Congress Poised to Support Access to Healthy Food

In what is very exciting news for food justice advocates, a bi-partisan group in the U.S. House of Representatives has just proposed a resolution that would create a financing program designed to increase access to healthy foods and create jobs in low-income communities across the country.

The proposed program -- the National Fresh Food Financing Initiative (NFFFI) -- was introduced recently by Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) and 20 co-sponsors, and is based upon the incredibly successful model that has been operating in Pennsylvania since 2004.

The mission of the program is to provide financing to supermarket operators that commit to opening or improving stores in under-served communities, and that can't meet their infrastructure and credit needs through relationships with traditional financial institutions.

What I am also happy to see in the language of the resolution (pdf) is the acknowledgement that low-income communities are disproportionately affected by a lack of access to healthy food, and that this is a direct contributor to the nation's increasing obesity epidemic.

Federal experts have been studying the Pennsylvania program since 2008, and have noted incredible success with only minimal funding commitments from state government sources.  The nonprofit groups that manage the Pennsylvania program have been able to leverage an initial state investment of $30 million to raise an additional $165 million in private funding in support of the program.

The results of this investment have been astonishing (pdf); since 2004, 68 new or improved grocery stores have opened in low-income communities, 3,700 jobs have been created or retained and more than 400,000 state residents now how access to healthy food.

Many policy experts expect that a bill creating the NFFFI will be considered in early 2010.

For me, this decision should be simple: if our legislators really care about reforming health care, if they really care about helping all Americans regardless of income level live healthier lives, than they will support the passage (and most importantly, funding) of this resolution.

I urge you all to take action and tell your legislators that all communities deserve access to healthy food, good jobs and smart government investments.

(Photo credit: MiiiSH on Flickr)