Street roots
10
Dec. 9 2011
Making Portland’s complex
food deserts grow green
BY AMANDA WALDROUPE
or a twenty minute walk away.
“They affect whether people can access
ot having a grocery store near North
food,” says Marion Kalb, the technical
Portland’s New Columbia
assistance director with the Community
neighborhood after Big City Produce
Food Security Coalition, a Portland-based
closed in 2007, “was sad,” says resident advocacy organization.
Trevon Oliver.
Even in a city with a nationally recognized
Oliver, who has lived in New Columbia for public transportation system and farmer’s
four years, says people had to travel at least
markets, portions of North, Northeast and
two and a half miles to the nearest grocery
outer East Portland are considered food
store, a Safeway in S t Johns neighborhood.
deserts, according to the USDA. In other
Oliver traveled 12 miles to the WinCo on
cases, the grocery stores in the
NE 102rid because food prices there were
neighborhood are too expensive for the
cheaper.
residents’ food budget
Grocery shopping became stressful. “A lot
“What we’re finding in Multnomah
of people around here <fe not like to travel,”
County is that the academic definition does
Oliver says. Two TriMet bus lines serve New not necessarily play out, but we still have
Columbia, but only one runs regularly. Many serious, significant concerns about access to
in the elderly population who can’t drive
healthy, affordable and culturally relevant
relied upon friends or family for
food,” says Sonia Manhas, the manager of
transportation. And some of New
Multnomah County Health Department’s
Columbia’s immigrant community —
Community health and wellness programs.
representing 22 countries and speaking 11
A livability and equity problem, people
languages — are not fluent in English, and
living in food deserts also face a higher
unfamiliar with Portland’s transportation
likelihood of experiencing health problems
system.
related to not eating a nutritious diet:
That changed when Village Market, a non decreased energy and concentration, having
profit full-service grocery store operated by
high blood pressure or cholesterol, being
the social-service agency Janus Youth,
obese or overweight, and acquiring type II
opened in May. Tucked into a small comer
diabetes or heart disease later in life.
lot next to a WorkSource Oregon location
Multiple community-driven programs and
and other social services, Village Market
initiatives are underway in Portland to
offers fresh fruit and vegetables, bulk dry
address food deserts. Whether it is trying to
foods, meat, dairy and other basic
lure big grocery stores into store-less areas,
essentials.
coax corner bodegas to carry a wider and
As a nonprofit, Village Market can keep
healthier selection of food, or mapping
food prices affordable compared to other
where stores are located in relation to
small groceries: garlic is “priced to move” at where people live, the effort is to
three cloves for one dollar. Bartlett pears
understand the extent to which food access
are 89 cents per pound. Fresh bundles of
impact low-income residents in Portland.
kale are 75 cents each.
“We’re at a time when there are so many
And you won’t find cigarettes, Lottery
innovative things happening,” says Noefle
tickets, or alcohol. “Instead of a big rack of
Dobson, project director with the Oregon
crappy beer, you see an amazing display of
Public Health Institute’s Healthy Eating,
veggies,” says Michael Tetteh, the store’s
Active Living program. “Hopefully we land
manager.
on a handful of things that meet the needs
With Village Market’s opening, New
of Portland.”
Columbia ceased being a “food desert”, a
geographic urban or rural area, according to
the United States Department of
he first thing most people think of to
Agriculture (USDA), where the nearest full
solve food access problems is luring in
service grocery store is more than one mile
major grocery store chains like Safeway or
S T A F F W R IT E R
N
T
Fred Meyers. But Dobson and others say
the profit and business-driven nature of
national chains make it unlikely that
companies will decide to open a store in low-
income areas that are food deserts.
“Their business model says they’re not
going to be profitable,” Dobson says. “The
market is just not going to support a full
service grocery store.”
If grocery stores are a piece of the puzzle
to addressing food deserts, she says, they
are a long-term one. It takes time for the
stores to find suitable land, build a store,
and open. “In terins of building food into a
neighborhood,” she says, “you need other
approaches.”
Earlier this year, Multnomah County’s
Health Department launched the Healthy
Retail Initiative, an effort to convince and
assist convenience store owners to broaden
their store inventory to include healthier
and fresh food.
