Students demand stores’ help in fighting junk food proliferation
April 5, 2012 in News
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.”
Casa Market ‘s first customer after a healthy corner store makeover “was a 90-year-old neighbor who crossed the street and said he was delighted to no longer have to wait for family members to take him to the supermarket. ” With help from UCLA/USC Center for Population Health and Health Disparities, this East L.A. corner store reorganized merchandise inside the store to prioritize produce, painted murals on the exterior, and took down beer advertisements. Fresh produce is provided on consignment by a vendor who supplies the local farmer’s market. Youth assisted a with social media campaign and attended the opening dressed as vegetables. The National Institutes of Health provided funding for the project, which is already impacting the community.
Neighborhood News Service Milwaukee, September 26, 2011