[Cross posted from Defeat Poverty DC.] What does access to healthy foods have to do with defeating poverty? Not only does the presence of affordable fresh food in a community have the potential to improve residents’ nutrition and overall health, but attracting full-service grocery stores also can boost the local economy – grocery retail creates [...]
The Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs has proposed new regulations for food (and other) vending in the District. In these regulations, DCRA has created new mechanisms for enabling sales of healthy food, including at farmers’ markets. D.C. Hunger Solutions commends the agency on its efforts and suggest several improvements to the proposed regulations – with the goal of improving access to fresh and healthy foods for all District residents. [A PDF of the letter is here.]
July 23, 2010
Helder Gil, Legislative Affairs Specialist
Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs
Re: Proposed Regulations to Amend Chapter 5 of Title 24 of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations (Vendors)
D.C. Hunger Solutions appreciates this opportunity to submit comments regarding the proposed regulations to amend the vending regulations set forth in Chapter 5 of Title 24 of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations. See D.C. Register Vol. 57, No. 26 (June 25, 2010). D.C. Hunger Solutions seeks to create a hunger-free community and thereby improve the nutrition, health, economic security, and well-being of low-income District residents.
We support the proposed vending regulations’ creation of a Class C Vending Business License for public markets, which exempts farmers’ markets (and similar markets) from many of the myriad regulations that govern design, placement, and other aspects of traditional of vending trucks, carts, and stands. And we concur with the comments submitted by the D.C. Farmers’ Market Collaborative.
D.C. Hunger Solutions is pleased that the District recognizes the importance of access for all residents to healthy food.
To ensure the success of the healthy food vending, it is essential to create a set of clear, easy-to-follow guidelines for potential vendors and public market managers who seek to sell fresh produce and other nutritious foods. The District also must identify sites that can support the successful sale of produce, in particular, for communities that lack access to sufficient nutritious food and in many cases, are suffering from high rates of obesity.
We look forward to working with DCRA and other agencies (e.g., the Department of Health and the Department of Transportation) to help make healthy vending a success, particularly in areas underserved by fresh produce.
Posted in Government IssuesHi everyone,
The D.C. WIC Agency scheduled a second training for farmers interested in accepting WIC and FMNP vouchers. That training is set for April 15, 1 to 3 p.m. If you want to register, please email me at kroberts@dchunger.org — I’d be happy to pass your name on to the Agency.
The D.C. Farmers’ Market Collaborative meets monthly at D.C. Hunger Solutions. Anyone is welcome to attend and discuss outreach/publicity about the new WIC cash value checks — and publicity for markets generally. Please contact me if you’d like to attend a meeting, and/or if you’d like to be added to our email list to keep up with farmers’ market news and opportunities to help.
Additionally, the Farmers’ Market Collaborative (in cooperation with the WIC Agency) is creating a handy, at-a-glance guide to the four federally-funded nutrition benefits that residents can use at District markets. This guide will be available for all farmers and market managers as a quick-reference to have on hand at their cash registers. (It also might prove a useful model for other states in the future — as the June 2009 CFSC report notes, only about half the states have elected to include farmers’ markets this year as vendors for the new fruit & vegetable checks included in the WIC food package.) Contact me if you would like a copy.
Thanks, and I hope to hear from many of you soon!
-Kristin Roberts, D.C. Hunger Solutions
kroberts@dchunger.org; 202.986.2200 x3041
By Kristin Roberts, Nutrition Associate, D.C. Hunger Solutions
A new report from the Food Research and Action Center shares some shocking new statistics: one in five households in the District of Columbia aren’t able to afford the food they need. The number is even worse when you look at children: the rate for households with children is 40.6 percent.
That’s right. Two in five D.C. households with children say they cannot afford enough food! These findings vividly underscore that more must be done, and quickly, to help struggling families.
These statistics come from Food Hardship: A Closer Look at Hunger (PDF here). This new report analyzes survey data that were collected by Gallup and provided to FRAC. It contains new 2008 and 2009 data on food hardship – the inability to afford enough food – for the District of Columbia and the Washington metro area.
The Gallup survey question on food hardship is very similar to one posed by the Census Bureau and analyzed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in its official measure of food insecurity, but because of the large sample size Gallup provides a closer, more localized and more recent look at food hardship. Official government data on food insecurity has a nearly one-year time lag and does not go below the state level.
What does food hardship look like in the D.C. area?
Posted in Food Security
