Healthy Corner Store Program
Issue: Building a Healthy & Inclusive Society
Target Level of Office: Local
Policy Origin: The Food Trust
Link: www.YEONetwork.org/2013policy/?i=231
Summary Narrative of the Policy: In communities without access to nutrient-dense groceries,
families depend on corner stores, often meaning food choices limited to packaged food and
little to no fresh produce. The Food Trust, a certified subcontractor with the U.S. Department
of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, partners directly with
federal, state, local, commercial, and non-profit entities to promote nutrition and increase
access to nutritious foods.
Relevant Talking Points & Important Information:
• Millions of Americans live in the middle of a food desert. The U.S. Department of
Agriculture define food deserts as “urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready
access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food” which “[i]nstead of supermarkets and
grocery stores […] have no food access or are served only by fast food restaurants and
convenience stores that offer few healthy, affordable food options.”
• The USDA estimates that 24.5 million Americans live in food deserts, and that more than
half of them – 13.5 million – are low-income.
• Food deserts can impact health and have particular relevance to our nation’s growing
trends of racial health disparities. According to a study by the Harvard School of Public
Health, people living in low-income, as well as predominantly African American and
Hispanic neighborhoods, have less access to supermarkets than those who reside in
middle-income or predominantly white neighborhoods. In fact, fast food options are
disproportionately saturated in these low-come, Black, and Hispanic neighborhoods.
• Philadelphia is one of The Food Trust’s partnering cities, and a study published in Pediatrics
found that the average Philadelphia student purchases more than 350 calories on each
visit to the corner store – and 29 percent of these students shop at corner stores twice a
day, five days a week, consuming almost a pound worth of additional calories each week.
• The Food Trust’s Healthy Corner Store Initiative is meant to motivate neighborhood
community members to purchase healthier items through classroom education and direct
marketing in the corner store.
Policy
2014 Book
Local Level
59