Access to Healthy Food

Grocery Retail Site Visit

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 7th and 8th, 2006

Page Updated April 22, 2008

The National Conference of State Legislatures and the Community Food Security Coalition organized a site visit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 7th and 8th to learn more about legislative strategies to increase grocery retail development and improvement, especially in low-income areas and communities that are underserved by grocery retail outlets. Legislators and staff from New Mexico, Louisiana, Michigan, as well as Pennsylvania, joined NCSL staff to learn more about two initiatives in Pennsylvania that sought to address the grocery retail gap. Highlights of the visit included learning the details of the Fresh Food Financing Initiative (FFFI) and The First Industries Program, both of which made financing and technical assistance available to prospective and existing grocers. We visited three grocery stores throughout the Philadelphia area, as well as the site of a future store, all assisted by the FFFI. We heard grocery operators discuss the help FFFI gave to their stores, as well as interesting insight on the unique challenges facing stores operating in underserved areas. We explored the economic benefits of these stores to their neighborhoods, as well as to the larger community. In recognition of FFFI's numerous successes, in 2006 the program was named one of 5 winners of the National Award for Smart Growth Achievement.

This project was supported by the Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program of the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, USDA, Grant # 2005-04310.

Click here for a written summary of the activities and presentations from the site visit.

We wish to thank our sponsors, whose invaluable expertise and advice helped make for a successful meeting.

To view the agenda from this meeting, please click here.

Speaker Presentations from the September 7th and 8th site visit on Grocery Retail
Duane Perry, The Food Trust (PowerPoint Presentation)
Scott Dunkelberger, PA Dept. of Community & Econ. Development - Fresh Food Financing Initiative (PowerPoint Presentation)
Dick Voith, EConsult - The Economic Impacts of Supermarkets on Their Surrounding Communities (PowerPoint Presentation)

These additional resources may be of some help in learning more about grocery retail issues: Please note that some of these resources require Adobe Acrobat Reader

NCSL's Healthy Community Design Legislation Database contains summaries of bills that focus on strategies that increase access to healthy food and opportunities for including physical activity into one's daily routine.

Other cities and states are looking at replicating the efforts from Pennsylvania, as this article from New York attests.

The Food Trust has multiple resources on the supermarket access issue.

This page from the Reinvestment Fund details their work to bring more grocery outlets to low-income areas.

To learn more about the Fresh Food Financing Initiative Program (FFFI), click here for program guidelines.

The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development has information on The First Industries program, which grants money to supermarkets, among other things.

The Food Marketing Institute is a trade association for food retail outlets and maintains a page on members efforts in underserved areas.

Policy Link has numerous resources and studies on healthy food retailing.

This PDF document from the Community Food Security Coalition has an article on pages 16 and 17 discussing supermarkets on Indian reservations.

The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) has a PDF document on efforts to build grocery stores in low-income communities.

Return to Access to Healthy Food Page or Healthy Community Design Menu Page