First Lady Announces Retailers’ Commitments to Open Grocery Stores in Local “Food Deserts”

August 01, 2011

by Erin Meyers

First Lady Michelle Obama recently announced the commitments of national and regional retailers to provide fresh, affordable food to nearly 9.5 million individuals by opening and expanding grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods. As part of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic within a generation, Walgreens, Walmart and Supervalu, along with three regional retailers, have committed to either build new stores in local “food deserts” or expand existing locations to include healthy food options. Food deserts are low-income neighborhoods where a substantial number of residents have limited access to supermarkets or grocery stores.

“Let’s Move! is about giving parents real choices about the food their kids are eating,” said Mrs. Obama at a press conference on July 20. “If a parent wants to pack a piece of fruit in a child’s lunch, if a parent wants to add some lettuce for a salad at dinner, they shouldn’t have to take three city buses or pay some expensive taxi to go to another community to make that possible.”

More than 500 new stores will be built and more than 1,000 stores will expand to include fresh food options. The Partnership for a Healthier America, a national foundation that serves as a partner to the Let’s Move initiative, will monitor progress, and decisions on store locations will be made with communities. The new stores have the potential to create tens of thousands of new jobs.

The recently announced commitments build on previous federal efforts to expand access to healthy foods, including the Healthy Food Financing Initiative. Modeled on a successful public-private partnership in Pennsylvania developed with critical support from city leaders in Philadelphia, the initiative provides local agencies and businesses with financing to encourage supermarket development in neighborhoods lacking healthy food options.

At the local level, cities throughout the nation are taking action to promote healthy eating and active living. Mayor Manuel Lozano of Baldwin Park, Calif., joined Mrs. Obama at the press conference, speaking of his experience with enacting a municipal healthy food policy.

By building relationships with local and national businesses, Mayor Lozano was able to lead the creation of healthy selection programs at Baldwin Park restaurants, encourage the removal of candy in check-out lanes in local stores and facilitate the opening of a grocery store for local residents.

“Finally, mayors across the country know how important it is for the health of their children, and for the economic health to their neighborhoods, to make sure healthy food is attractive, available and easier to buy,” said Mayor Lozano.

NLC’s Institute for Youth, Education and Families (YEF) has been working with cities since 2005 to reduce childhood obesity and has partnered with the White House to engage local officials in the Let’s Move! Cities and Towns initiative.
Through the Municipal Leadership Healthy Southern Cities Project, the YEF Institute currently works with state municipal leagues to provide technical assistance to 41 cities in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas that have committed to develop community wellness plans. These plans outline local policy and environmental changes that will expand access to recreational opportunities and healthy foods. The need is most acute in this region.

In the Mississippi Delta, for instance, more than 70 percent of low-income households — those that are eligible to receive food stamp benefits — need to travel more than 30 miles to reach a large grocery store or supermarket, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Nationwide, nearly 23.5 million Americans live in low-income areas with stores that lack affordable, nutritious food, according to a 2009 USDA study. Of those, 6.5 million are children. The Partnership for a Healthier America estimates that with the new commitments made by its retail partners, more than 40 percent of Americans who currently do not have healthy food access will have expanded options in the next five years.

“Today we move past talking about statistics that show the severity of the problem and focus on the steps for the solution,” said Dr. James Gavin, chairman of the board for the Partnership for a Healthier America.

Details: To learn more about the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative, visit www.letsmove.gov. For more information on municipal strategies to combat childhood obesity, visit www.nlc.org/iyef or contact Leon Andrews at (202) 626-3039 or andrews@nlc.org.