Grocery stores and food co-ops can improve health outcomes, increase employment opportunities, spur economic development, and create access to opportunity for residents of low-income communities and communities of color. Integrating equity into your economic plan will help grow your grocery store or food co-op. This resource includes some strategies to increase store profits by buildinga sustainable community of opportunity where everyone can participate and prosper.

A study indicating what type of products dominate grocery shelves across California, which highlights what is available -  and not available - in grocery stores. The Healthy Stores for a Healthy Community campaign is a statewide collaboration between tobacco use prevention, nutrition, and alcohol prevention partners.

In Maryland, limited access to nutritious food is a statewide issue that affects both urban neighborhoods and rural communities. This report addresses the results from a study by The Reinvestment Fund (TRF) aimed at understanding the inequity of access in Maryland and providing a framework for the State as it works to address the issue.

This report examines programs designed to influence individual food choices; presents a summary of evidence-based strategies that encourage healthy shopping and eating habits; and offers recommendations for further research. Given the growth of diet-related diseases as a public health risk in the United States, particularly among poor and minority populations as well as children, many are focused on slowing and reversing this trend. This report, funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, seeks to highlight some of the barriers to healthy eating as well as effective intervention strategies to address them.  The Reinvestment Fund summarizes the findings of existing research on healthy food interventions, with a particular focus on intervention strategies that seek to influence an individual’s personal food environment. TRF then highlights programs, or components of programs, that TRF believes have promise.

Across the country healthy food financing initiatives and programs are helping to increase access to nutritious foods for millions of Americans. Terms such as "food desert" and "underserved" have become commonplace, yet clear definitions can be elusive and vary by state and program. Other challenges include building a robust pipeline of applicants and marketing the program effectively, as well as attracting additional investment to support projects. This webinar discusses how these initiatives are being administered by community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and food access organizations on the local and state level. Audience members learn how program administrators determine the eligibility of projects in areas of need, employ marketing and outreach strategies to attract grocery applicants, and attract additional  investments to healthy food financing programs. Speakers share best practices and case studies from the field. Click here to playthe recording.

Across the country local stakeholders are adopting methods and strategies to improve access to healthy foods by advocating for policy change. This webinar uses The Food Trust’s recently published Healthy Food Financing Handbook: From Advocacy to Implementation to discuss how these efforts have led to the creation of healthy food financing initiatives at the city, state and federal level. This webinar offers a roadmap for how to successfully advocate for initiatives that improve access to healthy food through the development of healthy food retail. Additionally, the webinar provides an overview of how healthy food financing initiatives are administered by government agencies, community development financial institutions, and food access organizations. 

Officials in cities across the nation are launching their own healthy food policy initiatives designed to bring healthier food options into their communities. Baltimore offers an important example of a city that has successfully implemented an inter-governmental initiative to increase access to healthy and affordable foods in underserved neighborhoods. This webinar offers an in-depth exploration of Baltimore’s healthy food retail programs and accomplishments including its virtual supermarket program, the financing of two recent healthy food markets, and a just released study mapping food quality in Baltimore food markets.

Across the country talented grocers have opened successful stores in once undeserved communities to increase access to healthy food. More opportunities exist nationwide for similar projects that are profitable, sustainable and contribute to the health and economic well-being of neighborhoods. This training reviews the obstacles to grocery retail development in underserved communities and the strategies that grocers can utilize to overcome these challenges. It also highlights financial resources and tools available to grocers building or expanding stores in these communities.  Experts from the supermarket industry discuss lessons learned from the field and the innovative business models that have been adopted by grocers to improve healthy food access.

Across the country, markets are adopting unique and innovative business strategies to provide healthy food to underserved communities. The range and delivery of these alternative models run the gamut from farmers’ markets that incorporate community health clinics to large urban farms serving grocery stores and institutional clients. This webinar details successful strategies and highlights important impacts such as reduction in diet-related diseases and the revitalization of communities by providing needed jobs.

MyTown Marketplace, a supermarket that serves the Highland Falls community of New York State, opened in 2011 with a grant provided by the New York Healthy Food Healthy Communities (HFHC) Fund.  The HFHC Fund is a healthy food financing program that supports healthy food retail projects in communities where residents struggle with limited access to healthy foods. The HFHC Fund is administered by the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF), a national community development financial institution, and The Food Trust, a national food access organization.