Hoping a concrete diagnosis of the problem will help Maryland solve its food desert problem, John Hopkins Center for a Livable Future has built a map of the areas most in need of fresh groceries.
"About 25 percent of Baltimoreans live in city-designated “food deserts," areas at least a quarter of a mile from a grocery store, where median income is low and many residents lack access to a vehicle," Natalie Delgadillo reports for Governing. The problem is not unfamiliar to people and officials in the in the city, but it was a hard thing to quantify, as there weren’t comprehensive statistics around food deserts. "That's starting to change with the help of a mapping tool from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF)," Natalie Delgadillo writes for Governing.
The CLF site Maryland Food System Map collects and maps food access in Baltimore and across the state(LINK). Holy Freishtat, Baltimore's Food Policy Director, told Delgadillo the maps are already affecting policy, including, "HB 1492, a bill signed by the Governor in May, authorizes the Department of Housing and Community Development to make small loans to food desert projects in the state," Delgadillo writes
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