Healthy Food Access in New York City: Low-Income Families Living in Food Deserts and the Role of Alternative Food Networks Grant Proposal, Spring 2010 Jillian Bernardini Wagner College
Jan 15, 2015
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