A Qualitative Study of Living in a Healthy Food Priority Area in One Seattle, WA, Neighborhood (original) (raw)
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Choosing and siting food access interventions: Food mirages and produce stands in Portland, Oregon
While Portland, Oregon, gains renown for supporting locally grown, sustainably produced, healthy, or otherwise " good " food, it has failed to ensure equitable access to said food. As parts of the city gentrify, dislocated Portlanders find themselves without access to fresh produce, contributing to health disparities among low-income and minority residents. This research sought to understand issues of food access among populations displaced by gentrification and determine the best locations for produce stands as a method to increase access to fresh produce. It examines the concept of the food mirage by studying the coverage of grocery stores in Portland and proposes an alternative intervention, produce stands, as a pedestrian-scale approach to address gaps in grocery store accessibility for those without transportation. Calculations using geographic information systems (GIS) determine the ideal locations for produce stands in walkable areas not served by transit or fruit and vegetable markets and that house a high number of residents displaced by gentrification. The methodology returns appropriate sites in East Portland, a historically underserved area of the city facing disparities in obesity-related chronic disease. This paper contributes to the research and practice of food systems planning by incorporating indicators of gentrification-driven displacement as well as the built environment into a process of spatial analysis to expand consumption of affordable produce while providing entrepreneur-ship opportunities for disadvantaged residents. Food justice activists can use this methodology to determine areas of need and account for assets of the built environment in order to site a food access intervention that remains largely underutilized in North American cities.
Food access framework: A literature review of spatial barriers to healthy food
Research in the field of public health has shown that dietary outcomes are affected by the built environment. What is less known, however, is what strategies are proving to be the most effective in increasing access to affordable healthy food. In an attempt to better understand the spatial barriers preventing low-income individuals from conveniently accessing healthy food, this literature review considered editorials, original research studies, and other literature reviews that focused primarily on the relationship between food access and the built environment. An analysis of the literature identified four specific aspects that are important to consider when researching food access; the demographics of health disparities, physical and social food environments, nutritional assistance programs promoting affordability, and the relationship of time to transportation. Together, these four aspects construct a Food Access Framework which can provide greater insight for various fields of research to better approach the underlying issues encountered in the literature. The intent of the Food Access Framework is to encourage research that could promote more effective strategies, interventions, and policies in order to improve access to healthy food.
A Food Hub to Address Healthy Food Access Gaps: Residents' Preferences
Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
Interventions aimed at improving access to healthy food in low-income communities should consider the preferences of residents. Household food shoppers in two urban, low-income communities were asked about their preferences for vendors at, and qualities of, a potential nearby food hub. Universally, participants preferred availability of whole foods, primarily fruits and vegetables. They also favored cleanliness, quality, and affordability. The demographics and preferences of potential customers raise central issues that would need to be integrated into the development of a food hub, namely affordability (likely through subsidization), attention to accommodation and cultural accessibility, and programming that builds community.
Preventing Chronic Disease
What is already known on this topic? Unequal access to healthy foods may contribute to diet quality disparities. Systematic differences exist in the mix of store types by neighborhoodlevel income and racial and ethnic composition. Healthy food availability and prices vary between store types. What is added by this report? An abbreviated in-store survey tool is a valid assessment of healthy food availability in the local food environment. In a representative sample of Seattle stores, in-store availability of healthy food differed by neighborhood-level income and proportion of Black residents. What are the implications for public health practice? Local assessments of the food retail environment can inform tailored strategies to increase healthy food availability and affordability in target areas.
Food mirages: Geographic and economic barriers to healthful food access in Portland, Oregon
This paper investigated the role of grocery store prices in structuring food access for low-income households in Portland, Oregon. We conducted a detailed healthful foods market basket survey and developed an index of store cost based on the USDA Thrifty Food Plan. Using this index, we estimated the difference in street-network distance between the nearest low-cost grocery store and the nearest grocery store irrespective of cost. Spatial regression of this metric in relation to income, poverty, and gentrification at the census tract scale lead to a new theory regarding food access in the urban landscape. Food deserts are sparse in Portland, but food mirages are abundant, particularly in gentrifying areas where poverty remains high. In a food mirage, grocery stores are plentiful but prices are beyond the means of low-income households, making them functionally equivalent to food deserts in that a long journey to obtain affordable, nutritious food is required in either case. Results suggested that evaluation of food environments should, at a minimum, consider both proximity and price in assessing healthy food access for low-income households.
How Our Neighborhoods Lost Food, and How They Can Get It Back
Progressive Planning, 2016
Does food matter in neighborhood planning and design? Should it matter? The answer is yes, but decades of planning policy and practice seem to suggest otherwise. There are many proven benefits of healthy, accessible, affordable and sustainable food. Proper nourishment has been linked to better classroom performance. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention argue that walkable access to healthy food can reduce America’s growing obesity and diabetes epidemics. Locally-sourced food reinforces better dietary habits as consumers connect with the value chain and perceive eating as a more natural process.
