Have you ever heard the term, food desert? If you live east of the Anacostia River, you could live in what is referred to as a food desert. A food desert is defined as a community with limited or no access to supermarkets and healthy foods. There may be many small food stores in the area, but these stores may sell mainly items that are high in fats and salts and few foods like fresh fruits and vegetables that are rich in fiber and important vitamins and minerals.

Ask yourself how hard it is to purchase healthy foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low-calorie snack foods in your neighborhood. How far do you have to go to buy groceries? Once you purchase your groceries, what do you have to do to lug them home? If you are a senior or disabled, do you have a way to get to the store and back? If you are a young mother with an infant or toddler, how do you manage a stroller and even one bag of food?

This month’s column is a call for interested parties to attend the March 13 DC Healthy Corner Store Initiative Summit at THEARC, located at 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE.

DC Healthy Corner Store Initiative
In February, I learned from Alexandra Ashbrook and Kristin Roberts, both of DC Hunger Solutions (an initiative of the Food Research and Action Center), that the mission of the DC Healthy Corner Store Initiative is “to improve the health of DC residents by increasing small food stores’ sales of healthy foods. The project is led by DC Hunger Solutions with support and funding from the DC Department of Health, and in partnership with KAGRO (Korean American Grocers Association), community-based organizations and small retailers in the city.”

It has been shown that families and individuals who live in neighborhoods where healthy foods are not easy to find are at increased risk for obesity and related health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, cancer and poor pregnancy outcomes. The Healthy Corner Store Initiative’s goal is to reduce food insecurity and obesity and to improve the health of DC residents by increasing access to healthy, affordable foods in neighborhoods that lack full-service supermarkets. (The Ward 8 and Riverside farmers’ markets are helping to address the lack of access to nutritious foods as well.)

In the early phases of the Healthy Corner Store Initiative, members of the community are asked to help shape future strategies for bringing more healthy choices to stores in food deserts and supporting the owners of small stores who want to serve their communities and promote good nutrition—especially for those who are at highest risk for food insecurity, including low-income residents, seniors and the disabled.

An Invitation to the Summit
The DC Healthy Corner Store Initiative Summit will focus on the needs of the community. You are invited to attend this interactive summit on March 13, from 1-5 p.m. This groundbreaking meeting will take place at THEARC, a beautiful center located at 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. This is an interactive summit. Your voice will be heard. According to Ashbrook and Roberts of DC Hunger Solutions, the summit is a place for you to:

• Learn about healthy corner store initiatives in other cities from national expert James Piett of the Food Trust;
• Hear an overview of the District’s Healthy Corner Store Initiative, including a discussion of preliminary findings from data collected in 20 stores in Wards 7 and 8; and
• Participate in planning the next steps for the District’s Healthy Corner Store Initiative by sharing your expertise on ideas for citywide policy, small business improvement, nutrition interventions, community partnerships and other strategies.

Contact Kristin Roberts, DC Hunger Solutions, at 202-986-2200 ext. 3008 or kroberts@frac.org to RSVP so that they can plan to have enough space for everyone who wishes to attend. If you are the owner or manager of a corner store in Wards 7 and 8 or members or supporters of the religious community, schools, recreation centers, youth groups, anti-hunger/anti-poverty groups, libraries and health organizations east of the Anacostia River, this is a special call for you to attend the summit.

To learn more about efforts to address food insecurity in the District of Columbia, visit FRAC at www.frac.org and DC Hunger Solutions at www.dchunger.org.

A Nutrition Focus: UDC Students to Take the Helm
The District is blessed to have an eager, intelligent body of students to help address nutrition-related issues in the city. Nutrition students of the University of the District of Columbia have been trained to monitor the level of healthy foods available in small and large food stores. In addition to assessing where the District residents can find healthy foods in their communities, the Healthy Corner Store Initiative will focus on educating corner store owners/managers and their customers on how to choose foods that promote good health. Finally, they will help corner stores promote the healthy foods they currently stock. Under the supervision of registered dietitians, nutrition students will provide onsite nutrition education to customers of selected corner stores to help the public support the efforts of store owners to sell healthy foods to them on a regular basis.

In August 2007, several students participated in Nutrition Environment Measurements (NEMS) training at the University of the District of Columbia. They are Peggy Vujovich, Mabel Hernández, Rami Elhuseini, Rhea Williams, James Lee and Osvaldo Jiménez of the University of the District of Columbia, and Emily Vollmer and Alice Fang Yan of the University of Maryland. Carolyn C. Voorhees, Ph.D., of the University of Maryland and I co-facilitated this training with the assistance of Margaret Clawson and Erica Davis, NEMS staff of Emory University. Vera Braga, Peggy Vujovich, Mabel Hernández and Stephanie Howard are students who have joined, or who have committed to join, DC Hunger Solutions in their effort to address food insecurity and food deserts.

A Call to Action
Join DC Hunger Solutions, students of the University of the District of Columbia, (KAGRO), and others in planning for the future of the DC Healthy Corner Store Initiative. Everyone deserves regular access to healthy foods. You can help by getting involved now. Be sure to spread word about this summit.

B. Michelle Harris McQureerir, PhD, MPH, RD, LD, is assistant professor at the University of the District of Columbia. Her focus is public and community health through education, information, and research. Contact her at bharris@udc.edu .