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Jamillah Jordan March 2007 Emerson Hunger Fellow

Grocery Gap Project. Race, Hunger and Food Access. Jamillah Jordan March 2007 Emerson Hunger Fellow. Acknowledgements. An initiative of Solid Ground’s Anti-Racism Initiative and the Congressional Hunger Center. Introduction and Background.

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Jamillah Jordan March 2007 Emerson Hunger Fellow

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  1. Grocery Gap Project Race, Hunger and Food Access Jamillah Jordan March 2007 Emerson Hunger Fellow

  2. Acknowledgements An initiative ofSolid Ground’s Anti-Racism Initiative and the Congressional Hunger Center

  3. Introduction and Background Seattle is an area known for its progressive environmental policies and for exemplifying the concept of the “sustainable city”. Impossible to be a sustainable city without incorporating food justice and food planning. Not just Seattle, but across the country, community food assessments on various scales are being conducted.

  4. Food Access: How is it Measured? • Economic access: The concept that the poor pay more when it comes to food shopping is widely researched • Spatial/Physical access: The phenomenon of “supermarket redlining”: the absence or paucity of grocery stores in low-income communities that offer nutritious and affordable food -new term:”food desert” -the lack of private/ public transportation -consolidation of grocery stores “The absence of a healthy diet...is fundamentally a problem of access, not just choice” Thus, low wealth residents may be at a severe disadvantage when attempting to achieve a healthy diet

  5. USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) The TFP serves as a national standard for a nutritious diet at a minimal cost and is used as the basis for food stamp allotments. • Calculated by USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion • Demonstrates how to buy a specific set of relatively nutritious foods on a limited budget or food stamps (for a family of four including two adults with two school aged children)

  6. Purpose of the Grocery Gap Project 1. Assess food availability (presence or absence) and affordability (cost) within two communities of distinctly different ethnic/ racial and socio-economic levels, using USDA's Thrifty Food Plan. 2. Determine whether the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) market basket can be purchased from neighborhood food retailers at or below the TFP cost threshold set by USDA.

  7. Design and Methodology Developed a food store survey-87 food items, divided into 8 categories Selecting the stores Independent supermarkets, Independent Groceries, Convenience stores Conducted 2 Community discussions/ Focus groups in each neighborhood

  8. Data Collection Protocol: We recruited over 25 volunteers to assist with data collection in December 2006 Many volunteers included youth and residents from both neighborhoods

  9. Neighborhood Profile: Rainier Valley • Multi-ethnic community, 40 percent are foreign born. • 18.3 percent of Rainier Valley residents lived in poverty in 1999. Rainier Valley’s poverty rate is 55% above the citywide poverty rate. • Undergoing a long-awaited revitalization.

  10. Neighborhood Profile: Queen Anne Racial Breakdown: White: 87% Other: 13% An affluent neighborhood in which the median household income is $60,047. “After all, grocery stores don't just feed a neighborhood. They also feed a neighborhood's self-esteem.”

  11. Can low-income residents afford to buy the TFP market basket in Seattle? Is it available? $121.30

  12. Rainier Valley vs. Queen Anne “I spend more on food every month than everything else”

  13. Project Findings-$$$ 1.A family of four who does not receive maximum food assistance benefits cannot afford the TFP in Seattle. Most people do not receive maximum benefits. 2. The TFP allowances are based on unrealistic criteria. Food allowances are 24% lower than the average low-income family’s food expenditures, and assume a 30% contribution of the household budget towards food. “That can’t feed a family of four…not in my house, that wouldn’t last a few days”

  14. Nutrition and Costs We talk about nutrition but never about costs. “What are people supposed to do when they want to eat healthy but just can’t afford it?” In the nutrition field , there exists a debate as to the best way to improve the dietary intake of the poor: through increased income or through nutrition education. Fresh vs. Processed

  15. Paradox of Under Nutrition and Obesity • Purchase a limited variety of cheap, fatty, high sugar foods while reducing the purchase of fresh produce, and high fiber foods. • Buying and eating grade ‘D’ foods to feed your family. • Food insecurity represents not just the lack of enough food, but the lack of nutritiously adequate food.

  16. Key Recommendations • 1. Conduct targeted research efforts among food stamp recipients to determine the sufficiency, or lack thereof, of current benefit levels. This research should realistically reflect the cost of nutritious food and other basic needs in various regions across the country.  • 2. Developneighborhood food policy councils comprised of residents, key stakeholders, and community based organizations, to develop community-based, innovative solutions to barriers to food access

  17. Key Recommendations • 3. Expand the Grocery Gap Project study in the following ways: -Replicate the study in other Seattle neighborhoods to create a more comprehensive understanding of the cost of the TFP in Seattle. -Collect data on national costs of the TFP in an effort to determine the varying regional costs; then update the TFP food stamp allotment to accommodate cost of living increases in various regions.

  18. Place Matters Initiative • Goal: To reduce and/or eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities in our country by identifying the complex underlying causes of health disparities - - or social determinants of health - - and developing strategies to address these root causes at the local level. • Examples of Social Determinants of Health (SDOH): quality and affordability of housing, level of employment and job security, standard of living, availability of mass transportation, quality of education, forms of economic development, racism/discrimination, poverty, distribution of goods and services, chronic stress, and workplace conditions. • Food access is greatly affected/influenced by these SDOH.

  19. Project Goals • Developing hunger/food access profiles of 3-5 select counties Mississippi, New Orleans, Alameda, San Joaquin Valley • Creating a training toolkit designed to provide Place Matters teams with the resources needed to understand and combat food access issues in their communities • Publishing a Focus magazine article on food access issues in Place Matters counties • Strengthening relationships with food justice advocacy community

  20. Contact: For more information on the Place Matters Initiative or the Grocery Gap Project, please contact us at: CONTACT: Jamillah Jordan PHONE: 831.332.3055 E-MAIL: jjordan@hungercenter.org WEB: www.hungercenter.org

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