Healthy Food Access in New York City: Low-Income Families Living in Food Deserts and

the Role of Alternative Food Networks

Grant Proposal, Spring 2010Jillian BernardiniWagner College

What is a food desert?

Lack fresh foods

Supermarket redlining

Food insecurity

Low-income families affected most

How are food deserts formed?

Fresh food availability Physical barriers Public transportation and

accessibility Time and money

constraints

Consequences of food deserts:

Unhealthy environment Limited food options:

what’s available? Poor health Higher rate of lifestyle

diseases

Alternative Food Networks (AFNs)

Farmers’ markets

Community supported agriculture (CSA)

Community gardens

Food cooperatives

Social Space and Praxis

Gramsci’s ideological hegemony

Practice theory/role of the individual

Habitus (Bourdieu) Move food access

to community level

Research Objectives

Decrease food access = increase costs (time, money, disease)

Reliance on convenience stores and fast foods

Research Objectives, cont.

Foods purchased will affect health negatively

Assume no other alternatives

AFNs as a solution

Method and Research Plan, part 1

Resource mapping Two locations; categorized

by type, cost, and what is purchased

Locate public transportation and access

Method and Research Plan, part 2

Ethnographic interviews Open-ended questions

with food shoppers, AFN members, and AFN employees

Method and Research Plan, part 3

Participant-Observation Greenmarket, GrowNYC: type

of AFN

Relationships with key informants

Significance

Benefits from a food desert? Annual cost of diet-related diseases Public health Level of income Awareness Benefits from AFNs

Thank you