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Mid-range (4-7 years): • Provide additional incentives to stores selling fresh produce. • Promote the need for a choice of healthier meal options on restaurant menus. • Provide funding for site remediation and urban agriculture education and training. • Assess and revise codes to allow for rooftop farming. Long-range (8-10 years): • Consider a program to regulate the number and nature of fast food establishments in the City. • Provide access to fresh produce within a 0.5 mile or 15 minutes walk, or ride by car or public transit from all residential areas. Improve and expand community education about nutrition and food preparation. Nutrition education needs to reach across all ages, populations and venues. It needs to provide general nutrition information, as
well as practical food preparation applications and food safety knowledge. Short-range (1-3 years): • Incorporate nutrition education into school and after school curriculums. • Create partnerships to teach preparation of healthy food in safe and healthy ways. • Use healthy food sources such as Findlay Market and existing community gardens to help with nutrition education. Mid-range (4-7 years): • Expand health education outreach through community organizations, government agencies, local education providers and health care providers. Long-range (8-10 years): • Incorporate healthy food options into festivals and events.
Current Initiatives:
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The Civic Garden Center of Greater Cincinnati provides Community Garden Development Training and Cincinnati now has dozens of community gardens located throughout the city. Cincinnati Health Department has an Environmental Health Food Safety Program that issues licenses and inspects all facilities where food is served. The SNAP Plus Program at Findlay Market helps families afford more fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy food typically found in the Findlay Famers Market. The Christ Hospital has created a heart-healthy Restaurant Partnership Program designed to give people tasteful meal options without high amounts of fat, sodium, and cholesterol. Cincinnati’s Food Access Task Force, brought to City Council’s attention by the Center for Closing the Health Gap, developed a report with three specific objectives of 1) assessing the needs of low-income communities related to the disparity in access to healthy foods; 2) identifying innovative solutions and national best practices currently deployed
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against the problem; and 3) making policy recommendations to City Council that will redress disparities in access to healthy foods. The YMCA provides a summer food program designed to help children stay well-nourished, active, and energized all summer long and provide some important relief to struggling families. Cincinnati Development Fund recently announced that they were awarded a $1 million grant from the Healthy Food Financing Initiative from the U.S. Department of Treasury to combat diet-related deaths and food deserts in our neighborhoods. The City of Cincinnati issues Revocable Street Privileges for two vending programs including sidewalk vending (authorized to sell food or merchandise in assigned locations) and mobile food and beverage truck vending (authorized to sell food and beverages from trucks in designated locations throughout Cincinnati). The City of Cincinnati’s Urban Agriculture Program is an effort to turn City-owned vacant lots into urban gardens.