On Jan. 25, The Center for Closing the Health Gap appeared before City of Cincinnati‘ s Rules & Government Operations Committee chaired by Councilmember Wendell Young. The Center provided an update on the 2010 City’s Food Access Task Force policy recommendations that addressed “Food Deserts in Cincinnati.”

Funding through Robert Woods Johnson Foundation has enabled the Center to engage the Food Trust. The Food Trust is a non-profit organization in Philadelphia that has 20 years of experience in developing strategies to increase access to healthy food in Pennsylvanian and throughout the US.

Allison Karpyn, Director of Research and Evaluation at The Food Trust in Philadelphia, is a consultant with the Center and joined the Center’s presentation. The food trust’s presentation highlighted Cincinnati’s lack of access to healthy food, due to the number of grocery stores. Cincinnati needs 10 more supermarkets to reach the national average of 34. To assist with this evergrowing problem, Fresh Food Financing Initiative and a similar program have been implemented in several states, including Pennsylvania. FFFI is a partnership between public and private entities that provide monies through grants and loans to grocery stores to open up in underserved communities. To date, Pennsylvania has added 83 grocery stores, produced 5,000 jobs, and has increased food access to 400,00 residents with the FFFI Program. Currently, the Center has several initia Remember Your Health, Your Future. tives addressing the food desert issue.

The Center has established a supermarket initiative in partnership with the Food Trust and the Ohio Grocer’s Association. The initiative will result in the creation of a supermarket model with fi- nancing mechanisms to bring full-service grocery stores to food desert locations in the city.

The center has established Do Right! Produce Markets. These include sites at three Cincinnati Public Schools – Taft, South Avondale, and Rockdale; Gabriel’s Place in Avondale; and three churches – Word of Deliverance, Saint Mark AME Zion, and Roselawn Lutheran. Additionally, the Center is working with four corner stores in Avondale to improve their infrastructure and healthy foods inventory.

As a result of the Food Desert Article in November by Krista Ramsey, highlighting Owen Smith’s personal testimony on how he provides fresh produce to his family, greater attention has been drawn to the issue of food deserts and the impact they are having on many residents in the region.

Due to the overwhelming response, The City of Cincinnati will host a Food Desert Public Hearing in conjunction with the Center for Closing the Health Gap on February 16, at South Avondale Elementary School from 6–8 p.m. The City is interested in hearing firsthand testimony from residents on how their lives are being impacted by Food Deserts.

The Center for Closing the Health Gap in Greater Cincinnati is focused on disease prevention and is working to combat health disparities through embracing the transformation of health at the community level. We are committed to eliminating diseases so that treatment or therapy is not needed.

For more information, please contact the Center at 513-585-9872 or visit our website at www.closingthehealthgap.org. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter; search The Center for Closing the Health Gap.