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Dear friends and colleagues,
The Bridging the Gap team just published a new research brief on its web site.
Zoning
for Healthy Food Access Varies by Community Income explores characteristics of local zoning policies that may be influencing the local food environment. We collected
zoning ordinances in 2010 from 175 local governments (e.g., municipalities, towns and townships) surrounding a nationally representative sample of 154 school catchments where students attending public middle and high schools live. Using a policy audit tool
developed for this study, we looked for the presence of permitted use (including licensing, conditional use, permitted "as a right") for a variety of food outlets, including supermarkets, grocery stores, fast-food restaurants, convenience stores, farmers'
markets, produce stands, fruit and vegetable carts, mobile food vendors, and urban agriculture.
As you'll see in the brief, we saw differences in the types of outlets that were permitted overall, with more communities
allowing for retail stores (generally which include "big box" retailers such as warehouse clubs) and fast-food restaurants, and fewer communities specifically permitting supermarkets, grocery stores, and other non-traditional food outlets like farmers' markets
and community gardens. We also saw significant differences in the prevalence of permitted uses for some specific types of food outlets by household income of the community. These findings contribute to ongoing discussions and actions focused on increasing
communities' access to high-quality and affordable foods and illustrates how language present in or absent from local policies may be affecting the local food environment.
For a copy of this new research brief, or for more information on the project, please go to
www.bridgingthegapresearch.org. For questions specifically on the zoning for healthy food access brief or the food zoning study, please contact lead author, Dr. Jamie Chriqui, at
[log in to unmask].
Best,
Bridging the Gap
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