food access

Presentation by Brad Masi for farming the Forum on the Future of Food Security in Stark County, held at Walsh University on July 9, 2014. The presentation develops a framework for addressing hunger, food access, and local food systems development and looks at the Cleveland Crops urban farming and food processing enterprise as a model.

Presentation by June Holley that covers  mapping for hunger, supporting, and local food networks in Stark County, presented at July 9, 2014 Forum on the Future of Food Security in Stark County at Walsh University.

A clip from the 2009 documentary PolyCultures: Food Where We Live. Features the challenges around local food access in many urban neighborhoods in Cleveland and discussion of solutions. Film directed by Tom Kondilas and produced by Brad Masi.

Fact sheet of some key accomplishments of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Food Policy Coalition since its founding in 2007.

This video details efforts in the Central neighborhood of Cleveland to establish a cooperative to provide better food access in this food desert neighborhood. The Central Community Cooperative project emerged out of a student project to identify business opportunities to meet unmet needs within the neighborhood. Here current and past students of Cuyahoga Community College describe their efforts to establish a cooperative that combines volunteerism, affordable food access, and connections to broader urban agriculture projects in their neighborhood.

2009 report summary of Cleveland Corner Store project, an effort to increase access to fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables into the offerings of neighborhood cornerstores in some of Cleveland's food desert neighborhoods.

The Youngstown 2010 plan emerged through a community driven process. It's goal is to focus on the renewal and restoration of Youngstown's neighborhoods, communities, and local economy following a long struggle with economic dis-investment and population loss. Part of a "right-sizing" strategy, the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) is installing urban gardens across Youngstown on vacant or foreclosed properties. These gardens bring neighborhoods together, increase food access and heath, and contribute to long-term property values. Hear perspectives from YNDC Executive Director Presley Gillespie about the many ways that these gardens can improve food access, increase property values, and contribute to a larger collaborative between other rust-belt cities in the region. 

Mark Winne, food activist and author of Closing the Food Gap, discusses the challenges of "rural food deserts". While significant attention is paid to issues around food access and public health in urban areas, Winne describes how more than 800 rural counties in the United States have are considered food desert counties. The rates of obesity in these areas is higher than obesity rates found in metropolitan areas. While rural food deserts are particularly concentrated in southern and western parts of Ohio, Northeast Ohio has significant rural areas where food access is an issue. Ultimately, Winne suggests that we need to think of urban and rural revitalization as ways to restore health in both areas.

This presentation, prepared on behalf of the Ohio Food Policy Council's Healthy Food Access Task Force, identifies the challenges of healthy food access in BOTH urban and rural areas in Ohio. In terms of framing healthy food access efforts in Northeast Ohio, the report indicates the need to look at food access that affects both urban and rural communities, each requiring a different set of potential policies and solutions. 

This research brief, prepared by the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), determines healthy food access challenges confronted by rural communities in Ohio. The report considers three aspects of food access: physical accessibility (how close are retail food outlets with healthy food choices and what are transit options), economic accessibility (how affordable is food and is there competition between multiple outlets that tends to keep prices lower), and healthy accessibility (are there healthy food options versus a dominance of fast food outlets). The report determines that a lack of larger stores, a lack of competition, and high concentrations of fast food alternatives present unique challenges to healthy food access for rural populations. Given that more than 5 million Ohio residents live in rural areas, this requires a unique set of policies and approaches.