NY Gov. David Patterson and NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg have teamed up to expand access to healthy and fresh produce and other groceries for low-income, underserved populations, Gothamist reported earlier this week:
Acting on last year's study showing that many lower-income neighborhoods desperately need decent grocery stores, today Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Paterson have announced a new program to encourage "the establishment and retention of neighborhood grocery stores in underserved communities in Northern Manhattan, the South Bronx, Central Brooklyn and Jamaica, Queens." It's called the Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) Food Stores program, and the mayor's office predicts it will "help create an estimated 15 new grocery stores and upgrade 10 existing stores, creating 1,100 new jobs and retaining 400 others over 10 years."
Undoubtedly a step in the right direction, especially considering the WaPo story the same day that explores how it costs more to be poor, in every area of life from groceries to laundry to banking. An excerpt:
Poverty 101: We'll start with the basics.
Like food: You don't have a car to get to a supermarket, much less to Costco or Trader Joe's, where the middle class goes to save money. You don't have three hours to take the bus. So you buy groceries at the corner store, where a gallon of milk costs an extra dollar.
A loaf of bread there costs you $2.99 for white. For wheat, it's $3.79.[...]
(At a Safeway on Bradley Boulevard in Bethesda, the wheat bread costs $1.19, and white bread is on sale for $1.[...])
Access to healthy produce and groceries is a key social determinant of health. Without proper nutrition, one's opportunities in life may be limited. Tax credits for grocery chains to build in underserved neighborhoods is a good first step, but localities and states really must be more bold in making sure that access is not governed by profitability and, thus, by the average income of a community.
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