Food Access Five Years After the Storm American Progress

Food Access Five Years After the Storm American Progress


How New Nutrition Programs Can Help New Orleans and Americans Across the Country

The best strawberry I’ve ever eaten was grown on the Gulf Coast. It was unassuming—a small, burgundy, heart-shaped thing—yet one bite was all it took. The berry was soft, not too juicy, and entirely unlike any out-of-season fruit I’d ever tasted. Thoughts of New Orleans bring to mind Mardi Gras and Bourbon Street, but few know of Louisiana’s agricultural bounty. The state is consistently one of the top 10 strawberry producers in the United States. It ranks number one in production of crawfish, shrimp, and oysters; is the second largest producer of sugarcane; and is the third largest producer of rice.

I recently worked as a National Hunger Fellow for the Congressional Hunger Center to increase access to healthy foods in low-income communities in New Orleans. I ate many traditional foods of the Louisiana gulf region during my time in the city and saw how food is literally built into the city’s identity. This is reflected in its network of farmers’ markets, interest in farm-to-school initiatives like The Edible Schoolyard, and the New Orleans Food Policy Council. Yet it was evident that many low-income residents faced challenges related to food and nutrition and would benefit from some of the Obama administration’s new proposals, including First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative and the president’s fiscal year 2011 budget, which includes increases in child nutrition spending among other hunger measures.

Many New Orleans residents still struggle to gain access to basic amounts of food, despite their rich food history and resources. Hurricane Katrina severely damaged the city’s food retail market infrastructure, reducing the number of supermarkets in the city and drastically cutting residents’ access to fresh food. And the city placed in the top 10 metropolitan areas experiencing the greatest amount of food hardship in 2009.

There were 30 supermarkets in the city before Hurricane Katrina. Two years after the storm, only 15 had returned. An additional five were rebuilt in 2009, bringing the total count of supermarkets in the city to 20. Yet the average grocery store in New Orleans serves nearly 16,000 people, twice the national average. The Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans found recently that more than half (60 percent) of households with children in their service area reported having to choose between paying for utilities and paying for food.

One way to address the challenge of food insecurity is through food retail stores. I worked with two New Orleans organizations to increase access to healthy food at a local corner store. Low-income communities and communities of color in New Orleans and across the country are often most affected by lack of access to fresh, healthy food. Low-income zip codes across the country have 25 percent fewer supermarkets and 1.3 times as many small “corner stores” compared to middle-income zip codes. These stores typically lack fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthy food options; profit from sales of alcohol and tobacco, sugar-sweetened drinks, and high-calorie snacks; and in New Orleans, far outnumber the grocery stores in the city. Predominantly black zip codes have about half the number of supermarkets compared to predominantly white zip codes. And this lack of affordable food directly contributes to higher rates of chronic disease in these communities.

The Let’s Move initiative intends to tackle these issues by promoting healthy eating, physical fitness, and access to healthy foods in low-income neighborhoods. And the president’s FY 2011 budget includes funding for increases in child nutrition spending and a Fresh Food Financing initiative, which will invest $400 million per year to help small “corner stores” and bodegas carry healthier options and to bring farmers’ markets and supermarkets to underserved areas.

Such policies would advance the nation’s job creation goals. Food retail development has been shown to spur local community development and generate jobs. Philadelphia’s Food Trust found that one urban supermarket generates approximately 150 full-time and part- time jobs. When implemented statewide, the Fresh Food Financing Initiative in Pennsylvania helped create and retain nearly 3,734 jobs in 68 stores.

Increasing supermarket access in low-income communities in New Orleans and communities throughout the country also makes for sound health policy. Healthy eating habits are the first line of defense against illness, and regular consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables is associated with lower risk for obesity and other diet-related chronic diseases. Food access policy has the potential to save billions in health care costs; recent conservative estimates suggest that hunger and food insecurity cost our society $66.8 billion (in 2005 dollars) annually for expenses related to illness and mental health services, representing a significant portion of the little more than $90 billion in total societal costs associated with hunger in America.

First Lady Obama’s Let’s Move initiative will engage parents, schools, doctors, and the food industry in the fight against childhood obesity. The initiative notes that many children consume at least half their daily calories at school and complements the USDA’s Healthier U.S. Schools Challenge Program and the president’s recommendation for an increase of $1 billion each year over the next 10 years to improve the quality of school meals and increase the number of children participating. Unfortunately, the most recent Senate version of the child nutrition bill falls far short of this recommendation, suggesting only a $4.5 billion increase in child nutrition programs over the next 10 years.

