January2010

BirminghamPublicMarketStudyCreating Healthy Food Hubs for “The Magic City”

Executive Summary & Conclusion

Submitted to:

Main Street Birmingham

Submitted by:

Project for Public Spaces

Funding and Support for this Study was Provided by:

The Health Action Partnership Funded by The United States Department Of Health And Human Services

The Jefferson County Department Of Health

The United Way Of Central Alabama

The Community Foundation Of Greater Birmingham

Wachovia-Wells Fargo

City Of Birmingham

BirminghamPublicMarketStudyCreating Healthy Food Hubs for “The Magic City”

February2011

TableofContents

Executive Summary 1

Conclusion & Next Steps 3

Creating Healthy Food Hubs for “The Magic City” 1

The overall objective of this study, conducted by Project for Public Spaces (PPS) of New York, is to create a network of public markets and market-related activity in Birmingham that serves as an engine for economic development while also expanding access to healthy food for low and moderate income neighborhoods. Specifically, the goals of these markets, as developed with Main Street Birmingham (MSB), the study client, were to:

Improve access to affordable healthy food • for residents;

Provide space for the incubation of small • businesses;

Create jobs in the local community;•

Be a source for community health educa-• tion; and

Revitalize the local business community.•

There are several strong markets and market-related activities operating in Birmingham today and innovative people and organizations have been supporting efforts to bring fresh produce into the City’s neighborhoods for several years. Despite these efforts, there are still too many neighborhoods that suffer from a lack of access to fresh produce and public places that encourage positive activity and civic engagement. Accord-ing to a 2010 study released by Mari Gallagher on the impact of food access and public health in Birmingham, several of the City’s neighborhoods

qualify as “food deserts” (where mainstream gro-cers are nonexistent or distant) or at least suffer from food imbalance (where grocers are distant and unhealthy food is widely available). This report by PPS outlines strategies to address these two issues together by creating healthy public spaces, also known as Healthy Food Hubs, which serve to revitalize neighborhoods while also offering resi-dents access to healthy food and activities.

Healthy Food Hubs can provide opportunities for low-income communities with limited food access to buy fresh, healthy, and affordable food, locally sourced, on a year-round basis, while providing “one stop shopping” to make it easy for people to access health services, clinics, Federal nutrition assistance sign-up, business incubation, cooking classes, and a variety of other mutually supportive local activities. They can be designed with public gathering spaces, and connected to transit stops and not just provide parking for cars. Over time these Healthy Food Hubs can evolve, gradually incorporating permanent facilities for indoor and outdoor food markets, related retail, community businesses, a variety of social and community services, as well as general community uses and activities.

The plan for the City of Birmingham to tackle the problems of food and place deserts is not one-size fits all. Based on research, PPS experience and feedback from Birmingham residents, five market concepts have been developed to ac-

ExecutiveSummary

2 Creating Healthy Food Hubs for “The Magic City”

commodate the diverse needs of the City. These concepts are:

1. Expand the existing peddler system to service multiple community facilities and destinations.

2. Expand farm stands near neighbor-hood retail and civic institutions to create more synergy and add activity to existing public spaces.

3. Program parking lots as multi-use com-munity squares with farmers markets.

4. Add markets to urban gardens which already act as community anchors and an oasis from city life.

5. Incorporate indoor/outdoor farmers markets to revitalize once vibrant down-towns and Main Streets.

Within five years, if only one of each of the five proposed concepts is created, the annual sales should average $1,773,200, but the sales poten-tial is even greater.

Along with guidance about creating new markets and market-related activity, this study also looked

at the possibility of creating a “market alliance”, which would informally connect organizations with existing markets to organizations that are interest-ed in starting or supporting new market activity. The goals of this alliance are to:

Develop an informal network of indepen-• dent markets to serve all communities.

Build on existing markets and food dis-• tribution systems and help “connect the dots,” reestablishing connections between local producers and consumers that once existed in Birmingham.

Develop and implement a program to ac-• cept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits at markets and market-related activities.

