1
Kaila Thomas
Dr. Wood
LDS 1310
1December 2016
Food Deserts: Hungry for Fresh Produce
Despite the great affluence found in America, hunger is still a major issue that faces many American citizens today. A particular problem within the broader issue of hunger is that of food deserts. Food deserts are defined by federal agencies as “a community that doesn't have sufficientaccess to fresh, healthy and affordable food” (Soergel, 2015). These communities are typically impoverished, and can be found in any region in America, but are most commonly found in the Mid-Atlantic and Southern regions of the country (Soergel, 2015). Food deserts are created because companies want to build stores in locations where they will turn big profits. If there is a competitor just a couple miles away from the potential site, they won’t put a new store there (Soergel, 2015). While this does make economic sense, it makes getting groceries more challenging for people of lower socioeconomic status who may not have a car, and would either have to walk very far or take the bus which costs money and can sometimes take a very long time. This leads consumers to shop at convenience stores, where healthy options are limited and overpriced, due to the lack of competition with other vendors (Soergel, 2015). Food deserts occur in low income areas, which are typically populated by people of color, including African-Americans, Latinos, and mixed race individuals. These populations are disproportionately affected by food deserts, and consequently disproportionately affected by childhood obesity and the health consequences that result.
Food deserts and the issue of hunger is occasionally covered in the media, but not as extensively as it should be. The media often covers stories of success in combatting food deserts. For example, there was an article recently published about the Jubilee Market in Waco. The Jubilee Market is a non-profit grocery store that provides cheap, healthy groceries for residents in the neighborhood.It’s also in walking distance, which makes it accessible to a far greater number of residents (Escobar, 2016). The article explained what a food desert was, and how the Jubilee Market met the needs of the community and its hours of operation. While this article is successful in simply explaining the concept of a food desert and then briefly explaining what the Jubilee Market is and when it’s open, it does not delve very far into the larger issue of food deserts here in Waco and across Texas. The article simply focuses on the Jubilee Market, which is a solution, but is a fairly small one in the bigger picture. The article would be more effective if it were to discuss how prevalent food deserts are across America. Readers would be made more aware of just how important this issue is, and how many people it affects. I also think the article couldhave made a call to action for citizens of Waco to make donations to the Jubilee Market, or encouraging citizens to be more aware of where food deserts are, so that they can work to help eliminate food deserts in communities close to theirs.
A similar article titled “D.C. urban gardens bring low-cost, fresh produce to city’s food deserts”, sends the same message as the Waco article. The article is about a nonprofit group called DC UrbanGreens, which provides low-cost fresh produce to people living in an area that doesn’t have an easily accessible grocery store (Epatko, 2016). It discusses what food deserts are, explains how the garden is operated and who operates it, discusses what it would be like to put in a new grocery store into the area, and talks about the lack of research conducted to show the direct link between community gardens and improved eating habits in the community. This article is fairly similar to the article about the Jubilee Market, but is more effective because of the personal touches it has. This article includes the stories of the volunteers, who explain why the garden is important to them. The article lists examples of specific vegetables that the neighborhood’s residents didn’t know about and takes it even further to talk about the importance of cooking produce in a such a way that all of its nutritional value is retained. This article goes beyond simply addressing the issue of food deserts, but delves further into things like nutrition, which makes it more memorable.
Overall, themedia tends to find a single success story of a program that is combatting food deserts, but then fails to address the nationwide issue of them. While there are stories about the prevalence of food deserts in existence, those articles are often found in local newspapers or websites, rather than national magazines or news stations. There need to be more informative articles in the mass media, in order to raise awareness about the issue and help Americans become more informed about what they can do to resolve it.
The article about the Jubilee Market provides a clear example of skills leadership, which “…suggests that knowledge and abilities are needed for effective leadership” (Northouse, 2016 p. 43). Jimmy Dorrell, who is the founder of Mission Waco, opened the Jubilee Market, and is an excellent example of skills leadership. He has been working with the homeless and low income class of Waco for almost his entire career, and over all of those years, he has developed invaluable interpersonal skills, such as recruiting volunteers and locating resources, community development skills, and lots of knowledge about the causes and effects of hunger in Waco. All of these skills equipped him to envision and then execute the opening of the Jubilee Market.
An example of servant leadership is found in the article about the DC Urban Gardens. Servant leaders are attentive to the concerns of their followers, empathize with them, and nurture them, always putting their followers first (Northouse, 2016). The people who worked in this garden were the ones to physically garden the fresh fruits and vegetables and recruit volunteers to maintain the garden. They cared so deeply about improving the health of their followers that they were willing to put in extra effort in the garden and do the physical “dirty work” of providing healthier foods.
