Transcript Meet Me in St. Louis (County?) Kara Lubischer Community Development Specialist University of Missouri Extension MOCAN Quarterly Meeting 01.23.14

Meet Me in St. Louis (County?)
Kara Lubischer
Community Development Specialist
University of Missouri Extension
MOCAN Quarterly Meeting
01.23.14
What dictates our health?
• 10% - Lack of access to healthcare
• 30% - Genetics
• 60% - Behavioral and environment
Your ZIP CODE is more
important than your
genetic code in many ways!
What do we know?
• Distance to the nearest
supermarket/grocery was found to
predict healthier eating and lower risk
of obesity and chronic disease (“The Grocery
Gap”, The Food Trust)
• People who lived near supermarkets
consumed more fresh produce and less
likely to be obese (“The Grocery Gap”, The Food
Trust)
• Transportation is a huge issue for lower
income and elderly populations
• In 2003, estimated that obesity cost
Missouri $1.6 billion. 10 years ago!!!
Where’s
the
beef?
Where’s
the
healthy
food?
View of Old North St. Louis Building Stock, 1950s and 2000
The Great Grocery Store
Exodus in Urban Areas
• Started in the 1960s
• White, middle-class families moved to the
suburbs  retail & neighborhood amenities
followed
• Grocery stores adapted their operations to suit
their new environment
• Size and scale of stores grew and large
suppliers and distributors adapted  shelves
are now stocked with foods demanded by a
fairly homogeneous suburban population
Who’s to blame?
•
•
•
•
Highway construction
Segregation
Land use and zoning
Suburban sprawl
The Usual Suspects
• Food deserts
• Food swamps
• Low supermarket
access areas
• Grocery gaps
• Sparse food areas
DOES IT REALLY MATTER
WHAT IT’S CALLED?
Key Food Access Issues
• Accessibility: Can you get to food sources?
• Availability: If so, is healthy food available?
• Affordability: If so, can you afford it?
• Know how: Do you know how to prepare it?
St. Louis Healthy Corner Store Project
• Key partners
– University of Missouri Extension
– City of St. Louis Departments of Health & Public Safety
– St. Louis Development Corporation
– Mentor Team
• Founded in 2011
• Funded in part by Missouri
Foundation for Health and the
Missouri Department of Health
and Senior Services
Call for Nominations
Call for nominations:
Store AND community
partner
= supply AND demand
Selection process:
• Community profile
• Health indicators
• Store capacity
• Interviews
Increasing
Access
with
Supply
Session Outline
Goal:
Increase healthy food inventory in each
store by 5% after one year.
• One-on-one technical assistance
• “St. Louis Healthy Corner Store
Resource Guidebook”
• Collecting customer feedback
• Receive limited supplies and
façade improvements (when available)
Increasing
Access
with
Supply
Session Outline
Measuring Success
• 7 stores have currently been
accepted to the program
• Average 25% increase of
healthy food inventory after
one year
• Co-op buying club among
owners
• Community events
• Graduation!!
• Façade improvements
Before
After
Before
After
Building Demand through Education
In the Store
• 30-40 point-of-decision
prompts and posters per store
• 25 corner store recipes
• 8 taste-tests per store
• Over 400 customers have
sampled recipes
Building Demand through Education
In the Community
•
•
•
Classes: “Eating Smart, Being Active”,
“Kids in the Kitchen”, “Healthy Store”
guided tours
Classes must be co-hosted by the
community partner
Over 80 adults and 36 youth have
attended classes
Creating Demand through
Session
Outline Partnerships
Community
Eritrean Specialty Box
$15/serves 2
Before
After
Starved
for Access
How did we end up here?
• Overall decline in rural population
• Larger senior population and larger impoverished
population
• What does this do to a store?
– In 2000, the average population needed to maintain a
grocery store was 2,843 people.
– By 2005, it was 3,252 people. (Iowa State University Extension)
– More rural residents live within a 10 minute drive of a
fast-food chain or convenience store but not a large
grocery.
What IS a rural grocery?
• Economic developer
– Boost to local economy
– Employer
– Attracts new residents
• Access point to healthy foods
• Community builder
– Informal meeting place
– Community anchor
Did we change?
• Out-commuting/out-shopping (def):
– Residents purchase groceries where they work in communities
that could be 20-30 miles away
– More common in communities within 50 miles of a large
supercenter such as a Wal-Mart
– Travel is consolidated to 1-2 trips/week
Rural Grocery Case Study
• Ste. Genevieve County & Washington County
• Surveyed 35 small food retailers
– grocery stores, convenience stores, and gas stations
• N=10
• Majority of customers come from within a 10 mile
radius
• 7 out of 10 said that less than 20% of customers come
in primarily for most/all household food needs
Rural Grocery Case Study
• When asked what the biggest challenges are:
–
–
–
–
60% said minimum buying requirements
50% said keeping up with technology
50% said competition with big box stores
40% said community support
• 9 out of 10 stores partner with
organizations and/or sponsor
community events
Kansas Rural Grocery Initiative
• Director: Dr. David Procter
• Center for Engagement and
Community Development at
Kansas State University
• www.ruralgrocery.org
• [email protected]
• Blog, e-newsletter
• Rural Grocery Summit – June 9-10, 2014
• Resources available include case studies of sustainable
models and “Challenge” briefs
“Stock Healthy to Shop Healthy”
• Partnership with Missouri Department of Health &
Senior Services
STOCK HEALTHY…
•
•
•
•
What is healthy?
Buying & handling
Display
Good business
practices
• Marketing &
advertising
…SHOP HEALTHY
• What is a coalition?
• Forming
partnerships
• Identifying and
working with a
retailer
• Nutrition education
• Outreach activities
Surveys
Stock Healthy to Shop Healthy
• Retailers
– Rural, urban, suburban
• Community Stakeholders
– Elected officials, local
economic/community
development agencies,
chambers of commerce, local
public health agencies,
community-based nonprofits,
neighborhood associations,
etc.
Preliminary Stakeholder
Survey Results
• N=120 (as of 01.21.14)
• Respondents
– Local public health (38%), neighborhood/community advocate (26%), local
elected official/government (15%)
• What is the most important factor in limited access to
healthy foods in your community?
– Healthy foods are too costly (41%)
– Residents need more education on healthy eating (35%)
– Stores don’t stock healthy foods (15%)
Webinar Series & Website
• Website
– Retailer Toolkit & Community
Toolkit
– Assessment tools, interview
forms, etc.
– Links to other resources
• Webinars
– 4-6 webinar sessions in Summer 2014
– Target audiences: Small food retailers, community volunteers,
nonprofit organizations, local public health agencies
– Surveys will inform topics
Possible Webinar Topics
• Identifying and accessing potential funding sources for
healthy food strategies (67%)
• Building customer/community demand for healthy
foods through surveys and outreach activities (63%)
• Understanding the scope/scale of healthy food retail
programs across the country (51%)
• Using food access and health disparity data (49%)
• Implementing activities to support a healthy retail
store (47%)
Ultimately, it’s about
building a strong and
vibrant community
that has easy access to
healthy and affordable
foods for all.
Contact
Information
Session Outline
Kara Lubischer
Community Development Specialist
University of Missouri Extension
[email protected]
314.516.6392
extension.missouri.edu