My DCERP small group did a presentation on food insecurity today, however it is a topic that interests me and one that affects Detroit a lot and also is directly linked to the work done at my community site, so i decided to choose an article about it to respond to.
The article, “How Detroit is working to Change Food Desert Rep” was an interesting one to me. It seemed to be going in the right direction but in the end i still had some questions and reservations as to whether this food desert issue has actually changed. The article explains mostly about local grocery stores or farmers markets that sell fresh produce and meat. It also explains this program called the Detroit Greener Grocer Project (GGP). This project is meant to assist these local markets by donating money to renovate the interior of stores and also by inviting community members to visit the stores and thus support these local entrepreneurs. The project is contributing over $500,000 to 16 grocery stores for these improvements. While I believe that this is great, the total budget is 5.3 million dollars, so I am just curious as to where the rest of the money is going.
Additionally, there is a quote in the article in which one of these entrepreneurs deems it insulting to refer to Detroit as a food desert and that instead, lots of these local markets are just ignored. This was interesting to me because on the one hand I did think that this was understandable on his part to feel as though his market is being cast out. However, on the other hand, taking into consideration the affordability of products as well as access to transportation to travel to these markets is an extremely important aspect of food insecurity and defining what a food desert is. The article mentions that whole food stores are now more prevalent in the city, but Whole Foods is too expensive for residents who are on SNAP benefits having to shop for families every week with not enough money, and while i believe that these local markets are a better option than larger food chain markets, some residents still may face similar issues.
While the site I am at, FoodLab, is not directly targeting food deserts and food insecurity, the work that we do with Detroit food entrepreneurs helps us to define what “good (healthy) food” means. Additionally, we speak about the issues that residents face accessing “good food,” such as affordability etc. Interviewing these entrepreneurs has helped me to understand the struggles that they face as business owners in Detroit as they try to both keep their business afloat but be more accessible and affordable.
References: https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/indie-grocery-stores-detroit-food-desert
This is a really great extension from the ideas and information you shared in your presentation! I remember thinking about how relevant everything you brought in was and that you did a great job at really honing in on how food insecurity is prevalent within Detroit. Its interesting seeing the ties you’re making to your work at FoodLab and how the work you do there really goes back to this issue.
This is a great topic to investigate more about because it’s still a reoccurring problem to this day. I too am interested in this issue and I thank your group for sharing more information about it !