Michelle Obama has been a major leader in resolving the issue of food deserts. In 2010, she helped start the Partnership for a Healthier America initiative, which aimed to “…end childhood obesity by transforming the marketplace, so that the healthy choice would become the easy choice for American families” (“2014 PROGRESS”, 2014). Among other programs, such as “Drink Up”, which sought to make drinking water more appealing, and “Let’s Move”, aimed at getting kids to be active for 60 minutes a day, this initiative joined with a group of grocers and retailers in 2011, and had asked them to open or expand over 1,500 stores (Soergel, 2015). This would allow families to have more access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Additionally, Obama vowed to stay committed to the campaign even when she leaves the White House, because she cares so deeply about ending the childhood obesity epidemic in America (“2014 PROGRESS”, 2014.). This behavior shows that Michelle Obama has engaged in servant leadership as she has worked on the campaign. Michelle Obama promotes exercise and healthy eating because she wants kids in America to be the healthiest they can. She wants to prevent a rise in obesity among kids, and consequently limit illness among kids as well. She understands how difficult it can be to provide healthy options for a family when on a budget, and because she has this understanding, she is taking action to help families be healthier. She is always aware of the health needs of Americans and works to make that a priority in all of the work she does.
An additional example of effective leadership within this issue are city governments. Major cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City are especially hard hit by food deserts, leaving thousands of residents stranded without access to good grocery stores. These governments made use of situational leadership, which is based on the belief that “…different situations demand different kinds of leadership” and that to be an effective leader, a person must “…adapt his or her style to the demands of the different situations” (Northouse, 2016, p. 93). The governments examined the various degrees of need of their cities and then created a method to eliminate food deserts based on that need. For example, in Los Angeles, the Southern region was especially impacted by food deserts. Within that area, about 97% of the people are African-American, Latino, or mixed race, so food deserts disproportionately affect them (“Food Deserts”, 2016). In order to combat this, the City Council put a moratorium on fast-food restaurant chains within this 32-mile area. This led to an increase in the demand for improved food choices, so the City Council passed another item that incentivized grocery stores and sit-down restaurants that offer healthier choices (“Food Deserts”, 2016). These companies promote healthier eating and choices in the Southern Los Angeles communities and eventually led to the opening of a new supermarket. In its “situation”, the city of Los Angeles took money it had and used it to promote the construction of grocery stores so that its citizens could make healthier choices.
New York City is another great example of how city leaders used situational leadership to address the issue of food deserts. Many grocery stores in New York City have had to close down recently because of high rent rates and decreasing profit margins (“Food Deserts”, 2016). This shut down of stores has disproportionately affected low-income areas, most heavily populated by African-Americans. In response to this, the city created a program called Green Carts. This program brings in shopping carts full of fresh fruits and vegetables to areas that have significant need. These items are very affordable and also create vending jobs for the people that operate the carts (“Food Deserts”, 2016). Living in New York is really compact and congested, so in its “situation”, providing mobile carts of groceries is a more effective way to get groceries to a large quantity of people.
An example of ineffective leadership within this issue are the leading retailers in America—stores like Walmart, Target, Kroger, Costco, and Safeway—who opened over 10,000 new stores between 2011 and 2015 (Soergel, 2015). However, only 250 of those stores were built in food desert areas (Soergel, 2015). Although this number sounds high, just because a store is near them does not mean that it is easily accessible. It could be near a highway and require transportation, which is expensive and potentially time consuming, therefore making the grocery stores useless. Families will still have to shop at convenience stores, significantly limiting their options for purchase and forcing them to pay extra for the healthy food that those stores may sell. Good leaders take the resources they have and use them to benefit their followers; these retailers did not use their resources in the most beneficial way and therefore misused their power as leaders.
There are dozens of verses found in the Bible that have to do with serving the poor. Proverbs is full of verses that encourage serving the poor, such asProverbs 31:9, which says calls followers to “Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Jesus was also a major advocate for serving the poor and less fortunate. In Luke 6:20-21, Jesus said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” As Christians, we are called to serve the oppressed and less fortunate of our world. Even the Christians who aren’t in the upper class are called to give to others and share even a small portion of the wealth they have. Raising awareness about and working to eliminate food deserts is just one of the ways we can do this. Whether this involves doing further research to become more knowledgeable of the facts surrounding this issue, donating healthy food items to a local food pantry, or supporting organizations that are growing community gardens, Christians should be part of working to end food deserts in America. This issue can be fairly easily resolved, but it is going to require a commitment to raising awareness and educating the general population on the issue, as well as a deeper and long-lasting commitment to the health and well-being of American citizens.
Works Cited
Epatko, Larisa. “D.C. Urban Gardens Bring Low-Cost, Fresh Produce to City’s Food Deserts.”
PBS, PBS, 24 Nov. 2016,
Escobar, Esptephany. “New Non-Profit Grocery Store Ends Food Desert in Neighborhood.”
News Channel 25 - KXXV-TV News Channel 25 - Central Texas News and Weather for Waco, Temple, Killeen, Raycom Media, 21 Nov. 2016,
“Food Deserts.” Food Deserts , Food Empowerment Project, 2016,
deserts/.
Northouse, Peter G. Leadership: Theory and Practice. 7th ed., Thousand Oaks, CA, SAGE Publications, 2016.
Soergel, Andrew. “Millions of Food Desert Dwellers Struggle to Get Fresh Groceries .” US
News &Amp; World Report, US News &Amp; World Report, 7 Dec. 2015,
“2014 ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT.” The Foundation Rises, Partnership for a Healthier
America, 2014, progressreports.ahealthieramerica.org/2014/making-strides/.