Let’s Move also aims to increase the amount of healthy food in stores frequented by children and their families. Purchases made in small “corner stores” contribute significantly to high-caloric intake among urban school children; the average urban child in grades four through six purchases more than 1,400 calories of low-nutrient, energy-dense food per visit to a corner store.

It is clear that access to healthy food is a growing priority for both policymakers and families. Momentum around this issue has increased over the past six months, especially since Congress is currently considering the Child Nutrition and WIC Act for reauthorization. As policymakers look to increase the breadth of nutrition assistance programs, they should ensure that all eligible families are able to participate in these programs and that enrollment is an easy and accessible process. Creating a unified system of federal assistance programs would guarantee that a family receiving the benefits of one program does not miss out on those of another.

It is also important that these programs utilize the knowledge and resources of the communities their policies affect. Residents, organizations, and business owners hold a vast amount of expertise about their own neighborhoods. Initiatives like San Francisco’s Good Neighbor project direct city- and state-level dollars directly to communities, allowing for residents to build meaningful and sustainable partnerships while increasing the consumption of fresh produce and reducing health disparities. Federal funding for such projects has the potential to change health outcomes in New Orleans and across the country. Innovative programs like the Good Neighbor Project model show how seemingly disparate communities and stakeholders can come together to address a problem that may affect us differently, but ultimately, affects us all.

First Lady Plants Seeds for White House Garden -- and a National Conversation about Healthy Living Blooms - ABC

First Lady Plants Seeds for White House Garden -- and a National Conversation about Healthy Living Blooms - ABC


The first sign of spring is Washington is usually the burst of color from the city’s famous cherry blossoms, but First Lady Michelle Obama is instituting a new rite of spring right in her own backyard.

Mrs. Obama kicked off spring by getting down and dirty in her White House fruit and vegetable garden this afternoon with the help of some local school students.

With the sun shining on the South Lawn, the First Lady told about 40 elementary school students that through their work in the White House garden, they have helped “start a national and international conversation” on healthy eating.


“There’s nothing like watching tiny seeds grow into something amazing. But the garden was about more than just planning healthy food,” Mrs. Obama said. “We also began a conversation about getting kids and parents and teachers all across the country thinking about living healthy.”

The First Lady commended the students for the key role that they have played in the planting, tending and harvesting of the famous White House garden.

“You guys did it. Everybody is talking about that garden, not just here in Washington, not just here in the United States, but all over the world,” she told the students from Bancroft Elementary School and Hollins Meadow Elementary School. “You guys have been helpful in getting your families to think more healthy about what they eat, getting your communities to make different decisions. We’ve also even started talking to schools about how do we make your school lunches even more healthy, right?”

Mrs. Obama greeted the students with an enthusiastic question: “Are you ready to work?”

The 3rd-6th graders certainly were, getting down and dirty planting seeds for peas, broccoli, rhubarb, bok choy, white cauliflower and other vegetables and herbs.

“It’s good digging in the dirt, getting a little dirty, getting dirt under your nails,” she told the students.

Mrs. Obama focused her planting efforts on broccoli and rhubarb. After planting a box of rhubarb, she asked a few of the students to join her in a little chant to get the plant growing.

“Grow rhubarb grow,” she and the students said as they waved their hands over the soil box. They all then walked in circles around the box, which she called their “rhubarb dance.”

This is the second year that Mrs. Obama has worked with local students to plant the White House garden. Last spring she was joined by students from Bancroft Elementary School who later came back for the fall harvesting. She said today that the garden produced 55 different kinds of fruits and vegetables that added up to 1000 lbs of food.

“One thousand pounds of food. Can you imagine that? That’s pretty amazing,” the First Lady said.

This year the garden has expanded by 400 square feet and is now a total of 1500 sq feet. New vegetables this season include bok choy, white cauliflower, artichokes and mustard greens.

Mrs. Obama was joined by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack who spoke to the children about health eating and the importance of vegetables.

Secretary Vilsack led the students in some cheers for vegetables: “Yay tomatoes!” they all shouted.

FLOTUS Fashion Watch: The First Lady went casual, sporting black pants, a loose black t-shirt with a black cardigan and sneakers.