RELEASE: Mayor Rawlings-Blake Announces the Release of the 2015 Food Environment Map Report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Kevin R. Harris
410-818-4269
kevin.harris@baltimorecity.gov

Mayor Rawlings-Blake Announces the Release of the 2015 Food Environment Map Report

Report discusses innovative analysis and strategies to increase access to healthy affordable food in Baltimore’s food deserts

BALTIMORE, Md. (June 10, 2015)—Today, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake joined Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen, M.D.,  Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) President and CEO Bill Cole, Robert Lawrence of Johns Hopkins Center for a Liveable Future (CLF), the Baltimore City Department of Planning, and members of the community to announce the release of the 2015 Food Environment Map Report, a new resource to inform decision-making in policy planning, and legislation related to improving access to healthy and affordable food for City residents living in Baltimore’s food deserts.

The 2015 Food Environment Map Report was created by the Baltimore Food Policy Initiative (BFPI) and the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) to better understand Baltimore’s food environment and deserts and to more proactively and effectively promote equitable access to healthy food.

“The city has made great strides in addressing food policy barriers and creating innovative programs to increase access to healthy affordable food,” said Mayor Rawlings-Blake. “This report will help guide strategies, priorities and policies as we move forward as a city in dismantling inequality and building up our neighborhoods, knowing that increasing access to healthy affordable food will always be a part of the solution.”

This report explains the revised and more robust food desert definition for the city. The 2015 food desert definition  is: an area where the distance to a supermarket or supermarket alternative is more than a quarter mile; the median household income is at or below 185% of the Federal Poverty Level; over 30% of households have no vehicle available; and the average healthy food availability index score for all food stores is low.

Based on this definition, one in four of Baltimore City residents live in a food desert.  Children are affected disproportionately, with nearly one in three living in food deserts. The study also shows that African Americans have disproportionately low access to healthy food and are the most likely of any racial or ethnic group to live in a food desert neighborhood.

“Baltimore’s food environment is split on the same lines of race and class that our life expectancies are,” said Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen. “This is an injustice and we are working with partners across the city to make healthy food more accessible through programs like Virtual Supermarket and Healthy Stores programs. The new food environment map unveiled today further highlights the need for innovative solutions to address healthy food access and reduce the burden of food deserts.”

One of the innovations of the report is that it shows the Food Environment Map by council district to display greater detail on a small scale.  The maps help show the spatial relationship of food deserts to food retail, food assistance locations and urban agriculture, and examine disparities to suggest neighborhood-specific solutions to make healthy food more accessible to residents.

“The maps included in the report show where the need for healthy food is concentrated, highlighting where residents may be at a higher risk for diet-related health problems,” says Bob Lawrence, MD, Creator and Director of the Center for a Livable Future (CLF) at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “This work is a great example of research informing policy. Now that we know more clearly where there are needs, we can work with the City to ensure all residents have access to healthy food."

Another innovation in this report is the release of the City’s Food Desert Retail Strategy, which will reduce the number of people living in food deserts and grow the economy using five key approaches: retain and attract supermarkets; improve non-traditional grocery retail options; improve healthy food availability in the public market setting; expand Homegrown Baltimore to serve food desert neighborhoods; and develop a food access orientated transportation strategy.

The Food Desert Retail strategy will reduce the number of people living in food deserts and grow the economy using five key approaches: retain and attract supermarkets; improve non-traditional grocery retail options; improve healthy food availability in the public market setting; expand Homegrown Baltimore to serve food desert neighborhoods; and develop a food access orientated transportation strategy.The Food Desert Retail strategy will increase investment and target incentives towards healthy food retail in food desert neighborhoods.

“By pin-pointing where there is a lack of supply, the Food Environment Map helps target areas where development can meet community needs,” said William H. Cole, president and CEO of the Baltimore Development Corporation.  “Now that Maryland has enacted legislation that will authorize the Mayor and City Council to grant property tax credits for supermarkets serving a food desert area, the BDC will be able continue to add to our success in attracting grocery stores to areas lacking in healthy food options.”

Innovative tools like those that are found in the Food Environment Map Report allow Baltimore City to understand and acknowledge the food access issues at hand, while exploring new strategies to build on successes and drive momentum towards increasing the availability of healthy affordable food for all residents.

To access the 2015 Food Environment Map Report visit: http://archive.baltimorecity.gov/Government/AgenciesDepartments/Planning/BaltimoreFoodPolicyInitiative/FoodDeserts.aspx

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