{"id":28198,"date":"2017-04-20T14:17:30","date_gmt":"2017-04-20T19:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=28198"},"modified":"2017-04-20T14:17:30","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T19:17:30","slug":"legislature-approves-measure-to-lure-healthier-grocery-options-to-fill-oklahoma-food-deserts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2017\/04\/20\/legislature-approves-measure-to-lure-healthier-grocery-options-to-fill-oklahoma-food-deserts\/","title":{"rendered":"Legislature Approves Measure to Lure Healthier Grocery Options to Fill Oklahoma Food Deserts"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_28196\"  class=\"wp-caption module image left\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28196\" alt=\"Geary, Oklahoma, Family Dollar manager Jacquie Hogue running the register in her store.\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/04\/PHOTO-FoodDesers-Pic1.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/04\/PHOTO-FoodDesers-Pic1.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/04\/PHOTO-FoodDesers-Pic1-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/04\/PHOTO-FoodDesers-Pic1-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/04\/PHOTO-FoodDesers-Pic1-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Geary, Oklahoma, Family Dollar manager Jacquie Hogue running the register in her store.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>Heart disease, diabetes, and obesity are epidemic in Oklahoma, and lack of access to fresh, healthy food is a big reason why. Scarcity is most severe in regions known as food deserts, where going to the grocery store often means taking a road trip. But new legislation awaiting the governor\u2019s signature could bring more healthy food to areas that need it.<\/p><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/318680979&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=false\" height=\"150\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p><p><!--more--><\/p><p>A Family Dollar store opened about two years ago in the tiny western Oklahoma community of Geary \u2014 the closest thing to a grocery store for miles around. There are frozen and canned vegetables, but as manager Jacquie Hogue checks out customers, she says the perishable food choices here are limited.<\/p><p>\u201cWe do not have fresh produce. We do not have fresh meat, that type of item,\u201d Hogue says. \u201cWe have a lot of frozen food, canned food, that type of stuff. But nothing on the fresh side.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Healthy void<\/h3><p>Geary is on the edge of one of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ers.usda.gov\/data-products\/food-access-research-atlas\/go-to-the-atlas.aspx\">Oklahoma\u2019s many federally designated food deserts<\/a>, areas of the state that are both low income and more than 10 miles from the nearest supermarket or large grocery store. In urban areas the threshold is one mile. Fifty-five of the state\u2019s 77 counties have food deserts. For Geary resident Jordan Medicine Bear and her young daughter, there aren\u2019t many healthy options nearby.<\/p><p>\u201cThey probably have, like, small packages of meat at the grocery at the Family Dollar, or at the restaurant. Other than that, no, not too much,\u201d she says.<\/p><p>The nearest full-fledged supermarket is 30 or 45 minutes away in El Reno or Watonga, Medicine Bear says.<\/p>\n<h3>Grocers\u2019 incentive<\/h3><p>Liz Waggoner, the Oklahoma government relations director for the American Heart Association, says says poverty and lack of healthy food options create a cycle of obesity and heart disease, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ok.gov\/health\/Wellness\/Chronic_Disease_Service\/Heart_Disease_&_Stroke\/\">Oklahoma\u2019s number one killer<\/a>.<\/p><p>\u201cWe\u2019re wanting to make the healthy choice the easier choice,\u201d Waggoner says. \u201cPeople can\u2019t improve their health and have active, healthier lifestyles and break some of those systemic cycles if they don\u2019t have access to the foods that will help them grow healthier.\u201d<\/p><p>The American Heart Association requested <a href=\"http:\/\/www.oklegislature.gov\/BillInfo.aspx?Bill=SB506&Session=1700\">Senate Bill 506 \u2014 the Healthy Food Financing Act<\/a> \u2014 which is headed to the governor\u2019s desk after passing through the state Legislature. It will establish a fund called the Healthy Food Financing Initiative.<\/p><p>The fund would help construct grocery stores, expand local farmers\u2019 markets, and help corner store owners buy refrigerators if they want to offer fresh foods \u2014 anything that would help expand healthy choices in Oklahoma\u2019s food deserts. The money would be available as loans or grants.<\/p><p>Waggoner says there are several private businesses and nonprofits ready contribute to the fund. And there\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.acf.hhs.gov\/ocs\/programs\/community-economic-development\/healthy-food-financing\">federal money available for the program<\/a>, too, because of the former first lady\u2019s Let\u2019s Move campaign.<\/p><p>\u201cIt really got its main push through Michelle Obama\u2019s campaign,\u201d Waggoner says. \u201cThen there was a lot of federal funding allocated to the USDA for Healthy Food Financing Initiatives.\u201d<\/p><p>Oklahoma doesn\u2019t have a program to take advantage of that federal money, but it\u2019s about to. Waggoner expects Gov. Mary Fallin to sign the food desert bill, and Peggy Thompson, deputy commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, is ready to put it into action.<\/p><p>And because the program relies on federal and private money, Oklahoma\u2019s Healthy Food Financing Initiative won\u2019t depend on fickle state funding.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_28197\"  class=\"wp-caption module image left\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28197\" alt=\"Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Deputy Commissioner Betty Thompson. \" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/04\/PHOTO-FoodDeserts-Pic2.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/04\/PHOTO-FoodDeserts-Pic2.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/04\/PHOTO-FoodDeserts-Pic2-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/04\/PHOTO-FoodDeserts-Pic2-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/04\/PHOTO-FoodDeserts-Pic2-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Deputy Commissioner Betty Thompson.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>\u201cThis is something that\u2019s been done in numerous other states,\u201d Thompson says, including Alabama and Louisiana. \u201cThey\u2019ve seen tremendous effects of the grocery store, or the community store, the little corner store being very successful. And studies are showing that people want that healthy food, they just don\u2019t have access to it.\u201d<\/p><p>Back at the Geary Family Dollar, manager Hogue says she might be interested in using the new program herself.<\/p><p>\u201cIf the company would allow it \u2014 because we are a corporation \u2014 if they would allow it, I\u2019d be all for it,\u201d she says. \u201cEverything for my customers and the community, I\u2019m up for it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scarcity is most severe in regions known as food deserts, where going to the grocery store often means taking a road trip. But new legislation awaiting the governor\u2019s signature could bring more healthy food to areas that need it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":28196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[492],"tags":[313,172],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28198"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28198"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28203,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28198\/revisions\/28203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}