News Articles

Forty million Americans still live without easy access to fresh and healthy food options. But not if the Healthy Food Financing Initiative(HFFI), which provides financial assistance and technical assistance to food access projects, has anything to say about it. Set into motion by the Agricultural Act of 2014, the HFFI is a public-private partnership headed by Reinvestment Fund on behalf of USDA (United States Department of Agriculture).

The US Department for Agriculture (USDA) has awarded an US$80,000 (£65,560) grant to a Cincinnati co-operative grocer. Apple Street Market is planning a a full-service, community and worker-owned grocery store on Apple Street in the city’s Northside neighbourhood, offering food access for the underserved neighbourhoods of Northside, South Cumminsville, Camp Washington, and College Hill.

Despite gains over the past decade, limited access to healthy food continues to affect urban and rural communities across the United States. Financing the construction of new supermarkets and the expansion of existing stores is one of the primary strategies to increase access to sources of healthy food in underserved communities. Reinvestment Fund’s Limited Supermarket Access (LSA) analysis is a tool to help investors and policymakers identify areas across the 48 contiguous United States and the District of Columbia that have both inadequate and inequitable access to healthy food and sufficient market demand for new or expanded food retail operations.

This report summarizes Reinvestment Fund’s 2018 update to the LSA analysis, including results for selected regions as well as relevant changes to the methodology and data sources used in the analysis.