City Fresh - A community foods project

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Punam Ohri-Vachaspati, PhD, RD, LD¹, Lynn Gregor¹, Morgan Taggart¹, Brad Masi², Joe Konen¹, Jack Kerrigan, PhD¹, and Tim Malinich¹. (1) Cuyahoga County, Ohio State University Extension, 9127 Miles Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44105, 216-429-8229, ohri.2@osu.edu, (2) Ecological Design Innovation Center, MPO Box 357, Oberlin, OH 44074

Neighborhoods on Cleveland's near west side exemplify urban areas with high rates of poverty and ethnically diverse population. Majority of food outlets are fast food restaurants and convenience stores. With limited access to grocery stores and other outlets for fresh produce, residents face costly and unhealthy food choices. Incidence of preventable chronic diseases is high, especially among minority groups. Two of these neighborhoods were considered an ideal test-bed for strengthening a local food system to meet the food needs of low-income people and improve community's self-reliance in providing for their own food needs. OSU Extension, Cuyahoga County and Ecological Design Innovation Center, a non-profit organization, established a coalition with community partners to build a more sustainable regional food system. City Fresh, a program aimed at improving access to fresh produce in the two Cleveland neighborhoods was funded in 2004. The three year grant supports three major initiatives including establishment of community food centers to provide improved access to fresh, locally-grown produce; urban market gardens to cultivate entrepreneurial opportunities; new urban marketing opportunities for rural producers and emerging urban growers. The first year of the grant saw a successful establishment of a food center with 64 families participating, 80% of which were low-income. Evaluation showed an increase in fruit and vegetable consumption by program participants, as well as improved access and affordability of fresh produce. The market gardener training is underway with more than 10 interested in training for establishing urban market gardens. Funded by USDA's Community Food Projects Program.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to

1. Recognize the need to improve access to fresh produce in urban neighborhoods.
2. Recognize the importance of developing a sustainable local food system in a community.
3. Describe the steps used by this project to bring a coalition together to develop a sustainable local food system to improve access to fresh produce in urban neighborhoods.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Healthy Food Assistance and Agricultural Policy

The 134th Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 4-8, 2006) of APHA