“These are the places where people of
low socio-economic status shop,” says Yugen
Rashad a community health worker with the
county working with the Healthy Retail
Initiative. “They’re in proximity to where
they live.”
But, Rashad says, the first things people
see when they walk into a convenience store
are indicative of a typical convenience
store’s limited inventory: lottery tickets,
copious amounts and types of alcohol,
potato chips and candy. “Convenience stores
are certainly not always healthy,” he says.
It is not always in a convenience store’s
best interest to carry fresh and perishable
fruits and vegetables. It can be difficult to
find a distributor that can sell products at a
low price and in small enough amounts to
sell before the fruit or vegetable rote. If
convenience stores do carry fresh fruits or
vegetables, they can be anywhere from one
to three times more expensive than at a
larger grocery store. “It’s economics,”
Dobson says. “The comer store owners are
making a lot of money off candy and
cigarettes and soda. There’s not a high
profit margin on fruits and vegetables.”
And with tight budgets, people more
likely to shop at convenience stores because
of physical proximity aren’t likely to
purchase those food items. “The question
becomes, why would a person of low socio
economic status spend a $1.50 on a Fuji
apple when they can go to McDonald’s and
get a full meal?” Rashad asks.
The Healthy Retail Initiative aims to help
storeowners through some of those
challenges by providing mini grants -
between $4,500 and $15,000 — to store
owners desiring to carry healthier food and
make some changes to their store to do so.
Rashad and another outreach worker
visited stores throughout the county, asking
store owners what challenges they faced
carrying fresh and healthy food, and what it
would take for them to change their store’s
selection. Some of those changes might
include adding or rearranging shelving,
refrigeration unite, and finding food
distributors selling fruits and vegetables at a
lower price.
“We’re not trying to tell you what to sell,
or how,” Rashad says. “It’s what do you
need to make your store able to provide
healthier foods.”
To be eligible to apply, a comer store
must already carry at least eight healthy j
products. Rashad says those products could
be anything — juices, nuts or some canned
food.
A pilot project with 21 participating
stores began during the summer, and the
first round of grants was awarded in
September to four stores. Many of the
stores in the pilot project are owned by
members of the African American, Middle
Eastern and Latino communities.
Rashad says the program is currently
developing a way for storeowners to track
the amount of healthy food they sell. It will
take time for storeowners to notice.
differences in what customers buy, and if
the stores attract any new customers.
izzling and the smell of cooking garlic fill
the air in the community room of
Alberta Simmons Plaza, a North Portland
independent senior living facility, during the
afternoon of October 26. Amelia Pape,
wearing an apron but otherwise ordinarily
dressed in jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt,,
stands behind a portable cooking pan and
Serves pasta with greens and beans into
small sample cups. “She put spinach in it,”
Comments a resident “Sméîls good, doesn’t
it?” says another.
Long cafeteria tables line twd sides of the
room, showcasing a variety of fresh fruits
and vegetables, whole wheat grain products,
and healthy canned food such as black beans
and tuna. In front of eaich item is a small
note card advertising the product’s price.
Residents of Alberta Simmons can buy as
much of the food as they want, and Colin
Gallison, Pape’s business partner, rings
them up at a portable cashier station. They
can also buy “meal kits,” which include all
the ingredients and a recipe for a simple,
home cooked meal. The kits, which can
include everything from vegetables, dairy
products, and grains, cost less than $10.
This is the pilot phase of Fork in the
Road, a new business that will use a van to
go to food deserts in Portland, and to
communities facing a difficult time getting
to grocery stores, and sell healthy and fresh
food at affordable prices.
Pape expects Fork in the Road to be in
business by early next year. Currently, she
and her colleagues are hoping to receive
around $10,000 in donations from a
Kickstarter campaign for the van, which
they hope to be around the size of a UPS
truck.
For the pilot phase of the business, Fork
in the Road has been visiting affordable
housing complexes, senior living facilities,
and other locations in areas considered food
deserts. The purpose of the pilot project,
Pape says, is to show potential customers
the food Fork in the Road will offer and sell,
and to get a better sense of what potential
customers are willing to buy, and at what
price.
S
See FOOD DESERTS, page 11