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  • Leveraging Community-Academic Partnerships to Improve Healthy Food Access in an Urban, Kansas City, Kansas, Community
  • Natabhona Marianne Mabachi, PhD and Kim S. Kimminau, PhD

What Is the Purpose of this Study?

  • • To partner with grass roots organizations in a low-income, minority, urban community, to develop a business plan to improve access to healthy foods.

  • • This was done by engaging residents in community conversations and conducting a Community Food Assessment Survey, and using the data to drive the development of strategies to improve food access.

What Is the Problem?

  • • Overweight and obesity levels are at epidemic proportions in the United States. Eating healthy, unprocessed foods such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains is one way to combat obesity.

  • • Studies indicate that Americans who live in underserved, low-income, minority communities have poor access to nutritious, fairly priced, high-quality foods.

  • • It becomes difficult for residents of such communities to follow recommended dietary guidelines, thus increasing their risk of obesity and other conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

  • • Community-based participatory research approaches are increasingly being used to solve community food access issues.

What Are the Findings?

  • • Residents are unanimously dissatisfied with the lack of a full-service grocery store in Argentine and chose the introduction of a grocery store as their top solution to food access issues in the community.

  • • On average residents spend $104 per week for a five-person household.

  • • On average residents had to go 3.5 to 5 miles to access the nearest full-service grocery stores, making Argentine a food desert.

  • • An unexpectedly low percentage (10.6%) of residents surveyed reported being on the Federal Women, Infants and Children program. However 35.7% reported being on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

  • • Eighty percent of residents reported shopping at least weekly or more with 11% shopping for a household other than their own.

  • • Although ratings of food quality at stores frequented were high, fruit and vegetable consumption was low owing to prohibitive costs and personal preferences.

  • • Residents admitted to resorting to fast food establishments as a cheap way to feed their families.

Who Should Care Most?

  • • Community-based organizations and community health centers.

  • • Residents of underserved, low-income, minority urban and rural communities. [End Page 237]

  • • Food policy makers.

  • • Chain and independent grocery stores.

Recommendations for Action

  • • Communities addressing food access issues should conduct culturally tailored comprehensive community food assessments to avoid wasted time on strategies that do not match the population's needs or desires.

  • • Community organizations should consider partnering with experts from other organizations in various sectors, including academic, financial, government, and nongovernmental agencies, to help them address food access issues.

  • • More planning grants should be made available to communities to increase the probability of success at the implementation stage. [End Page 238]

Natabhona Marianne Mabachi and Kim S. Kimminau
University of Kansas Medical Center, Department of Family Medicine, Research Division
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