FOOD DESERTS DEFINED

• Urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready

access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food

• Identified in two ways:

1. Low-income

2. Low-access

LETS TALK ECONOMICS

• Demand – Income, prices, time-cost

• Supply – Input costs

• Market

• Lower demand results in lower costs

• Higher demand results in higher costs

• In underserved areas this reverses

HARMFUL TO HEALTH

• Heart Disease

• #1 cause of death for men and women in America

• Causes heart attacks and strokes

• Prevention: No smoking, eating diet low in fat and

sodium, exercise.

• Stroke

• #3 cause of death for women

• Prevention: No smoking, losing excess weight,

exercise, healthy diet.

• Diabetes

• A leading cause of death for men and women

• Can cause kidney damage, heart disease, and

blindness.

• Prevention: Losing excess weight, exercise, healthy

diet.

• Kidney Disease

• 9th leading cause of death for men and women in

America

• Caused by high blood pressure and diabetes

• Prevention: Keeping blood sugar under control

HARMFUL TO HEALTH, CONTINUED

BOSTON, MA

COLUMBUS, OH

MUNIZ, TX

STOCKBOX GROCERS

• Started by students at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute

in Seattle, Washington.

• Converts reclaimed shipping containers into miniature

grocery stores

• Promotes access to fresh foods

• Reduces overhead and operating costs

• Downfall: Trouble finding customers. Gives access but

doesn’t change habits.

BUS MOUNTED GROCERY BIN

• Created by a student at The Ohio State University in

Columbus, OH

• Container mounted to buses to keep groceries at

needed temperature

• Gives riders a place to hold their groceries

• Replaces theft of stolen grocery carts

• Downfall: Only holds groceries of 3-4 people at a time.

Costs upwards of $1300 per mounted cooler.

PROVIDING FREE COOKING CLASSES

• Providing healthy food options doesn’t mean the

community will take them, or know what to do with them.

• Free cooking classes could help community members

make healthier choices

• U.S. Department of Agriculture provides free cooking

classes to women in the WIC (Women, Infants, and

Children) program in Chicago

• Downfall: Can’t force people to attend, or can you?

REFERENCES

• A Start-Up Tries to Eliminate 'Food Deserts' (2011, November

1). Retrieved February 25, 2015.

• Agricultural Marketing Service - Creating Access to Healthy,

Affordable Food. (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2015.

• Badger, E. (n.d.). One Small Solution for Food Deserts: The

Bus-Mounted Grocery Bin. Retrieved February 25, 2015.

• In a Food Desert, Cooking Classes Are Welcome, If Not

Crowded - North Lawndale - DNAinfo.com Chicago. (n.d.).

Retrieved February 25, 2015.

• National Poverty Center | University of Michigan. (n.d.).

Retrieved February 25, 2015.

• Top 10 Health Problems in America. (2013, August 16).

Retrieved February 25, 2015.