Fresh moves making a return

This initiative lasted at least a year and a half hoping to provide relief to the food deserts of Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is hoping to bring this program back. When it shut down a few years ago it posted losses will it be successful in it's newest incarnation?

The program now is being run by Erika Allen, an Emanuel appointee to the Chicago Park District board and the director of Growing Power Chicago, an urban farming nonprofit that grows fruits and vegetables year round on 12 acres in the city. Allen will run Fresh Moves, with its first bus debuting July 18 and plans for a second bus to start up this fall.

In 2012, the U.S. Department of Agriculture provided a one-year grant of $45,000 to help Fresh Moves to begin operating a second bus. This year, Emanuel said Vilsack agreed to a one-year grant to serve as the seed money for the latest produce bus model. Allen said the grant is for $100,000, but she believes ultimately the bus program will largely fund itself through sales.

Asked what's different about the program this time around, Allen didn't hesitate: "We grow our own food."

Under Food Desert Action's previous business model, the foundation purchased produce and turned around and sold it on the buses, operating on thin price margins. Allen argued she has far less overhead than that previous setup since her nonprofit Growing Power, which started and still operates farms in Milwaukee, provides much of the food the bus will sell.

Allen said 90 percent of what is sold on the buses will be grown in Chicago or within 200 miles of the city, with the exception being more tropical fruits such as bananas and oranges. She said the bus also will sell salads and healthy drinks and snacks that will help generate revenue.

Sun-Times: Mariano’s gets $5M to build in ‘food deserts’

Credit: Mariano's Instagram

While on Thursday, the focus was on a groundbreaking for Whole Foods Market Englewood there was a story about Mariano's getting state money to open in food desert areas:

Mariano’s Fresh Markets will build five new grocery stores in “food deserts” — neighborhoods with no easy access to affordable, fresh food — with the help of $5 million in Build Illinois bond proceeds committed by Gov. Pat Quinn, the company and the state announced Thursday.

The funds will go toward capital construction in order to free up more money for job training.

It’s the first time that Build Illinois bonds will be used to boost healthy food choices in low-income areas, said David Roeder, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

One of those stores was already announced to come to Bronzeville at 39th/King Drive. The other one is rumored to come to the former site of US Steel near 87th/South Shore Drive. Of course that needs to be confirmed. I think people in South Shore are looking for this one even if it isn't coming to 71st/Jeffrey.

More about the jobs to come:

Mariano said the company must provide intense job training in underserved communities, including working with new hires on basics such as timeliness, proper attire, work preparation and communicating well with customers.

“In many cases, we’re going into places where people haven’t had jobs or haven’t had jobs in many years,” Mariano said. “We want to spend time on job training and job-preparation skills so that the employees and the store can succeed.”

Mariano aims to hire local residents for the food-desert stores. The company does so at existing stores because most people want to work 2 to 5 miles from their homes, Mariano said.

Each Mariano’s store employs about 415 people.

Mariano’s supermarkets emphasize food stations and fresh, prepared and ready-to-prepare foods — an approach that retail experts say work well in underserved neighborhoods.

According to the Sun-Times, the state money is for five stores to open in underserved areas. Four of those will open in the city limits. So there is one that's coming one that's rumored, so where would the other two go?

Here's one suggestion, the property that formerly contained a Jewel/Osco and the now demolished Halsted Indoor Mall located near Halsted/115th Street (here's a picture in fact). That should foot the bill for the state money Mariano's is getting.

Is Rahm Pimpin Englewood

I guess my age is catching up with me. I can remember the dreary bus ride along 63rd street to Lindblom Technical High School. The only non blighted spot on 63rd street was the 63rd Halsted Street mall. The mall had stores that included Sears, Jewel Foods and a movie theater. From my freshman year to my senior year the mall went from vibrant to blighted, Sears and the theater closed and all was left was small "junky" stores selling cheap substandard merchandise.

