The shuttering of three area Walmart stores forced residents in a 44 square mile swath of southwest Wichita, Kansas to live in a food desert. However through the partnership and support of the CDFI Fund, Enterprise Community Loan Fund and veteran-owned business Honor Capital, low-income families again have access to healthy food options and locally-driven economic opportunity.

Based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Honor Capital, a veteran-owned business with a dual mission to employ returning veterans and to alleviate food desert communities, partners with others dedicated to improving the health and wellness of communities by building and operating Save-A-Lot grocery stores. 

This issue of the Grocery Entrepreneur discusses their work and plans to open and operate 10 grocery stores under the Save-A-Lot banner across Oklahoma food deserts. Together these stores, located in both urban and rural areas, will improve access for nearly 40,000 low-income households annually and create more than 270 permanent jobs.

The Nojaim Brothers Supermarket, Syracuse’s only independently owned grocery store, and a community hub — faced possible closure in 2010 due to dated infrastructure and decades of population and economic decline. In addition to renovating his store, Paul Nojaim is working to help revitalize the Near Westside neighborhood. Through his leadership, the store is collaborating with St. Joseph’s Hospital, Syracuse University, and the Onondaga County Department of Health on several initiatives.

In 2013, Virginia Community Capital (VCC) launched the Virginia Fresh Food Loan Fund to enhance access to nutritious foods in Virginia’s inner cities, small towns, and rural communities. As a community development financial institution (CDFI), VCC supports small businesses and community development projects by offering flexible capital, investment opportunities, and advisory services.

The Latino community in Portland, Oregon, has grown rapidly in the last 20 years, from 3.3 percent of Portlanders to 11 percent, and by 2040 it is estimated that 23 percent of the city’s residents will be Latino. This growth, however, has not been accompanied by increases in opportunity.

Recognizing the important link between access to healthy food, economic opportunity, community building, and culture, Hacienda Community Development Center (CDC) secured a federal Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) grant in 2012 to develop Portland Mercado, an innovative project which includes a Latino cultural space and public market, bringing fresh food and good jobs to the community.

The Cooperative Fund of New England  has played a leading role in financing the Northeast’s cooperative food movement. As a CDFI it has served as a financer, lender, and advisor to nearly every food co-op in the area.

Cooperatives differ from traditional businesses in that they are jointly owned by, and operated for the benefit of, the people using their services. A cooperative’s profits are distributed among its members, and decisions are made democratically.

For the Tohono O'odham Tribe in southwestern and central Arizona, food is the foundation of health, culture, community, family, and economies. Since 1996, the grassroots community organization Tohono O’odham Community Action (TOCA) has been dedicated to improving the health, cultural vitality, sustainability, and economic revitalization for the Tohono O’odham Nation.

This fall, thanks to TOCA’s new school food enterprise, Desert Rain Food Services, 700 children on the Tohono O'odham Nation will be served healthier school food sourced from local farmers. TOCA received a $300,000 Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) grant to pilot a school food service enterprise that supports healthier eating and a strong indigenous food economy.

Mandela MarketPlace grew out of grassroots community organizing efforts to shift resource dynamics, giving residents access to healthy food retail and neighborhood development funding. Incorporated in 2004, Mandela MarketPlace is a nonprofit organization that currently works in partnership with local farmers, local residents, and community-based businesses to build health, wealth, and assets through cooperative food enterprises.

Read this in-depth case study and accompanying photo essay for more information. 

MyTown Marketplace, a supermarket that serves the Highland Falls community of New York State, opened in 2011 with a grant provided by the New York Healthy Food Healthy Communities (HFHC) Fund.  The HFHC Fund is a healthy food financing program that supports healthy food retail projects in communities where residents struggle with limited access to healthy foods. The HFHC Fund is administered by the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF), a national community development financial institution, and The Food Trust, a national food access organization.