Whereas the Nation faces an obesity epidemic in which 30.5
percent of children ages 10 through 17 are overweight or obese;
Whereas the obesity epidemic contributes to increasing
rates of chronic illness, including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer;
Whereas the obesity epidemic cost the country $147 billion
in medical expenses in 2008, and this cost is expected to rise in the
future;
Whereas the Department of Agriculture conservatively
estimates that more than 23 million Americans live in low-income communities
and do not have access to a supermarket or large grocery store within one mile
of their home;
Whereas more than 70 studies show that access to healthy
food is particularly a problem in many low-income urban and rural communities
and minority communities, and studies have shown that better access to healthy
food in low-income and minority communities is linked to lower levels of
obesity and better health outcomes;
Whereas children from low-income families are twice as
likely to be overweight as those from higher income families, and
African-American and Hispanic children are more likely than Caucasian children
to be obese;
Whereas studies show that when healthy foods are
available, people will increase their consumption of fruits and
vegetables;
Whereas leading public health experts, including the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Heart Association, the
Institute of Medicine, and the American Public Health Association, agree that
providing improved access to supermarkets and large grocery stores is needed to
improve public health and prevent obesity;
Whereas developing high quality fresh food retail outlets
creates jobs, expands markets for farmers in the United States, and supports
economic vitality in underserved communities;
Whereas an innovative State-initiated public-private
partnership, the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative, is supporting 70
new or improved supermarkets, grocery stores, and farmers’ markets in
underserved urban and rural communities, leveraging a $30 million State grant
to generate $165 million in private investment, creating or retaining more than
4,800 part- and full-time jobs, and increasing access to healthy food for more
than 400,000 residents;
Whereas a single 57,000-square-foot new store financed by
the Pennsylvania initiative and located in a low-income neighborhood in
Philadelphia created 370 jobs for area residents and generated $540,910 of
local tax revenue in one year;
Whereas the Pennsylvania initiative has been nationally
recognized as an innovative model by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, the National Conference of State Legislatures, Harvard’s Kennedy
School of Government, and the National Governors Association;
Whereas the State of New York has recently announced a
comprehensive effort to increase the number of fresh food markets in
underserved communities, including a $10 million State investment to create the
Healthy Foods, Healthy Communities Initiative, which will provide grants and
loans to eligible food markets across the State;
Whereas States across the country, including Illinois,
Louisiana, and New Jersey, have recognized the problem of food access in many
low-income communities and are working to create financing programs to
encourage supermarkets, grocery stores, and other fresh food markets to locate
in these underserved communities; and
Whereas a national fresh food financing initiative would
provide communities across the United States with critical one-time loan and
grant financing to help fresh food retailers overcome initial barriers to entry
into underserved, low-income communities, and would support renovation and
expansion of existing stores so they can provide the healthy foods that
communities want and need: Now, therefore, be it
That the House of Representatives
recognizes the potential for a national fresh food financing initiative—
(1)to provide an
effective and economically sustainable solution to the problem of limited
access to healthy foods in underserved urban, suburban, and rural low-income
communities; and
(2)to help reduce
health disparities and improve the health of families and children, create
jobs, and stimulate local economic development in low-income
communities.