 Once the mall hit rock bottom the city under the direction of Mayor Richard Daley decided to tear down the mall and move Kennedy King College on most of the site and Jewel Foods would build a state of art store at the corner of 63rd Halsted. The college was built but the Jewel Food store was never built.  After years of sitting vacant the site was submitted to Walmart but they passed and several other retailers have been asked to look at the site but all have passed.

Now, Whole Foods has announced that they will open a store on this site by 2016. While I applaud the company for seeing potential in the site I only asked why 2.5 years later?  When it was announced that they were coming to Hyde Park, it was not 2.5 years later.

Hmmm, so I had to ask the questions that others don't want to ask.

• Is the scheduled completion date set conveniently after the 2015 election? 
• Is the Mayor taking advantage of a lame duck ineffective Alderman Joann Thompson? 
• Is this a compromise to give the mayor access to the Englewood TIF funds?

The biggest question I have deals with the blow the mayor took several weeks ago when the proposed Norfolk Southern freight yard. Over the last several years, the railroad has been purchasing vacant lots and occupied homes from Englewood residents. The freight yard is scheduled to open 2015. Environmentalist, community organizations such as R.A.G.E have opposed the way the land has and is being acquired and where the freight yard is going to be located.  The mayor supports the freight yard as he sees it part of a larger plan to make the city of Chicago a transportation hub. So my question is was this announcement planned to lessen the opposition to the proposed freight yard that is scheduled to come up for a vote? While I'm aware that Englewood needs a full service grocery store, I question the timing of this proposal. Recently,

I attended the Resident Association of Greater Englewood(R.A.G.E.) general meeting. They had contacted Jewel Foods about opening another grocery store and were informed that Jewel did not have an interest in reopening a full service store in Englewood ,but rather their limited offering store  "Save A Lot". The closest full service stores are either the Food For Less at 69th Ashland or Walmart Express at 47th Ashland. This is woofully inadequate as a community needs a full service grocery store for approximately every 10,000 residents. So we will see what happens this time around.

If the freight yard gets blocked will the corner of 63rd Halsted stay vacant?    

Tribune: Emanuel hails South Side produce bus

Is this one way to give low-income neighborhoods access to fresh produce?

A bus loaded with pears, asparagus and other fruits and vegetables soon will start rolling through South Side neighborhoods in a circuit Mayor Rahm Emanuel likened Friday to a healthy ice cream truck route.

The former CTA bus will join one already operating on the West Side by the nonprofit organization Fresh Moves. The group aims to bring healthier eats to Chicago's food deserts, areas lacking proper grocery stores with produce sections.

TheU.S. Department of Agriculture agreed to give Fresh Moves a $70,000 grant to renovate a second bus after the first one proved to be a hit, selling produce during regular appearances at pre-set locations, Emanuel said.

"We knew growing up, 4 o'clock on a Thursday at the playground, here comes the ice cream truck," Emanuel said. "You took that model, turned it upside down, right side up and made it part of healthy living."

The bus should start rolling around on the south side starting in September!

Your Walgreens Experiment Could Make Food Deserts Worse

The ChicagoNow blog Dear Mr. Mayor tears to shreds Mayor Emanuel's initiatives to eliminate food deserts in poor city neighborhoods. The first target is Walgreen's:

Your corporate experiment is supposed to bring better health, jobs, and fresh food to under-served neighborhoods, but Walgreens is the real beneficiary. In addition to fresh profit from many more (city subsidized) stores, Walgreens gets the big prize: unqualified endorsement by a major market Mayor with deep ties to the Obama administration (i.e. you). Yes, you handed Walgreens an impressive public relations coup that will speed their growth in the region and other cities nationwide, and they’re getting it for free.

Walgreens and other corporations do have a role to play. The underserved of our City need, want, and deserve more services including health care facilities, a variety of retail, and more food choice. And $67B Walgreens drug empire has recognized what other chains have missed for years: food desert residents spend a disproportionate amount of their income on food and other necessities and will buy them locally if available. Is Walgreens a greedy corporation? The stock market demands they answer first to shareholders and profits, not to residents and not to good health. Food deserts are simply a new market and profit opportunity. This is a chance to stake a real estate claim in areas that are already improving, if slowly, thanks mainly to local not corporate efforts.

