by: Samuel Crawford, Director of Business Growth, Main Street Birmingham | October 2010

Economic revitalization efforts aimed at restoring vitality and improving the quality of life in inner city communities has challenged communities and political leaders for decades. Many revitalization efforts proved successful in bringing business, jobs and cultural life back to inner cities that experienced decline in population, jobs and business opportunities. However, many of these efforts only slowed the urban degeneration and the current fi nancial, political and social challenges make urban revitalization more problematic but by no means unachievable. New tools and approaches are proving that inner city neighborhoods can become healthy, safe and desirable places to live. Main Street Birmingham (MSB) and the City of Birmingham, under the leadership of Mayor William Bell, have partnered with the Jefferson County Department of Health, Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, the United Way of Central Alabama, the business community and non-profi t organizations to address the economic and public health issues facing residents in Birmingham. A major component of this collaborative approach to urban revitalization is focused on improving public health through improving the environment and providing all citizens with “access to healthy food choices”. A study conducted this summer by Mari Gallagher clearly illustrates the relationship between the food environment and individual diet. Communities with no or limited access to grocery stores and other sources to fresh produce have been termed “Food Deserts”. Research has shown that food desert conditions greatly contribute to poor nutrition for residents and to the rising rates of obesity and diet-related chronic illnesses. The negative effects of “food deserts” are more pronounced in low-income communities where residents often face additional barriers to accessing nutritious foods and other services necessary for a healthy life.

Using examples implemented in other cities Main Street Birmingham (MSB) is working with its partners to utilize the food economy as a catalyst to spur additional economic development and to address the public health issue caused by lack of access to healthy foods. This method has proven successful in providing healthy food access while creating jobs for local residents and investment opportunities for food retailers and other businesses. Neighborhoods in Nashville, Louisville, Oakland, CA, and Charlotte, NC have become more active and revitalized using food as an anchor. As I have been told many times since we embarked on this project, “everybody has to eat”. This fact makes the food economy one of the largest industries in the world. The production, transportation, retail and consumption of food generate trillions of dollars in economic expenditures around the world each year. Over 36% of every retail dollar spent in Jefferson County in 2009 was spent on food. However, these expenditures and the jobs they support are disproportionately distributed. Our goal is to establish sustainable retail food establishments that create jobs for local residents and retain some of the economic benefi ts from those expenditures in the community.

To accomplish this goal, we identifi ed the neighborhoods that are affected by “food desert” conditions and quantifi ed the scope of the problem. The next step is to measure the economic demand and the buying power of the households in the affected communities. All this information will be freely shared with community groups, political leaders, grocers and investors. Armed with this information we will form local partnerships in communities with residents and community leaders to establish the right mix of sustainable retail outlets that can serve the needs of the community. The fi rst step in this process has already been accomplished. With funding support from The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham and Wells Fargo Bank, MSB recently completed a Food Desert study. The results from this study helped to verify the existence of “food deserts” in Birmingham and quantify the number of Birmingham residents affected by food desert conditions. We learned that of the 83,000 residents in Birmingham affected by food desert conditions, more than 23,000 are children. We also learned that food desert conditions were not limited to low-income communities but also exist in many of our more affl uent communities. MSB is working with two nationally known non-profi t organizations to eliminate these food deserts and the inequities that result from them. We are now better able to understand the social, demographic and economic dynamics of underserved communities. Birmingham is working with Social Compact, a non-profi t organization that uses its Neighborhood Market “DrillDown” analytic tool to accurately measure community economic indicators. These indicators more accurately describe the size (population), strength (income and buying power), stability (homeownership and residential investment) and investment opportunity of a given market than traditionally used datasets. We are also working with Project for Public Spaces (PPS), a non-profi t organization that works in communities to help people create and sustain public markets. PPS defi nes public markets as markets which operate in or as a public space, feature locally-owned and operated businesses and have a broader public purpose, such as neighborhood revitalization or improving community health. A successful public market is more than just a farmers market and can become a catalyst for economic development and offer a variety of places to shop, live, become more physically active and be entertained in the community. Community participation is the key ingredient to the long-term success for this ambitious city-wide economic revitalization effort. MSB is currently meeting with grocers, neighborhood leaders, farmers and community organizations. Discussions are ongoing with the City of Birmingham to determine how best to incentivize retail businesses to expand into “food deserts”. Other partners are working to improve the built environment with parks, sidewalks and bike trails as well as educating the public on the benefi ts of preparing and consuming a more healthy diet. At the November 12, 2010 Birmingham “Food Summit”, we will discuss our study results, share ideas, consider solutions and set goals for the future. Community leaders, students, residents, political leaders and potential investors are all invited to participate and play a role in this effort to improve the quality of life and insure that all Birmingham residents have access to healthy foods.