Pennsylvania is putting its money where its mouth is with the Fresh Food Financing Initiative, a $120 million fund to encourage inner-city groceries.
"Grocer Jeff Brown put a lot of sweat into his ShopRite supermarket in inner-city Philadelphia: He built a pork-free meat room for Muslim customers, stocked the aisles with the Jamaican and African cuisine that neighbors requested, and taught job skills to the hires new to the workforce.
Despite skyrocketing commodity prices, Mr. Brown says the store – a venture that he never could have opened without a loan from Pennsylvania's Fresh Food Financing Initiative – is making money.
Brown's ShopRite is more than just a driver of urban development. It's part of a major public-health program aimed at squashing obesity and related concerns such as heart disease and diabetes.
"There aren't any other supermarkets within two to three miles," he says. Without his store, the patrons "would probably eat at McDonald's or shop at a drug store or the dollar store for food – none healthy or fresh.""
FULL STORY: Wanted: inner-city supermarkets
Don't Blame Supermarkets for Food Deserts
Quartz makes the point that supermarkets alone won't solve the problem of poor diets among low-income Americans.
How Smaller Supermarkets Could Transform American Communities
Bigger is not always better.
One Weird Trick for Eliminating Food Deserts
How enforcing one federal law, ignored since the 1980s, could bring back small grocers and ensure more people have convenient access to fresh foods.
What ‘The Brutalist’ Teaches Us About Modern Cities
How architecture and urban landscapes reflect the trauma and dysfunction of the post-war experience.
‘Complete Streets’ Webpage Deleted in Federal Purge
Basic resources and information on building bike lanes and sidewalks, formerly housed on the government’s Complete Streets website, are now gone.
The VW Bus is Back — Now as an Electric Minivan
Volkswagen’s ID. Buzz reimagines its iconic Bus as a fully electric minivan, blending retro design with modern technology, a 231-mile range, and practical versatility to offer a stylish yet functional EV for the future.
Healing Through Parks: Altadena’s Path to Recovery After the Eaton Fire
In the wake of the Eaton Fire, Altadena is uniting to restore Loma Alta Park, creating a renewed space for recreation, community gathering, and resilience.
San Diego to Rescind Multi-Unit ADU Rule
The city wants to close a loophole that allowed developers to build apartment buildings on single-family lots as ADUs.
Electric Vehicles for All? Study Finds Disparities in Access and Incentives
A new UCLA study finds that while California has made progress in electric vehicle adoption, disadvantaged communities remain underserved in EV incentives, ownership, and charging access, requiring targeted policy changes to advance equity.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research