FOOD & NUTRITION FELLOWS

Food Access in Richmond

 

While the United States produces enough food for all of its residents, almost 15% of its entire population is still unable to access quality food due to financial or other resource limitations. Therefore families from lower-income backgrounds are sometimes unable to purchase groceries through conventional means and may have to rely heavily on emergency sources of food or government assistance. As fast food restaurants have multiplied in inner-cities, brand name grocery stores that provide fresh and healthy produce, fruits, and vegetables, have simultaneously fled low income-spaces and, as a result, urban communities are oftentimes deprived access to adequate food options.

 

Because of this relationship between income levels and food access, the issue of food security is even more relevant in Richmond, where the city poverty rate nears almost 30 percent. According to the Food Policy Task Force for the City of Richmond, VA, this poverty rate is even higher for children, where nearly 40 percent of all children under 18 are living in households with family income levels that are below the federal poverty threshold. The Food Policy Task Force also cited Feeding America, a non-profit dedicated to minimizing hunger in the nation, stating that Richmond currently has approximately 40,020 food insecure residents who lack access to "adequate nutritional food necessary for an active, healthy life". This number represents almost 20 percent of the entire city's population and emphasizes the importance of minimizing food insecurity in the city of Richmond.

 

This combination of low-income levels and high food insecurity rates have attributed to an increase in food and nutrition-relation health issues with Richmond. According to the CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 41 percent of Richmond citizens are overweight and 26 percent are considered obese. While the rate of obesity and other nutrition-related health issues encompass a combination of factors, the root of these problems lie in the absence of available, accessible, and affordable healthy food options.