Case:
Cone Health Foundation in partnership with the City of Greensboro
Project Overview
A hub for textiles, furniture, and most recently automobile manufacturing, Greensboro is growing, which is putting a strain on existing municipal resources and changing the development landscape. As cities grow and their populations change, ensuring all areas have access to a variety of food options is vital to ensuring all residents can thrive.
The availability of fresh, healthy, and affordable food is linked with a variety of quality of life metrics, including educational attainment and even life expectancy. EDDIT worked with the Cone Health Foundation, City of Greensboro, and community development corporation East Greensboro NOW to build support for growing the number of healthy and affordable food options in the city, with a focus on the historically underserved and economically disadvantaged East Greensboro.
The team also works with East Greensboro community members to bring their voices into the planning process so they can participate in development decisions made in their neighborhood.
Outreach is an essential part of any story, to bring in a diversity of community voices and ensure the message of healthy food resonates with neighbors in East Greensboro. The team has built a growing coalition of partners, allowing them to make an even stronger claim for food equity to municipal officials, and ensure the community has a sustainable food system for years to come.
Data Insights
The background research included using economic and cell phone usage data to understand the profile of the East Greensboro community in more depth. It also involved an assessment of existing food options — from traditional supermarkets to fast food and convenience stores — and an analysis of which gets the most foot traffic and why. This formed the basis of a food ecosystem analysis in East Greensboro, which shows that the area has many consumers who often need to travel to other parts of town for food, since the majority of food establishments are not in their neighborhood. Where traditional grocery stores may have been unsuccessful, the team presents new economic models to include smaller sites, prepared food, and other nontraditional options, reflecting that different people consume food differently. The goal is to bring healthy, fresh food to new spaces, such as dollar stores and faith based institutions, including through innovative connections with local Black farmers, which can spread the city’s growth out to the region as a whole.