Food Deserts and From-Scratch

Picture yourself: a 5th grader in your elementary school cafeteria.  You inch up to the serving line, hold out your tray and, “plop.”  What does the food look like on your tray?  Is it crisp, fresh and colorful or gooey, dull, and pre-packed?  From my experience, food from the cafeteria was more along the line of boxed mashed potatoes, frozen pizza, fried chicken nuggets and “smiley” fries.  My mother often did me the favor of packing my lunch, but many children in my school were not as fortunate.  In fact, with the food assistance program, students from low-income families were guaranteed cafeteria food on a daily basis.  Finally, after years of low-quality lunches, some schools are starting to take a stand through the “from-scratch movement.”

Since obesity is a national crisis, it is interesting to note that obesity is a concentrated problem in urban areas.  Limited access to fresh healthy foods is a major factor in increased urban obesity, as many communities are without access to a produce market or grocery store.  Instead, corner stores and convenience stores are readily accessible with processed, boxed, and canned foods.  These urban “food deserts” result in a lack of access to fresh, health and/or affordable foods.  Despite the increased urban need, a New York Times article notes, “Schools with money and involved parents concerned about obesity and nutrition charged ahead, while poor and struggling districts, overwhelmed by hard times, mostly did not.”  Yet again, budgets and income are determinants of access.

Fortunately, there is a school that is breaking the mold. Greeley school district in northern Colorado, “where 60 percent of the 19,500 students qualify for free or reduced-priced meals… will make a great leap forward in cooking meals from scratch” (Johnson, 2011).  It seems that despite other healthy food initiatives in Philadelphia, the school district is distracted by budget cuts.  Just like Chef Ramsey says on his hit show, Kitchen Nightmares, there is a common myth that fresh foods cost more, and in fact, schools would be doing themselves a  favor, budget wise, by moving to a “from-scratch” menu.  However, when distracted, do we often see reason? 

Americorps is beginning to move in fighting against “food deserts” through their recent creation of FoodCorps- “a new national service organization that aims to fight obesity and diet-related disease through promoting school gardens and farm-to-school programs” (Walsh, 2011).  With the from scratch movement and Food Corps, hopefully strides can be made, but as the federal government talks of cutting all funding for Americorps, it seems government budgets could be the end of these efforts.

Resources:

Johnson, Kirk. "Schools Restore Fresh Cooking to the Cafeteria."Education. NY Times, 16 Aug. 2011. Web. 4 Oct. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/education/17lunch.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23>.

Kelly, John. "House Approps Would Eliminate AmeriCorps, Increase Head Start Funding."Youth Today. American Youth Work Center, 29 Sept. 2011. Web. 04 Oct. 2011. <http://www.youthtoday.org/view_article.cfm?article_id=5047>.

Walsh, Bryan. "Can FoodCorps Get America to Eat Healthfully? - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. Times Health, 23 Aug. 2011. Web. 04 Oct. 2011. <http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2089995,00.html>.

A Lack of Foresight

While in my undergraduate program, I often studied issues related to urban poverty.  After three years of avid study, I felt my research always pointed to this as a top cause of poverty: single parenting and specifically teenage parenting.  While teenage pregnancy is an issues found in more than urban areas, statistics indicate that urban areas as the epicenter of this problem.  Take Pennsylvania, for example.  The city of Philadelphia has historically and still tops the state in pregnancy rates.   The rate is calculated by the amount of pregnancies over the number of females ages 15-19 times 1,000, so the rate does not mean the rate is high just because there are more teens in Philadelphia than other places in the state.

When I graduated, it was my desire to serve the single parent population, so I began working full-time at an organization that provided services including teen parenting workshops and special programs.  I had the opportunity to meet with several teen moms, during my time working for this organization.  I found that teen moms are taxed with a very heavy burden, often with little support.  For some, parents will kick them out of the house, leaving mom and baby homeless.  Also, there are a number of teen moms not support financially or emotionally by their “baby daddy,” but I will add that I seemed to see a lot of young men really trying to step up and be supportive.  For teen moms, dropping out of school is often the only option, because they must work to support their child or children.  All of this wraps up into a cyclic problem, as undereducated teen moms will continue to struggle financially in the future, because they lack the education to get stable and well-paying jobs.  I’m not even going to get into the problems for children of teen parents. 

All in all, teen parents are in dire need of quality services providing the support they need to thrive.  I had heard of the ELECT (Education Leading to Employment and Career Training) program when I worked in my first job, but I did not hear about the impact of their organization until I read a July article in the Inquirer.  ELECT is a statewide program, but given the concentration of teen pregnancy in Philadelphia, it has always been the focus.  Starting as primarily a service to provide teen parents with education and career support, it has evolved to provide medical, child care, transportation, and counseling referrals. 

According to the Inquirer Article titled Program for Pregnant Students has Unclear Future, “ELECT serves about 1,000 students, a dam against the joblessness and despair that routinely await unwed teenage dropouts… Nationally, only 40 percent of mothers who have children before age 18 go on to graduate. Many drop out in Philadelphia, too, though ELECT cites a high graduation rate. Last school year, among 403 students who met the criteria for graduation - completing course work and other requirements - 369 graduated. That's 91 percent.”  Despite the success of this program, it seems that the state budget has determined this program less worthy than other items, and the summer program and middle school aged afterschool programs have been cut. The state of the main in-school program will depend upon the allocation of funds from the Department of Education and Public Welfare Offices.

Considering the massive cuts in school budgets, I do not think the Department of Education will have a lot to spare, and looking at a breakdown of the 2011-2012 budget there are many cuts to Public Welfare spending.  In researching for follow-up information on the state of ELECT, I have not been able to locate any information, but I am afraid that this will be another casualty of economic war.  The shame really is, “The cost of teenage births to state taxpayers, in lost tax revenue, public health care, and children welfare runs $463 million a year” (Gammage, 2011).  A lack of foresight seems to be the biggest problem that our state government is unable to overcome. 

Source: Gammage, Jeff. "Program for Pregnant Students Has Unclear Future." Philly.Com. The Inquirer Digital, 19 July 2011. Web. 19 July 2011. <http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20110719_Program_for_pregnant_students_has_unclear_future_1.html>.