The Healthy Neighborhood Store project (HNS) in Omaha, Nebraska is working to improve access to healthy food for the one-third of Douglas County residents by partnering with small neighborhood stores to improve healthy food offerings and support community health. HNS is working with 10 stores ranging in size from three to 45 employees, and reaching 50,000 low-income Omaha residents. As a result of these efforts, HNS has improved sales of healthy items in these stores, while changing customers’ perceptions toward neighborhood store food offerings.

Fare & Square is the culmination of numerous attempts to attract healthy food retailers to the severely distressed city of Chester, PA. Owned and operated by Philabundance, a nonprofit hunger relief organization, this 16,000-square-foot, nonprofit grocery store offers shoppers convenient access to “good food right around the corner” that has not been available in a grocery store format for more than a decade.

Mariposa Food Co-op operates as a full-service, cooperatively-owned and -operated grocery store in Philadelphia, PA. With more than 1,500 members they are active leaders in the cooperative movement. They currently employ 45 people, making them one of the neighborhood’s largest employers. This profile highlights the Co-op's impact on the local community and the funding and financing behind their recent expansion.

Common Market is a regional food hub in Philadelphia, PA. Their mission is to strengthen regional farms by connecting farmers to over 150 public and private institutions. This profile includes project highlights and impacts.

Green City Growers Cooperative (GCGC) is a cooperative urban greenhouse in the heart of Cleveland, Ohio. GCGC provides an example of an innovative and employee-owned food production enterprise that is revitalizing Cleveland’s Central neighborhood while providing quality employment opportunities, building community wealth and assets, and promoting healthy food access both in the neighborhood and citywide.

In 2014, Congress passed the Farm Bill establishing the federal Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) program at USDA and authorizing up to $125 million for the program. Read the final bill language here.

A Practitioner’s Guide for Advancing Health Equity: Community Strategies for Preventing Chronic Disease provides lessons learned and innovative ideas on how to maximize the effects of policy, systems and environmental improvement strategies—all with the goal of reducing health disparities and advancing health equity. 

The "Maximizing Healthy Food and Beverage Strategies to Advance Health Equity" section provides equity-oriented considerations, key partners, and community examples related to the design and implementation of key strategies, including land use planning and policies.

Other strategies include:

• Community Food Retail Environment
• Healthy Restaurants and Catering Trucks
• Healthy Food in School, Afterschool, and Early Care and Education Environments

A Practitioner’s Guide for Advancing Health Equity: Community Strategies for Preventing Chronic Disease provides lessons learned and innovative ideas on how to maximize the effects of policy, systems and environmental improvement strategies—all with the goal of reducing health disparities and advancing health equity. 

The "Maximizing Healthy Food and Beverage Strategies to Advance Health Equity" section provides equity-oriented considerations, key partners, and community examples related to the design and implementation of key strategies, including food served in schools, afterschool, and early care and education environments.

Other strategies include:

• Community Food Retail Environment
• Healthy Restaurants and Catering Trucks
• Food Access through Land Use Planning and Policies

A Practitioner’s Guide for Advancing Health Equity: Community Strategies for Preventing Chronic Disease provides lessons learned and innovative ideas on how to maximize the effects of policy, systems and environmental improvement strategies—all with the goal of reducing health disparities and advancing health equity. 

The "Maximizing Healthy Food and Beverage Strategies to Advance Health Equity" section provides equity-oriented considerations, key partners, and community examples related to the design and implementation of key strategies, including healthy restaurants and catering trucks.

Other strategies include:

• Community Food Retail Environment
• Healthy Food in School, Afterschool, and Early Care and Education Environments
• Food Access through Land Use Planning and Policies

A Practitioner’s Guide for Advancing Health Equity: Community Strategies for Preventing Chronic Disease provides lessons learned and innovative ideas on how to maximize the effects of policy, systems and environmental improvement strategies—all with the goal of reducing health disparities and advancing health equity. 

The "Maximizing Healthy Food and Beverage Strategies to Advance Health Equity" section provides equity-oriented considerations, key partners, and community examples related to the design and implementation of key strategies, including those impacting the community food retail environment.

Other strategies include:

• Healthy Restaurants and Catering Trucks
• Healthy Food in School, Afterschool, and Early Care and Education Environments
• Food Access through Land Use Planning and Policies