What do you propose for alleviating the food desert in poor inner-city neighborhoods?

I want to see some Booty at Jewel's!

Ok, that title needs some explanation.  A while back I was at Jewel's at 87h and the Dan Ryan. My wife had spotted an ad for Pirate's Booty

It's a snack, so not the most healthy of foods...but compared to other snacks, it might be considered a health food, the kind you'd see on the North Side.

Clearly, the makers of it are not "urban". In an earlier package, they proudly said that fans of their snack were called "Booty Heads".

But it's great tasting, and available at most places -- except 87th & the Dan Ryan.  When I asked the clerks who worked those aisles about it, they had no clue what I was talking about.

So why don't we have it here? There were pleny of flaming hot chips to choose from, which I saw prominently displayed at Jewel's. But many of hese "healthier" snacks are nowhere to be found, except for the ads.

I felt kind of weird asking the employees "I want some Booty". But I was also sad that we couldn't get what was offered in most stores.

I think this is part of the same unhealthy food cycle that makes our area feel like a "food desert", and part of the real reasons why Whole Foods doesn't want to establish a store near us.

What do you think?

Note: the above post was created quite a while ago, but I don't think things have changed in the past few weeks.

The first lady was in the 6th ward!!!

Photo from WBEZ

Alderman Sawyer mentioned that when he addressed the Roseland Heights Community Association last night. Here's a story from WBEZ:

First Lady Michelle Obama returned to her native South Side Chicago on Tuesday to promote her initiatives on healthy eating for children as well as her quest to eliminate food deserts.

Obama stopped by a refashioned Walgreens on 75th and State Street. Last year the chain started stocking its shelves with fresh fruits and vegetables in neighborhoods where crisp produce is scarce. Often, such food deserts either lack healthy stores or are home to stores where processed and junk foods prevail.

The First Lady said the issue of food deserts speaks directly to her.

“I saw this growing up in my own community,” said Obama, who grew up in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood. “Starting out with wonderful grocery stores but slowly, but surely, as the economies changed, many of these resources just disappeared into thin air. This is true for so many communities across the country. This just isn’t happening in Chicago or on the South Side.

“If folks want to buy a head of lettuce for a salad or some fruit for their kids’ lunch, they’d have to take two or three buses to do it.”

Obama invested time and considerable political capital in a program called “Let’s Move,” which aims to reduce childhood obesity.

Her visit coincides with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s daylong food access summit. Mayors from around the country gathered in Chicago to explore best practices to expand fresh food in underserved communities.

Health and Human Services Secretary visits Walgreens

US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius visted our local Walgreen's at State and 75th. One of the featured events included the Sceretary getting a flu shot from Walgreens' health clinic (and promoting http://www.flu.gov/ )

The visit also highlighted the several changes to the store, including the fresh foods (mention of the Food Deserts, and Sebelius congratulating Walgreens as being an "oasis"), the health clinic (offering easier access to basic health care), and highlighted the new remodeling, which features a more lighted, open space.

Melinda Kelly of the Chatham Business Association spoke at the podium following the Secretary.

Several VIP's attended the event in addition to Walgreens' president, including a Deputy Governor.  Several reporters and photographers were also present, including WGN news and Univision.



Cristal Thomas, Deputy Governor for Public Policy, is on the left while Debbie Garza , Divisional Vice President, Government and Community Relations of Walgreens, speaks with store manager Wayman Freelon



This event was also done in coordination with First Ladies (The wives of prominent Chicago area pastors, including Chatham's Carter Temple).  Here is a link to a recent event, also co-sponsored with Walgreens, the First Ladies led.

Our Walgreens is a popular place to be.  A second event with the Chicago Urban League, was scheduled for later that afternoon at Walgreens. (I was not able to attend that event, so we don't have details)

 







Here's the Walgreen's press release, sent 2 hours before the event:



photo by JP Paulus



U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius will receive her seasonal flu vaccine and will talk about the importance of prevention measures and flu season preparedness this morning at a Walgreens (NYSE:WAG) (NASDAQ:WAG) "health and daily living" pilot store in Chicago. The Secretary also will tour the store with Walgreens President and CEO Greg Wasson, who will highlight the store's ability to offer accessible, preventive health services such as flu vaccinations and diabetes care in underserved communities.





