The struggle to access healthy food meets the Mobile Market

Just received a new report from the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), which highlights the difficulty in accessing health food, particularly for low-income people. In Washington, DC, more than 12 percent of residents reported an inability to access and afford fresh fruits and vegetables in the communities where they live.

D.C. Hunger Solutions, a local initiative founded by FRAC, has been actively working to reverse this trend for nearly a decade. According to Alex Ashbrook, director of D.C. Hunger Solutions, "it is essential to support families’ ability to purchase healthier food items. That includes efforts at the federal level to improve SNAP benefits [formerly known as "food stamps'] so they go further ..."

To that effect, Arcadia's Mobile Market will bring affordable, healthy food to these D.C. communities, as well as accept SNAP and other forms of food assistance. Moreover, we're working to offer a "matching dollar" program to further incentivize the use of these benefits, similar to the initiative we last blogged about.


It's been a lot of work getting our bus up-and-running, but I'm excited to be hitting the road in the spring of 2012. Please stay tuned for information on market stops!