Targeting the Need
Limited access to healthy foods contributes to a high incidence of diet-related disease among children and adults living in Philadelphia’s poorest communities. The first step to improving this situation is identifying which communities are most in need of more nutritious food options. A comprehensive mapping study did just that.  

Philadelphia Story illustrates The Food Trust's success in improving access to affordable, nutritious foods for families in underserved communities in the city of Philadelphia and throughout Pennsylvania.

Responding to the obesity epidemic and the high prevalence of malnutrition among low-income communities, The Food Trust is working to improve access to healthy foods and promote healthy eating among children and adults. To achieve this mission, The Food Trust works with teachers, health practitioners, food retailers, nutrition educators, policy-makers, grassroots leaders, anti-hunger advocates, farmers and entrepreneurs.

For example, the Supermarket Campaign brings supermarkets back to underserved communities throughout Pennsylvania to improve access to affordable fresh fruits, vegetables and other healthful foods. Through its Corner Store Campaign, The Food Trust works with store owners and the food industry to improve the availability of healthy snack choices in corner stores, and it also uses social marketing and education to increase kids’ demand for those healthy snacks. And the Farmers' Market Program not only provides residents of low-income neighborhoods with access to fresh local produce, but it also creates a social venue and helps to revitalize communities.

Through its advocacy efforts, model programs and research on food disparities, The Food Trust is addressing the issues that prevent our food and farming systems from adequately serving hundreds of thousands of residents throughout the region every year.

The Food Trust is working with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to test whether the success the organization has achieved in Pennsylvania can be replicated in states across the nation.

Grantee:
The Food Trust
One Penn Center
1617 John F. Kennedy Blvd.
Suite 900
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone: (215)575-0444
http://www.thefoodtrust.org/

Learn more about Program Area: Childhood Obesity