As DC Food For All has previously reported, the FEED DC Act that is currently working its way towards a DC Council vote is based on two other initiatives, from Pennsylvania and New York City, that aim to alleviate food deserts in those regions. But do these programs provide a model that can be translated to the particular social and political situation of the District? Which parts of these bills has the FEED DC act incorporated and which have been discarded?
The Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative (FFFI) was created in 2004 and has become a well-established and well-funded conglomeration and has been successful across the state at bringing grocery stores into low-income communities. However, as the program is a state-wide initiative, it addresses suburban and rural food deserts in addition to urban inner-city ones, making it substantially different than the FEED DC Act, which is naturally urban in focus.
However, there have been some interesting side effects to the FFFI which may also occur in DC if the FEED DC Act is implemented. Studies of the Pennsylvania initiative have shown that real estate values in areas that have new grocery stores sponsored by FFFI have gone up. For the low-income communities in which these grocery stores now exist, this has served as a boost to keep home prices from dropping. While there is no way to predict with complete certainty the impact that the FEED DC Act will have on real estate values, it is certainly probable that a similar effect could take place in DC, as low-income neighborhoods welcome new businesses and job opportunities.
The FFFI also illustrates some of the challenges inherent in bringing businesses to low-income neighborhoods. Surveys conducted in Philadelphia have shown that it is more expensive to build grocery stores in poor urban areas, due to the further investment that is needed for security and job training for employees. Clearly, this fact has contributed to food deserts in the first place, and illustrates how challenging it is to alleviate the problem of food inequality while still working within a profit-based, corporate business system.
The results of the FFFI do suggest some other avenues that may be appropriate for DC. At the public hearing on the FEED DC Act on October 18th, there was a suggestion to include co-ops under the purview of businesses that could be financed by the bill. The FFFI has helped to finance a co-op in a Philadelphia neighborhood which has become an integral part of that community. The success of this specific project may be seen as a sign that the FEED DC Act should incorporate other non-traditional food sources, such as co-ops, in the bill, especially as attracting corporate supermarkets may be difficult due to the higher costs noted above.
While the Pennsylvania FFFI is primarily a financial partner for supermarkets and other food sources in food desert areas, the New York Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (or FRESH)
project provides both funding and other enticements such as sales tax and zoning exemptions to prospective New York City supermarkets. Because the FRESH Program is focused on food deserts in New York City, and is not a state-wide program, it bears a closer resemblance to the FEED DC Act as it stands now. Like the FEED DC Act, FRESH also provides incentives for energy efficient businesses, and includes an environmental and green job component. The FRESH project was only begun in 2008, and as such data on its successes or failures is not yet available. However, the strong and diverse incentives offered by the program clearly indicate that the city is serious about addressing the problem of food deserts, as the DC City Council also appears to be.
Taken together, the phenomenal success of the long-established and extensive Pennsylvania FFFI is inspiring, and the FRESH program, with its combination of incentives for traditional and alternative food sources, appears to be following in its footsteps. The DC City Council will be voting on the FEED DC Act in December, and while it remains to be seen how the bill will play out in District neighborhoods, it’s an encouraging sign that so many civic leaders across the country are working hard to alleviate food deserts and economic inequalities in their cities.
Visit Mary Cheh’s website to learn more about the FEED DC Act or to check for the latest updates. DC Food For All will also continue to post more information and opinions on the FEED DC Act, so check back soon!
