Abstract
BackgroundFood deserts, areas that lack full-service grocery stores, may contribute to rising rates of obesity and chronic diseases among low-income and racial/ethnic minority residents. Our corner store project, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiative, aimed to increase availability of healthful foods in food deserts in Nashville, Tennessee.Community ContextWe identified 4 food deserts in which most residents are low-income and racially and ethnically diverse. Our objectives were to develop an approach to increase availability of fresh fruits and vegetables, low-fat or nonfat milk, and 100% whole-wheat bread in Nashville’s food deserts and to engage community members to inform our strategy.MethodsFive corner stores located in food deserts met inclusion criteria for our intervention. We then conducted community listening sessions, proprietor surveys, store audits, and customer-intercept surveys to identify needs, challenges to retailing the products, and potential intervention strategies.OutcomeFew stores offered fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, low-fat or nonfat milk, or 100% whole-wheat bread, and none stocked items from all 4 categories. Major barriers to retailing healthful options identified by community members are mistrust of store owners, history of poor-quality produce, and limited familiarity with healthful options. Store owners identified neighborhood crime as the major barrier. We used community input to develop strategies.InterpretationEngaging community residents and understanding neighborhood context is critical to developing strategies that increase access to healthful foods in corner stores.
Highlights
Food deserts, areas that lack full-service grocery stores, may contribute to rising rates of obesity and chronic diseases among low-income and racial/ethnic minority residents
Five corner stores located in food deserts met inclusion criteria for our intervention
Nashville’s Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) intervention aimed to increase availability of fresh fruits and vegetables, low-fat and nonfat milk, and 100% whole-wheat bread in neighborhoods with no grocery stores by developing and implementing a process that is sensitive to community needs and concerns [10]
Summary
Nashville’s CPPW initiative was funded for 2.5 years, from March 2010 through December 2012. The corner store team met with each store owner to review the layout and merchandising of products, suggest alternatives, and identify needs for stocking healthful items These needs included shelf space for bread and refrigeration space for adding or increasing availability of fresh produce and low-fat or nonfat milk. The CPPW Nashville corner store initiative is the first field trial in the city to develop and implement an initiative to increase the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables, 100% whole-wheat bread and low-fat or nonfat milk in lowincome neighborhood corner stores. The development of partnerships between stores and community organizations may help to sustain the viability and availability of healthful foods in corner stores by engaging organizations to promote the purchase of targeted items. Efforts will continue to assess the impact, assure sustainability, and promote dialogue with the community to explore additional ways to increase equitable access to healthful foods
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