How does and can planning and design enhance the freedom and wellbeing of marginalized actors in the food system – low-income residents, people of colour, small-holder farmers, and refugees – the very people the alternative food movements purport to serve? That is the question of concern in this special issue in which authors from across the Global North and South explore the role of planning and design in communities’ food systems, while explicitly considering the imbalances in equity, justice, and power.

The Food and Agriculture Policy Collaborative (FAPC), a partnership of Fair Food Network, Food Research & Action Center, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Policy Link, Reinvestment Fund and The Food Trust, has worked with consumers, farmers, grocers, public health advocates and community development practitioners since 2012 to advance policies that:

• Address food insecurity by protecting and improving SNAP benefit levels;
• Support farmers and rural economies by using the Food Insecurity and Nutrition Incentives to help SNAP customers buy locally-grown fruits and vegetables;
• Help grocers open and expand supermarkets in low-income communities through the Healthy Food Financing Initiative; and
• Open new markets and build the local supply chain infrastructure to connects local food producers to regional markets.

Learn more about FAPC and their work in this brief report.

The Food Trust's Center for Healthy Food Access presents the second in a series of webinars featuring the work of our grantees.

Increasing Healthy Food Access Through Grocery Stores and Healthy Corner Stores shares lessons learned by national experts who have financed grocery store development and other healthy food retail in low-income urban and rural communities, and community-based grassroots organizations that have provided technical assistance and resources to small stores to help them sell healthy food.

Featured Speakers:

Sajan Philip, Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF), will discuss how LIIF has worked to increase access to healthy food retail in areas across the U.S. by increasing capital in low-income communities, and share lessons learned while implementing the New York Healthy Food Healthy Communities Initiative.

Juan Vila, The Food Trust, will discuss the work being done through the Good. To. Go. program to increase access to healthy food in corner stores in San José, CA, and elsewhere across the country.

Shamar Hemphill, Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN), will discuss IMAN’s work to strengthen relationships between communities and corner store owners in Chicago while starting a healthy corner store initiative.

Mary Elizabeth Evans, Hope Enterprise Corporation, will discuss Hope’s work implementing Healthy Food Financing Initiatives to increase access to fresh food retail in rural and urban areas in the Mid-South.

Based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Honor Capital, a veteran-owned business with a dual mission to employ returning veterans and to alleviate food desert communities, partners with others dedicated to improving the health and wellness of communities by building and operating Save-A-Lot grocery stores. 

This issue of the Grocery Entrepreneur discusses their work and plans to open and operate 10 grocery stores under the Save-A-Lot banner across Oklahoma food deserts. Together these stores, located in both urban and rural areas, will improve access for nearly 40,000 low-income households annually and create more than 270 permanent jobs.

An overview of the Healthy Food Financing Initiative. A viable, effective, and economically sustainable solution to the problem of limited access to healthy foods, and can reduce health disparities, improve the health of families and children, create jobs, and stimulate local economic development in low-income communities.

On the heels of the release of the 2016 Census American Community Survey findings, Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) has launched new interactive data tools illustrate poverty rates and SNAP participation rates at the state and congressional district levels. Policymakers, advocates and others will be better able to pinpoint the extent of poverty in their communities and to understand the importance extent to which SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) is bolstering households struggling with inadequate incomes. The new maps complement previous FRAC mapping of SNAP participation in every U.S. county. 

An initiative of the Ohio Department of Health, Creating Healthy Communities (CHC) is committed to preventing and reducing chronic disease statewide. Through cross-sector collaboration, CHC activates communities to improve access to and affordability of healthy food, increase opportunities for physical activity, and assure tobacco-free living where Ohioans live, work and play. By implementing sustainable evidence-based strategies, CHC is creating a culture of health. Learn more about their work here.

This guide helps healthy food retail project coordinators with tools to provide technical assistance and resources to help store owners sell healthy foods.

Check out these other resources produced by the Creating Healthy Communities Program:

• Video: The Creating Healthy Communities Program’s Good Food Here Initiative
• Good Food Here Store Owner Guide

2017 Healthy Food Financing Initiative Grantee List.