Reconfiguring the Liquor storeAquetea Goodman| AOC: Justice and Sustainability| ESPM 167: Environmental Health and Development

Abstract Approaches to Address Food Insecurity

African American White American Low income High income0

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Series 3

Current Policies and Interventions

South BerkeleyRichmond

Oakland

Case StudyThere is a high concentration of liquor stores that exist in primarily low-income, African-American neighborhoods in South Berkeley.•There’s a liquor store on every corner in the community. Lack of nutritious produce, but has food high in sugars and saturated fat.(refer to map)•One community garden and a farmers market that comes once a week•The members of the community have a high preference for liquor stores and has become part of their culture.(Cheap, Accessible) This creates a huge barrier for access to healthy foods.

Health Outcomes

“Improving access to healthy food is critical component of an agenda to build equitable and sustainable food system”

Heart disease: soft drinks contain high fructose corn syrup which has been associated with an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, a condition associated with an elevated risk of both diabetes and heart disease.

Low income neighborhoods provides greater access to food sources that promote unhealthy eating that contributes to negative health outcomes. Liquor stores is an example of a food source that is abundant in urban areas and lack of grocery stores which contributes to a food insecure neighborhood. The distribution of convenience stores differs by racial/economic characteristics of a neighborhood. The purpose of this research project is to explore the possible solutions to provide nutritionist affordable food in vulnerable communities by reconfiguring the liquor store to meet the needs of the residents in South Berkeley. This study will be conducted using various surveys and samples with the use of intervention strategies in the South Berkeley area that has a large population of African Americans that suffer from high blood pressure and diabetes. I would work closely with Heart to Heart program with the design and the innovation of the liquor store and also meeting the health needs of the community. I will conduct intensive research how to bridge the health disparity gap by tackling food insecurity in urban areas. Through this research it will demonstrate the effectiveness of reconfiguration of the liquor store to meet the health and social needs of urban communities in South Berkeley as a case study. As a result, active engagement to transport healthy and affordable produce in liquor stores will address the health disparities and food insecurity that largely affect vulnerable populations in South Berkeley.BackgroundAfter World War II, capital retreated from industrial urban zones and became highly racialized through zoning and redling. The post industrial era introduce “junk food jungle” throughout poor neighborhoods. The stretches of the food desert increase demand for food that was easily accessible, convenient and cheap thereby sending high incidence of diabetes and obesity among the community. “Liquor stores began to serve as the primary source of food provisioning in America’s inner cities, yet fresh fruits and vegetables were unavailable.” This is just not a problem but its an epidemic of social inequality in urban areas throughout the bay area and the country.

Our Neighbors! The Liquor Store

Epidemic Current

Approaches• Ecology center provides a

Farmers market in south Berkeley, however there is a lack of diversity in community participation at the market.

• Spiral Gardens Community provides local food produce and encourage productive use of urban soil and community farm.

• Heart to Heart provides a holistic approach to health disparities by working directly with the Public health department to reconfigure the liquor store, and providing health vans in the South Berkeley community.

My approach1. Working directly with the

Heart to Heart program by conducting door to door surveys

2. Accessibility of healthy food sources for the Berkeley community.

3. Apply this new method throughout the bay area and ultimately the country.

• Public-private partnerships introduce supermarkets to underserved communities

• Mobile markets• Increasing the stock

of fruits, vegetables at neighborhood corner stores

• Community gardens• Local farmers markets

Health Hazard(Liquor

Stores)

Dose Response-higher rates of mortality and

morbidity

Exposure levels(high density of

unhealthy foods)

Risk Characterization(Food insecurity)

Share of Baltimore Neighborhood Food Stores with Low Availability of Healthy Food, by Neighborhood Race and Income, 2006

“A survey of 226 supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, and behind-glass stores in 106 census tracts found that 43 percent of predominantly black neighborhoods and 46 percent of lower-income neighborhoods were in the bottom third of availability, compared to four percent of predominantly white and 13 percent of higher-income neighborhoods.”