people maintain a healthy weight.
Learn more: Food Geography: How Food Access Affects Diet and Health (PDF)
The Food Trust Solution
Through the identification of economic development resources, active public/private partnerships, rigorous research and policy advocacy, The Food Trust has successfully addressed the lack of supermarket access in Pennsylvania, New York, Louisiana and Illinois. At present, we are also laying the groundwork for similar initiatives in New Jersey and Colorado.
With a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we will be expanding this campaign into 8 more states across the country over the next several years.
Our work in Pennsylvania: The Creation and Management of the Fresh Food Financing Initiative
Philadelphia is not exceptional in terms of the characteristics or poverty status of its residents when compared to other large urban areas, yet it has the second lowest number of supermarkets per capita of major cities in the nation. The Food Trust began its efforts to address supermarket-access issues here.
In 2001, The Food Trust released a report, The Need for More Supermarkets, which showed that poor supermarket access in Philadelphia is linked to the high incidence of diet-related diseases in many low-income neighborhoods.
Following the release of the Need for More Supermarkets report, the Philadelphia City Council directed The Food Trust to convene a Food Marketing Task Force to produce a report recommending policy changes to improve the availability of affordable, nutritious food in Philadelphia. The Food Marketing Task Force was composed of more than 40 experts from city government, the supermarket industry, and the civic sector.
In 2004, The Food Marketing Task Force released its report, Stimulating Supermarket Development: A New Day for Philadelphia, with 10 recommendations to increase the number of supermarkets in Philadelphia’s underserved communities.
Acting on these policy recommendations, the Pennsylvania legislature created the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative, a first-of-its-kind grant and loan program to encourage supermarket development in underserved neighborhoods throughout the state. The Food Trust also published Philadelphia’s New Markets: Ripe Opportunities for Retailers in 2006 to promote supermarket development
The Fresh Food Financing Initiative, managed by The Food Trust, The Reinvestment Fund and Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition, has become a model for communities nationwide committed to combating obesity and improving food access. It is being studied by the Institute of Medicine and the National Institute of Health as a national public health model. Harvard University named the initiative one of the nation’s most innovative government programs, and The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention selected the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative to receive its Pioneering Innovation Award for the initiative's efforts toward obesity control and prevention.
But most importantly, the Fresh Food Financing Initiative has provide funding for 83 supermarket projects in 34 Pennsylvania counties, creating or preserving almost 5,000 jobs.
Learn more: The Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative
Our work in New York: The Implementation of Recommendations from the New York Supermarket Commission
The Food Trust published The Need for More Supermarkets in New York (PDF) in 2008 and based on those finding, advocated for a replication of the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative in New York. In his January 2009 State of the State address, New York Governor David A. Paterson announced the Healthy Foods/Healthy Communities Initiative, a revolving loan fund modeled on the Pennsylvania initiative.
In May 2009, the New York Supermarket Commission, a group representing private, public and civic center interests convened by The Food Trust, released a list of public policy recommendations to encourage supermarket development Stimulating Supermarket Development: A New Day for New York. And Governor Paterson and New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who announced the Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) program in May 2009, began implementing these recommendations.
The Food Trust was selected as a partner, along with the Low Income Investment Fund and The Reinvestment Fund, in New York's Healthy Food/Healthy Communities Initiative.
Learn more: Contact The Food Trust’s Brian Lang.
Our work in Louisiana: The Creation of The Fresh Food Retail Incentives Program and the Healthy Food Retail Act
In 2008, The Food Trust, as a member of the New Orleans Food Policy Advisory Committee, co-authored Building Healthy Communities: Expanding Access to Fresh Food Retail in New Orleans (PDF), a list of 10 recommendations for bringing more supermarkets to New Orleans
In 2009, in response to committee’s recommendations, New Orleans created the Fresh Food Retail Incentive Program and the Louisiana legislature
passed the Healthy Food Retail Act. Both programs are modeled on the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative.
Learn more: Contact The Food Trust.
Our work in Illinois: The Illinois Food Marketing Task Force
In 2008, The Food Trust published the Need for More Supermarkets in Chicago. The findings of the report led to the development of the Illinois Food Marketing Task Force, which developed a list of recommendations for encouraging supermarket development in Illinois, published in the July 2009 report Stimulating Supermarket Development in Illinois.
The Food Trust also partnered with the Center for Urban Environmental Research & Policy at Loyola University Chicago to map underserved supermarket areas throughout Illinois (PDF).
In July 2009, the state established the Illinois Fresh Food Fund, modeled on the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative, with a $10 million dollar investment to encourage supermarket development in underserved areas.
Learn more: Contact The Food Trust’s Caroline Harries
With grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, The Food Trust researched and wrote Food for Every Child: The Need for More Supermarkets in New Jersey.
Learn more: Contact The Food Trust.
The Food Trust, in conjunction with the University of Colorado, researched and wrote Healthy Food, Healthy Coloradans: The Need for More Supermarkets in Colorado. A key goal of this report, released in 2009, is to stimulate the development of supermarkets in lower- and moderate-income urban and rural neighborhoods across the state.
Learn more: Contact The Food Trust.