This past Saturday, BCHD’s 3rd Food Justice Forum brought together community members, activists, farmers, organizers, non-profits, and government agencies to discuss ways to improve access to healthy, affordable foods across Baltimore. The annual forum, hosted by the Baltimore Food Justice Committee and the BCHD Baltimarket program, highlights ongoing efforts to tackle food injustice and the systemic inequities that affect the diets —and health—of Baltimoreans.

The forum started with a panel of local activists, business owners and faith leaders who are dedicated to fighting food injustice in Baltimore. The panelists discussed the important role “race and place” play in access to healthy food. They ended on a note of optimism; everyone can affect their food environment by supporting local business and organizations dedicated to food equity. After the panel, participants broke into workgroups to learn how to lead a Food Justice Community Conversation to spark dialogue and action around social justice and food in their own neighborhoods.

One in four Baltimore residents currently lives in a food dessert, lacking easy access to healthy food, transportation, or economic resources to obtain nutritious options. Even more disheartening is that food desserts disproportionately affect children, who are twice as likely to live in a food dessert as adults, while African-Americans are nearly three times more likely to live in neighborhoods with low healthy food access.

BCHD is directing a number of efforts to expand access to food across our city, including:

• The Virtual Supermarket Program, where the health department partners with ShopRite to deliver groceries to neighborhoods where healthy, affordable food is difficult to find. Baltimore’s Virtual Supermarket is the first community-based program in the country to accept EBT/SNAP for online grocery ordering and delivery.
• The Healthy Stores Program, which brings healthy food to corner stores.
• The Neighborhood Food Advocates initiative, which works to build a coalition of supporters around this issue.

We were also proud to recently launch our two newest Virtual Supermarket Program sites, expanding to the Curtis Bay and Hanover Square neighborhoods. In total, BCHD now operates nine virtual supermarkets where Baltimore residents in food deserts can organize grocery deliveries with no additional fees. Through this expansion, neighborhood food advocates will be available to assist residents with online ordering, providing healthier and more cost-effective food options across the city. A full listing of Virtual Supermarket Program sites can be found at www.baltimarket.org.

To learn more about food access in Baltimore, visit http://health.baltimorecity.gov/programs/food-access, or contact BCHD’s Baltimarket and Food Access Coordinator Laura Flamm at laura.flamm@baltimorecity.gov.