Health impact assessment of the development of a full service grocery store within an urban food desert

Introduction The Marion County Public Health Department and the Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health conducted a health impact assessment of the development of a grocery store within a low income urban community in Indianapolis. This community is designated as a federal food desert by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The dual purposes of this project were to describe the potential health impact on the community of installing a grocery store and to develop capacity for conducting HIA within the public health workforce. Methods Funding for this project was secured through the Indiana Minority Health Coalition. A baseline health assessment of the community was completed using a telephone survey, analysis of secondary datasets, key informant interviews, a neighborhood survey, focus groups, and a food environment survey using the NEMS-S. A review of the literature was conducted to establish data on other food deserts and health impact assessments in similar urban communities. Results Key community residents and decision makers also participated in the screening, scoping, recommendation and monitoring steps of the health impact assessment. A comprehensive report will be written and presented to the community. Project results and recommendations are in process, but will be available at the time of the APHA annual meeting. Discussion The assessment was also utilized to inform policy makers on city council about their decision to grant a tax- increment financing district designation for the community and for a local foundation for land use development planning decisions and for seeking additional development funds.