Clearly, it will take a number of years before any of the markets in Birmingham’s food deserts and food imbalanced neighborhoods reach a size and level of business that is self-sustaining, and in some cases they may require ongoing sponsor-ships and volunteer labor. The report outlines the costs of each of the five concepts, which include start-up management and construction costs, as well as operating subsidies as necessary. Sources of funds include:

Federal agencies, including the United • States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Department of Commerce

State funding from the Department of Ag-• riculture, Cultural Resource Funds, State Trust Funds or other special purpose State funds

The United Way•

Local hospitals and health care providers•

Local foundations and corporations•

The costs incurred must be measured against the costs of not doing anything – in terms of the rising health crisis of the citizens and the disinvestment of neighborhood commercial districts.

Creating Healthy Food Hubs for “The Magic City” 3

The City of Birmingham faces great challenges, but fortunately there are many opportunities to reclaim its “magic.” The five proposed market concepts provide any Birmingham neighborhood a customizable plan to tackle the lack of access to healthy foods and community gathering spaces. While some of the initial investment in these con-cepts may appear steep, the cost of not tackling this major public health crisis is even greater. According to a 2010 study put out by the National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity the estimated national cost of obesity is $123 billion and diet and inactivity contribute significantly to four out of six leading causes of death in the US. Healthier diets could prevent at least $87 billion per year in medical costs, lost productivity, and lost lives ac-cording to the USDA. We are spending billions of dollars treating our nation’s unhealthy diet instead of spending far less on providing healthier op-tions. Although these five concepts alone will not solve Birmingham’s public health crisis they are a relatively inexpensive way to dramatically change the City through healthy food access and physical activity and wellness.

The planning and implementation of these con-cepts will require time, staff capacity and resourc-es. While MSB may be the obvious organization in the City to begin to organize a funding strategy and can continue working with interested neigh-borhood leaders and organizations who want to develop a market concept, MSB will need outside support as the project grows and moves forward.

Initial funding should be secured to develop new markets, and to support a person or two who can work with MSB and other engaged organizations, such as the GBCFP, to further the goals of the Birmingham Market Alliance.

The following items are next steps for MSB and their partners in the development of Birmingham’s markets and market-related activity:

Fundraise to Staff the Birmingham Mar-• ket Alliance – MSB is well-suited to start researching possible funding opportunities for the creation of the Alliance, including hiring staff that can coordinate new and existing markets and market-related activ-ity. At least one full-time, paid position is needed, but other full or part-time posi-tions may be required and can potentially be filled through programs such as Ameri-corp/Vista.

Coordinate New Efforts Through the • Market Alliance – Once a person(s) is in place to lead the Alliance, they should be-come the point person for new efforts and work with local neighborhoods and organi-zations interested in supporting a market.

Outreach and Build Partnerships• – For any of the proposed concepts to thrive they will need not only the support of the Alliance, but also local people and orga-nizations who are willing to promote the market, possibly manage the market, help fundraise and advocate on its behalf to the community.

Fundraise to Develop Infrastructure• – The Alliance will need to research and ap-ply for implementation funding from private and public funders to purchase and/or renovate buildings, obtain vehicles, create marketing materials, etc.

Provide Technical Assistance to Imple-• ment New Efforts – The Alliance and local organizations interested in supporting a new market will need support in devel-oping a business plan and placemaking strategy for each market concept.

Implement a SNAP Redemption Pro-• gram– The Alliance will need to develop

Conclusion&NextSteps

4 Creating Healthy Food Hubs for “The Magic City”

a SNAP redemption system for all market concepts operating in the City. Assistance in beginning this process can be found through our handbook, SNAP/EBT at Your Farmers Market: Seven Steps to Success, which can be downloaded at: http://www.pps.org/pdf/SNAP_EBT_Book.pdf

Train Market Managers• – Market manag-ers will need training to recruit vendors, operate, manage and promote the market to their community.

It will not be easy and it will take many years, but Birmingham must solve its public health and economic issues. However, it is inspiring to see in Birmingham so many dedicated individuals and excited organizations that are ready to get to work to solve the City’s problems. Supporting these proposed concepts and the capacity that will be required to make them come to fruition is an investment in the health and wellness of Birming-ham residents.

Creating Healthy Food Hubs for “The Magic City” 5