Since our 2006 breakthrough study on Chicago Food Deserts, there has been a flurry of news on both the problem and potential solutions. Community groups, city officials, policy makers, and industry leaders have stepped up to take action. There is not one single cause of Food Deserts and not one single solution. Everyone can do something. But what would make Chicago’s 3 Food Deserts disappear entirely? To conduct this analysis, we must first analyze the potential improvement from providing healthy food access at the center of every single block in the city so that we can determine mathematically the smallest combination of improvements (in this case, new mainstream grocery stores) that would achieve that final result. The purpose of this report is to present the findings of the Wal-Mart-commissioned study and the new grocer locations collectively required to eliminate Chicago’s Food Deserts. The report includes an updated boundary of the Food Desert with retail data current as of May of 2010. Is your Chicago neighborhood in or out of the Food Desert? Read our report to find out!

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