Wayne State University

Eastside Healthy Corner Store (Pilot) Project

Detroit neighborhoods have many corner stores that are also known as convenience stores or party stores.  Such stores sell food, and more often than not, accept food stamps for food purchases.  The food stamp program is a federal nutrition program that provides low-income households with cash assistance with which to buy food.  (The Food Stamp Program recently changed its name to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP).

However, corner stores typically carry few types of food that are healthy, wholesome, fresh or affordable.  SEED Wayne's Eastside Healthy Corner Stores Project seeks to address this gap.

Corner stores are a good target for such interventions because residents often depend on them for food given lack or poverty of transportation options, they represent retail infrastructure that already exists in such neighborhoods, and significant amounts of SNAP dollars are spent there.  When residents lack access to fresh and healthy foods, they risk falling prey to chronic illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardio-vascular disease.

SEED Wayne works with three corner stores of different sizes in the near-Eastside neighborhood of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen. One store came on line with fresh produce sourced from our distributor in June 2009; two a month later. One is owned by an African-American family, while the others are owned by Chaldean-American ones.  SEED Wayne has also canvassed a few blocks in all directions of these stores to record residents' interest in these stores, their patterns of shopping here, and their opinions on changes needed before they would support the stores.  We fliered all three neighborhoods before the stores ordered their inventory of fresh produce.  We are tracking the movement of this inventory and will also seek opinions of nearby residents who shop and don't shop for fresh produce at these stores. Stay tuned!

If you live in this neighborhood and would like to share your opinions on these stores, please write SEED Wayne's director Kami Pothukuchi at k.pothukuchi@wayne.edu.

The Eastside Healthy Corner Store Project is implemented in partnership with the Capuchin Soup Kitchen and Eastern Market Corporation.

Passive Solar Greenhouse at Capuchin Soup Kitchen

Many people believe that Michigan's short growing season means that dependence for the better part of a year on outside sources for food is inevitable.  However, many Detroit farmers are proving them wrong.  They are demonstrating that it is possible to extend the growing season to 9 months if not more!

The Earthworks Urban Farm supplies fresh, healthy food grown in the Capuchin Soup Kitchen's very neighborhood to enhance the Soup Kitchen's offerings.  Having a longer growing season means that soup kitchen meals can be locally sourced for longer than before.

SEED Wayne is supporting the development of a 4,000 sq. ft. passive solar green house across the street from the Capuchin Soup Kitchen.  Earthworks Urban Farm staff will guide the development process, involving neighborhood residents--including soup kitchen guests--in its construction.