As part our work to improve access to affordable, healthy food in low-income neighborhoods across the country, LISC has invested in grocery stores, community gardens, farmers markets and nutrition education. Now, Duluth LISC and its partners have inaugurated a dedicated bus line to take residents of Lincoln Park, a perennial food desert, to the nearest full-service grocery store. The weekly “Grocery Express” is outfitted with special bins and racks to handle purchases, and mitigates the problem of lugging grocery bags on a crowded city bus that didn’t stop directly in front of the store.
The excerpt below is from:
"On new Duluth bus, next stop is the grocery store"
by Dan Kraker, Minnesota Public Radio News
DULUTH, Minn. — On a steep hillside in Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, a bus called the Grocery Express pulled up to a curbside.
Carol Perkins climbed aboard with her granddaughter, Deziray, for the three-and-a-half-mile trip to the grocery store. She told the precocious 5-year-old that today, they were shopping for healthy food.
“We’re not getting junk food,” she said. “We’ll get some apples, string cheese ...”
The bus is outfitted with customized shelves and bins to carry shoppers’ groceries. It will run every Tuesday during a four-month pilot project, connecting residents of two western Duluth neighborhoods to the closest full-service grocery store.
Pam Kramer directs the Duluth Local Initiatives Support Coalition. It’s one of several groups that has spent the last three years trying to bring healthy eating options to neighborhoods in what are known as “food deserts” — areas without a full-service grocery store. Organizers have also helped launch a farmers market and plant community gardens.
She said residents report two major barriers to buying groceries.
“One was not being able to carry enough food,” she said. “You can only put it on your lap, on a regular bus. This is a special bus that will allow you to put bags in bins, have some more room to bring more groceries aboard.” Continued[+]...