Healthy Food Market Fund
The Building Blocks Project has been an outspoken advocate for a revolving loan fund that will finance supermarkets in food desert neighborhoods, in particular supermarkets that provide living-wage jobs to local residents. New York State has a responsibility to guarantee the basic rights of Good Food, Good Jobs, and Good Health to all New Yorkers, and today Governor David Paterson took a step in the right direction when, in his annual State of the State Address, he said:
Today, First Lady Michelle Paige Paterson and I are unveiling a comprehensive strategy to address this challenge. Our five-point plan includes the Healthy Food/Healthy Communities Initiative, which offers a new revolving loan fund that will increase the number of healthy food markets in underserved communities.
The Governor described his motives for the revolving loan program:
One out of every four New Yorkers under 18 years of age is obese.
Childhood obesity causes serious health problems including Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. ...These children have much greater risks of having heart attacks, suffering strokes, and losing limbs.
Obesity not only blights our children’s futures — it creates a significant economic burden on our health care spending. New York spends $6.1 billion each year to treat obesity-related health problems— the second-highest level of spending in the nation.
It's reassuring that, even while acknowleding that our first step has to be funding new supermarkets in underserved communities, Governor Paterson didn't just talk about the need for good food access. He also focused on economic issues. Good food is just one component of good health: good jobs are necessary, too.
Paterson made a very important point today when he said, "Preventing illness is a good investment. It saves taxpayer money, improves patient care, and unburdens our economy."
By making the right investments now in good food and good jobs, we can prevent illnesses and make sure that our families and friends are healthy. By investing in supermarkets that have high wage standards, we can ensure that all New Yorkers have the basic building blocks.
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