Project Proposal: Mapping Food Deserts

Mapping Food Deserts in the Capital District

Natalie Topalian and Rebecca Devaney

Siena College Loudonville, NY 12211

March 20th, 2014

Introduction

We will be mapping food desserts in collaboration with Capital District Community Gardens (Healthy Convenience Store Initiative). According to the USDA 1, a food desert is defined as “urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food. Instead of supermarkets and grocery stores, these communities may have no food access or are served only by fast food restaurants and convenience stores that offer few healthy, affordable food options.” They also suggest that the lack of access contributes to a poor diet and can lead to increased levels of obesity and other diet-related diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease. “USDA's Economic Research Service estimates that 23.5 million people live in food deserts and more than half of those people, 13.5 million, are low-income.” 1

"To qualify as a food desert tract, at least 33 percent of the tract's population or a minimum of 500 people in the tract must have low access to a supermarket or large grocery store."3

Capital District Community Gardens work to establish and maintain more than 850 plots available in 49 community gardens, all of which are located throughout Albany, Rensselaer, Schenectady and Southern Saratoga counties.  To be more precise, a Community Garden refers to a parcel of land that has been divided into individual garden plots. CDCG soughts after neglected private and public land, and transforms these spaces into aesthetically pleasing food producing spaces.

Another key aspect of this organization is their Healthy Convenience Store Initiative. This proposal regularly provides fresh and affordable produce within urban convenience stores throughout Albany, Rensselaer and Schenectady counties. Since 2011, CDCG has developed partnerships with local small-business owners to provide families with fresh alternatives to the canned and processed goods that would otherwise occupy convenience store shelves.

CDCG installs custom-designed refrigeration units in stores that are located in neighborhoods with limited fresh food access and stocks them with produce twice a week. They also partner up with store owners to limit mark up, so that prices give low income residents, the elderly, children and everyone else better opportunity to lead a healthy lifestyle. 2

Objectives

- Create a map that shows low income areas within the Capital Region that do not have easy access to healthy food options (1-20 miles of), a.k.a. food deserts

- Map will illustrate the severity of each food desert region

- Map the food products that are received and distributed out of the region

Methodology

Research will be done to identify criteria that was used for past food desert analyses and regional food assessments. Research to find food and farm related datasets will also be carried out in the NYS GIS Clearinghouse, CUGIR, and national GIS databases. Specifically, we will obtain shapfiles pertaining to supermarkets and farmers markets of Albany County. Additionally, we must determine which regions are low income, therefore we will also need to obtain a shapefile pertaining to this factor as well.A shapefile for the 2010 census tract polygons and low income areas will also be searched. A shapefile will be made from data given by the Capital District Community Gardens. Modelbuilder and map overlay will be used to identify areas. A project blog will be created to document the process throughout the semester.

Data Sources

The NYS GIS Clearinghouse, CUGIR, and national GIS databases will be used as data sources to find criteria related to food and farms. Data will also be used from the Capital District Community Gardens.

Work Plan

2/25/14- Set up the project blog on www.blogger.com

3/20/14- Identify criteria used for other food desert and regional food assessments

3/20/14-Search for food and farm related datasets (use NYSGIS Clearinghouse, CUGIR, and national GIS databases)

3/21/14- Submit Final Research Project Proposal

3/27/14-Create shapefile from Capital District Community Gardens data

-Use modelbuilder and map overlay with GIS to create a map that displays food deserts within the Capital Region

4/3/14- Submit Mid-way project report.

4/10/14-Assess and determine plans to address impending issues within food desert regions

Deliverables

A project blog, final map, and poster presentation will be the outcomes of this project.

Sources/Works Cited

1"Agricultural Marketing Service - Creating Access to Healthy, Affordable Food." USDA. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.

2 "Healthy Snacks, Healthy Meals Made From Convenience Store Food!" Capital District Community Gardens. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.

3. "Definition of a Food Desert." USDA. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. http://www.ers.usda.gov/dataFiles/Food_Access_Research_Atlas/Download_the_Data/Archived_Version/archived_documentation.pdf

Side note: We found this data of the Census block for 2010 in the GIS Clearinghouse but unfortunately it did not open:  https://www.h-gac.com/rds/gis_data/clearinghouse/default.aspx