JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — City Council held a public town hall Thursday afternoon to discuss the food desert problem in the New Town neighborhood.
The meeting was called for by Council member Ron Salem as a direct result of a Florida Times-Union article that went into detail on how difficult it was for New Town residents to get to a grocery store. The area does not have a supermarket nearby which means residents can’t go and get fresh fruit and vegetables. Many are relying on gas stations and convenience stores to buy milk, canned food, and eggs, but not fresh produce. In Jacksonville as of 2015, 23 percent of people lived more than a mile away from a grocery store or supermarket. More than a third live in Northwest Jacksonville.
“In these areas where we have food deserts, it also relates to infant mortality, and I believe this a close relationship, because if you have places where people can’t get fresh fruits and vegetables or fresh meat, it impacts the whole family,” Council Vice President Sam Newby said at the beginning of the meeting.
One of the solutions offered in the town hall included an expansion of the Door to Store program by JTA. The program, which launched last year, provides complimentary rides to grocery stores for residents living in the JTA’s Northside ReadiRide zone. The program is a partnership with JTA and the City of Jacksonville. Earlier this week, City Council approved of $50,000 to continue the current program. Due to leftover money from last year, the program has roughly $74,000 to work with for the cost of the rides and for marketing.
The program currently runs Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The suggested expansion would include the New Town neighborhood. The expansion would also include the addition of a local-run store, Making Ends Meat, off Moncrief Road. However in order for this to get expanded, it needs approval from City Council as a new legislation. Salem said he would move this through as an emergency legislation.
If the expansion does get approval, a JTA spokesperson said it would almost immediately go into effect.
Another solution that was given was through Feeding Northeast Florida. Susan King, President and CEO of Feeding Northeast Florida, said that they would move a 40-foot mobile grocery store to the area.
“Right now, we are distributing free of charge through them, but they have glass stored coolers and freezers. They have produce stands. They have pretty much a variety of healthy foods on them,” King said.
The mobile grocery store currently serves 30 to 40 households in a three to four hour period. Since this program is currently up and running, they would just need to find new sites and areas that could host the trailer along with space for people to park.
Other helpful programs Feeding Northeast Florida is currently doing to help the New Town neighborhood include monthly nutrition pack distributions through the Health Smart program and through 20 churches. They are also doing snack packs through some of the schools in the neighborhood as well.
“We are not as a solution to the food desert problem, but we are putting a lot of effort into food assistance in that community,” King said.
Another solution that was proposed through Salem was the idea of getting the Dollar General that is already in the New Town vicinity to get upgraded to a DG Fresh - a new program that would allow the store to establish fresh and frozen-food options in its stores.
Salem said that he would contact Dollar General and start to seek information on the legislation that would need to be filed to help expand the JTA Program.
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