Hungry For Healthy

By: Elyssa Simmons and Aliyah Crain

food desert

Have you ever considered food deserts and homelessness to be related? It's much more connected than you think. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, over 580,000 Americans experienced homelessness on a single night in 2020. Hunger often precedes homelessness because people who are forced to decide between paying for housing or groceries will, more often than not, choose the former. On January 27, 2020, over 3,200 homeless people were accounted. With that in mind, over half of thoses homeless suffer from food insecurity. In Georgia alone, 1 in 8 people live in a *food desert*.

So What is a Food Desert/Apartied?

According to https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-food-deserts a food desert are geographic areas where access to affordable, healthy food options (aka fresh fruits and veggies) is limited or nonexistent because grocery stores are too far away. However in the Atlanta area, it's more of a "Food Apartied". It's a form of structural racism purposely placed to affect minority communties; especially black communities. Did you know that if a grocery store were to leave an area, it will take another 15 to 20 years for another one to come back? That leaves the communitiy to confide in convienient stores which do not have healthy food options. The food has chemicals, dyes, and preservatives which can can negatively affect a persons health.

So What Steps Can You Take to Make a Change?

Check out our Get Involved page! It has more information on what you can do to make a change in your communities.