Food & Health is a technical report on conditions in Hamilton County, a 407 square mile area in Ohio that includes Cincinnati and 47 additional political jurisdictions. We quantified food access block-by-block and assessed its statistical link to diet-related health outcomes. The report provides data that can help formulate action plans and prioritize strategies. Details include the impact of the […]
Public Reports
Most of our projects do not result in publicly accessible reports, but here are a few that we can share. Our written content, graphics and illustrations are copyrighted. If you would like to use our work in a way other than viewing or citing it, please inquire about licensing permission.Mari Gallagher was the keynote for the 55th annual Consumer Cooperative Management Association’s national conference, recently held at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego, California. Her speech to 450 grocery co-op leaders from around the country was described as inspiring, informative, lively, and moving. Missed the keynote? Watch the video.
Listen to Mari, Philabundance Executive Director Bill Clark, and urban farmer Jade Walker on Marty Moss-Coane’s WHYY Radio show.
Our original 2006 study, which included a statistical analysis linking the Food Desert to more diet-related death, was updated in 2008 (released in 2009), 2010, and now in 2011 (the document available below). The updates track the Food Desert boundaries and related demographic data. From 2010 to 2011, the Chicago Food Desert contracted from about 64 to 55 square miles […]
MG was retained by Walmart to develop a Professional Opinion on a report entitled “The Impact of an Urban Walmart Store on Area Businesses: An interim-evaluation of one Chicago neighborhood’s experience” by authors Julie L. Davis, David F. Merriman, Lucia Samayoa, Brian Flanagan, Ron Baiman, and Joe Persky of the Center for Urban Research and Learning of Loyola University Chicago. […]
There are two urgent problems with the current state of the USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: 1) standards are too low and 2) many retailers are not in compliance with even those low standards. Read more about this issue in this concise briefing to the White House.
This special mapping report was commissioned by the Chicago Sun Times. How do food desert communities compare to “hot markets” and the rest of the city? Find out by downloading these easy-to-understand maps.
Maps released August 2010 and full briefing released October 6th 2010 as part of a sold-out TED event focused on food and health. TED stands for technology, entertainment, and design and is the now world-famous speaker series promoting ideas worth spreading. Past speakers have included Al Gore and Bill Gates. Watch for a video of Mari Gallagher’s TED speech presented […]
In Birmingham, over 88,000 people live on blocks where mainstream grocers are distant (we call these areas Food Deserts) or where grocers are distant and unhealthy food is readily available (we call this condition Food Imbalance). In these areas, it is generally difficult to buy a first-rate apple, tomato, or green bean. Many venues instead specialize in candy, soda, chips, […]
This document provides regression results from the full study.
This short fold-over brochure very briefly summarizes findings from the study. Please note that the document should be printed back-to-back. The first panel you will see is the back page, the second is the cover, and the final two are the inside pages.
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 […]
Mari Gallagher Research & Consulting Group and Save-A-Lot Food Stores have joined forces to raise awareness of the plight of millions of families in the United States who live in food deserts — large geographic areas with very few, if any, grocery stores. The Food Desert & Food Balance Community Fact Sheet, authored by Mari Gallagher Research & Consulting and […]
As First Lady and former Peapod customer Michelle Obama tells us, we all need to “move” on the important issue of reducing obesity and expanding healthy food for children. Our combined “movement” through the Healthy Families Project includes many exciting new actions that we believe will support health and wellness among vulnerable children in all of Chicago and specifically in […]
This is an Addendum to a report entitled “Senior Ticket to Ride: A Needs Assessment for ITNChicago.” Its purpose is to assess the interests and needs of homebound seniors, particularly immigrant and non-immigrant Latinos living in ITN’s target Zip Codes. The work was done in a participatory fashion with ITNChicago and its key board leader, City of Chicago representative Joyce […]
In autumn of 2009, Peapod and Neighbor Capital began to strategize on solutions for Chicago’s Food Desert communities. Later that year, Peapod retained Mari Gallagher Research & Consulting Group to complement and enhance the impact of their Healthy Families collaboration through robust empirical analysis. We conducted a block-level study to identify the greatest at-risk families in the Food Desert who […]
The MG team was retained to conduct a needs assessment for the newly created Independent Transportation Network of Chicago (ITNChicago), which started in Maine to encourage seniors who can no longer drive safely to trade in their cars and receive rides instead from volunteers. The success of the initiative led to the development of independent but affiliated branches in other […]
MG was retained by Wal-Mart to develop a Professional Opinion on a report entitled The Impact of an Urban Wal-Mart Store on Area Businesses: An interim-evaluation of one Chicago neighborhood’s experience by authors Julie L. Davis, David F. Merriman, Lucia Samayoa, Brian Flanagan, Ron Baiman, and Joe Persky of the Center for Urban Research and Learning of Loyola University Chicago. […]
Established in 1733, Savannah is known as America’s first planned city. Early in its history, farmers discovered that the climate and soil were favorable to the cultivation of cotton, rice, and lush backyard gardens full of great varieties of nutrient-rich produce. But similar to what has happened in other places across America, local residents over time became more and more […]
September is National Food Desert Awareness Month! To highlight issues relevant to food deserts we are releasing responses from a spring 2009 food desert survey conducted in concert with a forum held last spring at MIT: From Food Desert to Food Oasis. The report has been sponsored and produced by the following partners: MIT, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, […]
The program description details an event sponsored by LaSalle Bank and Detroit LISC to review the findings of Examining the Impact of Food Deserts on Public Health in Detroit by Mari Gallagher Research & Consulting Group.
In 1923, long before the rise of McDonald’s golden arches, an advertisement for beef made this proclamation in the Bridgeport Telegraph: “Ninety percent of the diseases known to man are caused by cheap foodstuffs. You are what you eat.” The phrase you are what you eat actually dates back to the 17th century. Over time, science has repeatedly demonstrated that […]
This is a helpful summary of our Chicago Food Desert study prepared by our sponsor, LaSalle Bank.
Chicago has roughly 500,000 people who live in the food desert, a place with no or distant grocery stores, but nearby fast food options. Most are single women and children. Our research demonstrates that residents of the food desert are more likely to suffer and die prematurely from diet-related diseases and conditions. We have known for a long time that […]
This very short briefing begins with our foundational premise that the health and vitality of urban communities is a block-by-block phenomenon. Our first task is to measure the distance from every City of Chicago block to the nearest grocery store and fast food restaurant. Next, we develop an empirical score to quantify the balance of food choice available to residents. […]
The briefing and map shows the outline of the Chicago Food Desert and highest concentration of poverty.
The briefing and map shows the outline of the Chicago Food Desert and lowest concentration of household that own automobiles.
More and more children are getting adult-level diseases such as diabetes. Does place matter?
Majority African American and majority White communities that have out-of-balance food environments will have higher rates of residents dying prematurely from diabetes that are statistically significant, controlling for income, education, and race. African American communities will be the most likely to experience the greatest total years of life lost from diabetes as a result.
We analyzed 226 tracts with at least 20 deaths each from diet-related causes per tract for year 2003. Of those 226 tracts, 100 are majority White and 97 and majority African American. Those aggregate numbers were large enough to analyze White and African American tracts further, controlling for race and other influencers, by sorting them by first by race and […]