New Resources on Posed on Healthy Corner Stores Network!

[Laurel FoodSecurity]

Greetings everyone-
It has been a little quiet on the HCSN listserv and website this
summer. However, as warm weather wraps up and the leaves begin their
end of season color show, change is also in the air for the Healthy
Corner Stores Network. We are in the process of making the website
and listserv a better, more integrated experience for you to network
with other like minded folks working in healthy retail. It will take
a little help from you--those on the ground making a difference in
cities, towns and rural communities across North America. More on that
soon...but first I wanted to let you know we have posted seven new
healthy corner store-related articles on our website (http://
healthycornerstores.org/resources/press/), including:

Corner-store program brings healthy food to the masses. Philadelphia
Daily News, July 29, 2011.
The Food Trust’s Healthy Corner Store Initiative now includes 580
corner stores committed to offering healthy food options. In
partnership with Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health, the
program is using $840,000 in federal funds to bring fresh and healthy
foods to corner stores. Several storeowners interviewed describe
success at selling fresh food, with one storeowner saying that the
more healthy foods he introduces, the more that customers purchase.

Foundation offers $200 million to help California “food deserts”. San
Francisco Chronicle, July 22, 2011.
Thanks to $200 million from the California Endowment’s new California
FreshWorks Fund, food retailers and distributors across the state can
apply for loans and grants to increase the amount of healthy food
available in areas that lack access. The organization wants to foster
“food opportunity zones” using “market-based solutions that will be
financially successful.” Several banks are investing in the fund,
which is modeled after Pennsylvania’s Fresh Food Financing Initiative.

On the corner: Stores that bring life to our neighborhoods.
Berkeleyside, July 22, 2011.
Corner stores and their owners play an important role in the
neighborhoods they occupy, whether that role stems from the
availability of fresh produce, unhealthy snacks or liquor, or serving
as a community meeting spot. Read profiles of five corner stores in
South Berkeley, California.

Dari Mart welcomes mobile produce stand to parking lot. The Register-
Guard, July 11, 2011.
Eugene, Oregon’s Healthy Corner Store Initiative is taking a slightly
different approach to bringing healthy foods to convenience stores.
This summer they have arranged for a local farmer to set up mobile
produce stands in the parking lots of the Dari Mart convenience store
chain. Eighty customers stopped and purchased fresh produce out of the
farmer’s flatbed truck on the first opening day.

A Trip to the Corner Store. Campus Progress, June 28, 2011.
An inside glimpse of the challenges bodegas owners face—highlighting
two owners in New Haven, Connecticut—and how healthy corner store
programs can help them out.

State still seeks winning strategy against childhood obesity. The
Seattle Times, June 11, 2011.
This article takes a critical look at using healthy corner stores to
combat obesity in Washington. The first healthy corner store to
participate in King County’s program has stopped trying to sell as
much fresh produce because people were not purchasing enough, pointing
to the fact that creating access is just one piece of changing eating
habits. Despite this, the county believes that other healthy corner
store projects have proven more successful and plans to recruit 25 new
stores for participation, with $1.8 million allocated for the project.

Rising to the Challenge. CSP, June 2011.
A great overview of the food dessert issue in underserved areas, the
convenience store industry’s response, and federal and local
initiatives. The article highlights a few of the more established HCS
programs in Minneapolis, Hartford, and Detroit, as well as a few rural
stores, their approaches and challenges. The article ends with an
acknowledgment that providing healthier options isn’t the only piece
in the healthy communities puzzle—education needs to be provided to
increase demand for healthy foods as well as create policy that
enables these foods to compete near the same price point as junk food.

As always, if you know of a good resource you'd like to share with the
network, be it a news article, video, toolkit, or other document, send
it our way.

Thanks,
--
Laurel MacMillan
Healthy Corner Stores Network

http://healthycornerstores.org/
https://www.facebook.com/HealthyCornerStores