By Mary C. Frances, Senior Associate Consultant
While on a recent vacation, my husband and I happened to be driving through some rural parts of the country. The scenery was beautiful. In fact, we were so distracted by some of the sights that we didn’t really plan on where and when we would stop for a meal. We had grabbed a quick breakfast before we hit the road, skipped stopping for lunch in favor of making up time, and when dinnertime rolled around, we were deep in the countryside. Not that being in the countryside is in and of itself a problem, it was just that the options for dinner became few and far between – especially since many of the small towns we drove through only had Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, Subway, Pizza Hut and Dollar General – and both my husband and I are gluten free. Hmm, I started to understand what it might be like for someone who doesn’t have access to good, healthy food all the time; something I usually take for granted.
We at FaithX know that you are concerned about the people in your community that don’t always have easy access to food. The USDA calls these areas food deserts, but access is only part of the story. Income is the second part of the story. When we think about food, we have to ask is there easy access and can people afford it.
What is access to food? Access means that the majority of the population in a census block has a grocery story within 1 mile of their home for an urban area and 10 miles for a rural area.
Can people afford the food is another issue. Affordability is connected to income and the percentage of the population that makes 80% or less than the median income for that area.
To illustrate this, we worked with our partners at Datastory and asked them to create a new data layer called Food Insecurity Designation. The map layer shows census blocks outlined in red, yellow or green depending on the combination of the two factors mentioned above. In this screenshot from the city of Chicago, we see an area that is considered Food Insecure because the income is low (affordability) but there is access to food.
In this next screenshot, the map layer shows a rural area in Minnesota that is considered a Food Desert because it has both low income and low access to food.
We are excited to announce that the Food Insecurity Designation layer is now available in MapDash for Faith Communities, Basic MapDash and MapDash Express. We believe this will be an invaluable tool in the planning of your ministry and working with your community.
If you have MapDash and need help finding this map layer, please reach out to your FaithX consultant. If you don’t have MapDash yet, reach out at info@faithx.net and we can help you find the version of MapDash that best suits the needs of your ministry.