Attention has focused on the food environment as a result of the growing concern with obesity rates among Latinos in rural areas. Researchers have observed associations between a lack of physical access to affordable produce in areas where supermarkets and grocery stores are limited and poor dietary intake and obesity; these associations are high in rural, low-resource neighborhoods with a high population of Latino residents. We aimed to engage residents of low-resource, Latino-majority neighborhoods in discussions of food access in a rural yet agricultural community setting, which is typically described as a "food desert." METHODS: We used a mixed-methods approach and conducted 3 focus groups (n = 20) and in-depth interviews (n = 59) and surveys (n = 79) with residents of a rural yet agricultural community. We used thematic analysis to explore residents' perceptions of access to healthy foods. RESULTS: Residents (n = 79; mean age, 41.6 y; 72% female; 79% Latino; 53% Spanish-speaking) reported that dollar and discount stores in this agricultural area provided access to produce; however, produce at retail stores was less affordable than produce at nonretail outlets such as fruit and vegetable stands. Gifts and trades of fruits and vegetables from neighbors and community organizations supplied no-cost or low-cost healthy foods. Residents' suggestions to improve food access centered on lowering the cost of produce in existing retail outlets and seeking out nonretail outlets. CONCLUSION: Our findings contribute to understanding of the food environment in low-resource, rural yet agricultural areas. Although such areas are characterized as "food deserts," residents identified nonretail outlets as a viable source of affordable produce, while indicating that the cost of retail produce was a concern. Innovative policy solutions to increase healthy food consumption must focus on affordability as well as accessibility, and consider alternate, nonretail food outlets in agricultural areas.
Applied Geography, 2014
Neighborhood food environments have long been thought to play an important role in explaining differentials in dietary intake levels among disadvantaged populations. Yet, many studies have neglected whether or not respondents actually utilize their local food environment. This study utilizes household survey data, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and a negative binomial regression framework to examine the relationship between neighborhood food environments, diet, and shopping behavior among socially and economically marginalized residents living in the lower eastside neighborhoods of Detroit, Michigan. The results provide support for a more nuanced understanding of the role that neighborhood food environments play in shaping consumption. While the number of fast food establishments negatively impacts dietary intake levels regardless of scale and travel patterns, spatial proximity to supermarkets impact wanes as distances increase and shopping behaviors are incorporated. Sociodemographics continue to play a vital role in explaining consumption patterns. Such findings are a direct result of the additional burdens placed on marginalized households to navigate the builtenvironment in search of affordable, nutritious food staples.
Journal of Urban Health, 2017
In New York and other cities, substantial evidence documents that community food environments interact with inequitable allocation of power, wealth, and services to shape the distribution of diet-related diseases and food insecurity. This case study shows how one Central Brooklyn community organization, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, has launched multiple coordinated food initiatives in order to reduce the burden of food-related health problems and boost community development. The report used standard case study methods to document the implementation of the New York City Food and Fitness Partnership in Central Brooklyn. The case study shows how two distinct strands of activities, a Farm to Early Care Program that ultimately brought fresh food to 30 child care centers, and a food hub that sought to make fresh local food more available in Central Brooklyn, intersected and reinforced each other. It also shows how organizational, community, and municipal resources and policies in some cases supported these initiatives and in others served as obstacles. Finally, the case study shows that multiple coordinated strategies have the potential to empower low-income Black and Latino communities to act to make local food environments healthier and more equitable. Keywords Food environments. Community development. Food inequalities. Farm to early care programs. Food hubs. Urban food policy
International Journal of Health Geographics, 2022
Background: Food is not equitably available. Deficiencies and generalizations limit national datasets, food security assessments, and interventions. Additional neighborhood level studies are needed to develop a scalable and transferable process to complement national and internationally comparative data sets with timely, granular, nuanced data. Participatory geographic information systems (PGIS) offer a means to address these issues by digitizing local knowledge. Methods: The objectives of this study were twofold: (i) identify granular locations missing from food source and risk datasets and (ii) examine the relation between the spatial, socioeconomic , and agency contributors to food security. Twenty-nine subject matter experts from three cities in Southeastern Virginia with backgrounds in food distribution, nutrition management, human services, and associated research engaged in a participatory mapping process. Results: Results show that publicly available and other national datasets are not inclusive of non-traditional food sources or updated frequently enough to reflect changes associated with closures, expansion, or new programs. Almost 6 percent of food sources were missing from publicly available and national datasets. Food pantries, community gardens and fridges, farmers markets, child and adult care programs, and meals served in community centers and homeless shelters were not well represented. Over 24 km 2 of participant identified need was outside United States Department of Agriculture low income, low access areas. Economic, physical, and social barriers to food security were interconnected with transportation limitations. Recommendations address an international call from development agencies, countries, and world regions for intervention methods that include systemic and generational issues with poverty, incorporate non-traditional spaces into food distribution systems, incentivize or regulate healthy food options in stores, improve educational opportunities, increase data sharing. Conclusions: Leveraging city and regional agency as appropriate to capitalize upon synergistic activities was seen as critical to achieve these goals, particularly for non-traditional partnership building. To address neighborhood