Healthy Corner Stores Network

Gazette Chicago, April 5, 2012.

Elementary and high school students in Chicago marched together to ask corner store owners to begin carrying healthier products. Teachers are supporting the effort: “It provides a healthy future for them and helps to provide the kind of community we want to live in. We know economics drives what people purchase in any community. These young people are saying they will purchase these healthy items if they become available, and they won’t buy the junk food,” said one teacher.

The Bronzeville Alliance, the neighborhood group working on the campaign, suggested healthier food options that stores could carry, including baked chips, individual fruit cups, string cheese, fruit, and granola bars. The group is creating a community garden network, as well as working on its “corner store campaign.”