Mari Gallagher is a leading researcher on the subject of food deserts (particularly in Chicago). Today she released new data indicating that, while improvements have been made, there is much more to be done.
From the Chicago Sun-Times:
On the eve of First Lady Michelle Obama’s visit to Chicago’s food desert neighborhoods, a report out Monday shows Chicago’s food desert has shrunk by 40 percent in the past five years, but the number of adults and children still thirsting for healthy foods remains high. The Chicago food desert population totals 384,000, of whom nearly a third — 124,000 — are children, said report author and food desert expert Mari Gallagher, founder and principal of Chicago-based Mari Gallagher Research & Consulting Group. Most of the desert is in predominantly African-American communities.
“That’s a lot of children — roughly the size of Naperville,” Gallagher said. “If all of those children loaded onto school buses, the buses would line up bumper-to-bumper from President Obama’s house in Hyde Park, make a stop at City Hall and travel on to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s house in Ravenswood.”
Visit marigallagher.com/projects to download the complete report.
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