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9 Innovations in Food Access and Affordability and Implications for Food Systems
Pages 77-88

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From page 77...
... Root Causes of Poor Food Access and Research Challenges Cohen began by explaining that the term "food access" is used to describe a wide range of conditions involving diverse social movements focused on food sovereignty, food system control, and environmental justice activism. He asserted that a legacy of racism in the United States has led to spatial disparities in housing, economic development, and food deserts, and that great wealth disparities caused by racism, gender oppression, and other discrimination have contributed to large numbers of Americans living 77
From page 78...
... Cohen explained that hunger and food insecurity have been conflated with physical food access as a result of technological innovations that facili­ tate the identification of food deserts, as well as policy approaches that frame hunger as market failure and point to popular policy solutions, such as food retailer subsidies, as an economic development tool. Considering the relationship among healthy diet, overweight and obesity, and cardiovascular disease risk, he added that public health experts have used supermarket access, with supermarkets as a proxy for the availability of healthy food and the likelihood of fruit and vegetable consumption, in ecological theories to explain the current high rates of overweight and obesity and race- and class-based health disparities.
From page 79...
... Innovations to Increase Food Access With respect to innovations to increase food access, Cohen focused on the design of strategies that use technological and social innovations to address the economic conditions and scheduling constraints that impact 1  The Milan Monitoring Framework defines food deserts as disparity in the geospatial distribution of the food retail establishments and of socioeconomic population groups (Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, 2018)
From page 80...
... Cohen pointed out that other food retailers, such as a dollar store, fast food restaurants, and a traditional grocery store, exist nearby, but the social supermarket is still needed to provide low-cost food to price-sensitive shoppers. He added that research shows that low-income con­ umers often shop at multiple stores to get the best prices, so customers s of the social supermarket may also shop at some of the other nearby food outlets.
From page 81...
... BLACK CHURCH FOOD SECURITY NETWORK Reverend Dr. Heber Brown III, Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, Baltimore, Maryland, described the work of the Black Church Food Secu­ rity Network and his church in Baltimore in growing food and empowering others to use farming and gardening as a strategy for achieving food sovereignty.
From page 82...
... had organized to create their own grocery stores. Brown described several historical church leaders who led initiatives to use the church's land and assets to cultivate and provide food for their congregation and further food sovereignty in their community.
From page 83...
... The organization is also developing a Young Adult Residential Fellowship Program, which will be located in a house owned by the church that Brown currently pastors, Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore. Young adults will have the opportunity to live in the house for 18 months while studying food sovereignty, liberatory education, and social justice.
From page 84...
... Finally, Gonzalez stated that the organization also helps to reduce food waste by obtaining unwanted produce from distributors in Mexico. The majority of the food received by the food bank is donated, she said, through either USDA commodity programs, private donations, or grocery rescue.
From page 85...
... Additionally, it is engaged in educating internal and external stakeholders, including staff and donors, on why it is focused on nutrition and health. Nutritional Analysis of Distributed Food Gonzalez next described how the food bank partnered with the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona to have a student analyze the nutritional quality of the food bags distributed by The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)
From page 86...
... As part of a future project, she said, the organization is also considering a feasibility study on how best to roll out the model TEFAP box and incorporate health outcome data with its federally qualified health center partners. Finally, Gonzalez explained additional ways in which the food bank is working to engage clients.
From page 87...
... He responded that while his work is focused in B ­ altimore and the mid-Atlantic region, his goal is to create a model that could be used across the country to lift up examples of leadership and partnership through the local black church, the most sustainable institution in the black community. An audience member asked Gonzalez about how the food bank manages spoilage of produce, given the large proportion of donations that consist of fresh fruit and vegetables.


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