Food deserts are not just an urban problem. On many Ohio country roads, you can drive for miles without finding a grocery store. But a new public-private partnership is working on the problem asWKSU鈥檚Vivian Goodman reports in today鈥檚 Quick Bite.
鈥淥ne of my most favorite things to do on a summer day like this is to be able to drive the country roads ofAshtabulaCounty,鈥� says state Sen. CapriCafaro. 鈥淚t is peaceful. There鈥檚 a lot of natural beauty.鈥�
But not a lot of food available for purchase. Cafaro knows the problem well.
鈥淔or someone passing through, that might be an inconvenience. But for someone who actually lives here, it鈥檚 a matter of quality of life.鈥�
Driving for miles for freshfood
BarbaraKlingensmith鈥檚social service agency, , tries to help.
鈥淲e provide a wide variety of services from home-delivered meals to emergency food to homemaker, personal care, transportation, a lot of different programs.鈥�
Klingensmith covers a lot of miles helping people in Ashtabula get groceries.
鈥淚n Orwell, you haveSav-a-Lot; in Andover, you have Sparkle, and both of those are the closest grocery store within 20 miles. And if transportation is an issue where they don鈥檛 drive, you rely on family. We take them grocery shopping. It鈥檚 very limited., very limited access.鈥�
Hazardous to health
That inability to get fresh food is a health hazard in both urban and rural communities, according to Caroline Harries of
At a Statehouse news conference in March, she presented her national non-profit group鈥檚 study.
鈥淭he findings are astounding. Nearly one million residents of Ohio, including close to a quarter million children, live in these areas that are not just low income, they don鈥檛 just have poor access to grocery stores, but they also are suffering from higher rates of death from diet-related disease.鈥�
The health risk posed by inaccessibility of fresh food is indicated by Ohio鈥檚 infant mortality rate, according to Dr. Rosemary Riley of the task force. In 2011, it was 30 percent higher than the national average.
鈥淧art of that is due to the diets as well, and so the infant mortality task force has identified lack of access to grocery stores as a real concern and part of the social determinants of that infant mortality.鈥�
Incentives for grocers
Accessibility to fresh food might be a life or death issue. But just how do you get grocery stores, which typically operate on low profit margins, to locate in areas where they can鈥檛 easily make money?
That鈥檚 the problem a new public-private partnership is trying to solve. A 50-member task force is recommending the state invest $10 million to encourage grocers to open new stores in underserved areas.
Kristin Mullins, CEO of the Ohio Grocers Association, also spoke at Healthy Food for Ohio鈥檚 kickoff news conference about how one-time, upfront grants and loans could help.
鈥淟and acquisition, equipment purchases, store renovation, workforce development, security, all these things are somewhat barriers to my members to create and open new stores. So this program will really help offset those and help to reduce that risk out there.鈥�
Not a single store in Vinton County
翱丑颈辞鈥檚15thDistrict Congressman SteveStiversgot behind the Healthy Food for Ohio initiative becauseVintonCounty, which he represents, has no grocery stores.
鈥淭here is frozen food at a Dollar General, but they鈥檙e having trouble getting access to produce, and if you can鈥檛 drive 30 or 40 minutes to Athens, you have real trouble getting access to fresh food.鈥�
Vinton County has a population of just over 13,000.
鈥淚t鈥檚 almost easier to solve the problem in urban areas because there is the mass of people there. There may not be a lot of income, but there is clearly the population to support a grocery store. It鈥檚 a more thorny problem in rural areas like Vinton County, Ohio.鈥�
Or Northeast Ohio鈥檚 Ashtabula County. This is farm country with soy and corn fields as far as the eye can see, but beyond the occasional farm stand, very little food available for purchase.
Population density too low for grocers toprofit
AshtabulaCounty has more than 100,000 residents, but many of state Sen. CapriCafaro鈥檚constituents are low-income and potential grocery shoppers are spread out over a large area.
鈥淏ecause of pervasive poverty, because it鈥檚 the largest geographic county in the state of Ohio, because there is limited access to transportation, even though we grow food it doesn鈥檛 mean that people have access to food or to a variety of food.鈥�
Cafaro takes us for a ride to illustrate the point. We met inPymatuningValley High School鈥檚 parking lot. On our way there from Willoughby Hills all along Route 6 we found no food to buy.
鈥淲ell, if you go up and down 193, as well,鈥� says Cafaro, 鈥測ou won鈥檛 find anything either. That鈥檚 why I felt like this was the crossroads, out of all of Ashtabula County the road that has the least is 193.鈥�
We鈥檙e in South County, Ashtabula, the most rural part ofCafaro鈥檚32ndSenate District. After driving south on 193 for 20 miles, we still find nowhere to buy food.
鈥淪o here we are crossing the border from Ashtabula into Trumbull counties. And we have seen not even a convenience store, not even a gas station.鈥�
Standingjoke
Wekeep looking.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going south. We鈥檙e 10 miles from Orwell to our west and 8 miles to Jamestown, Pa. Now right over here on the left, there鈥檚 a sign saying Crossroads Family Restaurant. ... It鈥檚 been closed, I believe at least five years.鈥�
Cafaro and Columbus friends have a standing joke about her district.
鈥淭hey鈥檒l say, 'Where鈥檚 your nearest McDonald鈥檚? 鈥�25 miles away. 鈥榃ell, where鈥檚 your nearest big grocery store? 鈥� 25 miles away. 鈥榃ell, where do you go to eat?鈥� 25 miles away. So the joke is anytime you say where is this? They say, 鈥極h, yeah , we know 25 miles away.鈥欌��
Cafaro says the food desert problem in areas likeAshtabulahas never really been addressed.
鈥淭he three C鈥檚, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati tend to get much more attention, and hence more resources just by sheer volume of population.鈥�
Lack ofoutcry
Therehasn鈥檛 been much outcry about the lack of grocery stores.Cafarosays her constituents are used to driving for miles to shop. Besides, she says ruralOhioanstend to take care of each other.
鈥淭he churches and the community gathering places become a lot of the places where you get food. The Rome volunteer fire department on Route 6 has a basically famous fish fry every single week.鈥�
But Congressman Stivers says so much more could be done to get fresh food to rural Ohioans, and he鈥檚 hopeful the Healthy Food for Ohio initiative can succeed like Pennsylvania鈥檚 Fresh Food Financing Initiative. It used $30 million in state funds to leverage $145 million in additional investment, leading to 90 new grocery stores.
鈥淚t鈥檚 gotten healthy foods to thousands of people that live in Pennsylvania, and we鈥檙e hopeful that this Ohio Healthy Foods Initiative will work in Ohio in both urban and rural areas where people don鈥檛 have access to healthy food.鈥�
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