"It's very exciting to see stores like these built on the principle that good health starts with steps we can all take to avoid getting sick in the first place," said Sebelius. "A perfect example of preventive care is getting your annual flu shot to protect yourself and your loved ones. So we're working closely with pharmacies like Walgreens to make the vaccine widely available in communities across the country."



photo by JP Paulus

  

"We appreciate Secretary Sebelius recognizing the important role of community pharmacists in health care," said Wasson. "With this pilot store, we are advancing the profession of pharmacy by providing greater accessibility to pharmacists for medication counseling, answering questions and providing additional clinical services."





Pharmacists are on the front lines of health care and among the most trusted professionals as ranked by Gallup's honesty and ethics survey. Especially in medically underserved communities, pharmacies provide critical access to health care services that often go beyond dispensing medication. Walgreens new pilot pharmacy addresses the desire of customers for better products, tools and guidance as they aspire to make healthier choices in their daily lives. The pilot pharmacy also addresses the national focus on prevention and management of chronic diseases, which has highlighted the need for a model of care that is convenient, coordinated and affordable.

 

More details will be posted when available



<> 

Chicago area church First Ladies, including Micheal Newman-Brooksof Canaan Community Church in Englewood (first on the right), as well as John Gremer, Walgreens Director of Community Affairs. photo courtesy of Pastor Jonathan Brooks, Canaan Community Church



Grocery at Target

A grocery at Target (at 87th & Cottage Grove) is scheduled to open on April 15.

Is that where these storage units and dumpsters were for?

Will this grocery be a big benefit to our community?

Green City Market gets gov't grant to push local produce

Crain's:

Chicago’s Green City Market was among a group of nationwide farmers markets that received a total of $4.5 million in federal funds to promote the growth and sale of local produce.

The year-round farmers market in Lincoln Park was awarded a grant of $76,300 as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” program. Among the 86 programs in 37 states to get funds, Green City Market was the only recipient in Illinois.

“This will certainly change the face of Green City Market,” Executive Director Lyle Allen said of the grant, the largest his organization has ever received. It equals 20% of Green City Market’s 2009 budget.

Mr. Allen said most of the grant will be used to create a scholarship program to help farmers gain certified sustainable or organic status. Green City Market will require all vendors to be certified as sustainable or organic in 2012. Some of the funds will also help low-income individuals buy fresh produce through a federal government assistance program.

Now if we can get in on some of this action!

Fit Fest an oasis in a 'food desert'

Tribune:

The line of people waiting for a free box of fresh food in Chicago's Pullman neighborhood stretched at least 10 people deep.

Inside were cardboard boxes filled to the brim with apples, mangoes, a can of soup and bags of oatmeal, beans and baby carrots.

Ah, fresh food. And Pullman and nearby Roseland certainly lack it, activists say.

"There's nothing here in the community for us to shop at," said Saiesha Anderson, 28, who suggested that city officials transform the vacant lots and boarded-up shops in Roseland and Pullman into groceries stocked with fresh foods.

Rev. James Meeks called Roseland and Pullman a "food desert." The closest store with fresh produce is a Jewel at 11730 S. Marshfield Ave., which could be a few miles from some people's homes depending on where they live.

That's a long haul to the store in the low-income areas, said Meeks, a state senator.

On Sunday, his church, Salem Baptist in Pullman, held the second Fit Fest to highlight the lack of healthy food stores in Roseland and Pullman and the rising health-care concerns in the black community.

"In our neighborhood, the only thing you can buy is something greasy in a bag," Meeks said.

Roseland. Perhaps a place that is more deserving of appropriate for a Wal-Mart (well deserve is a word that wouldn't work in this instance). Especially if we were talking about filling a need for not only jobs, but in terms of a food desert. It's great to see Rev. Meeks take the lead on this issue.