Imagine what life would be like if our only food options were what we could find at our local McDonald’s. Unfortunately, this is already a reality for many New Yorkers. The New York Department of City Planning estimates that as many as three million New Yorkers live in communities without access sufficient to meet their basic nutritional needs and prevent obesity and chronic health problems. An estimated 750,000 New York City residents live in food deserts, where the nearest grocery or supermarket is more than five blocks away. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines food deserts as parts of the country vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods. This is largely due to a lack of grocery stores, farmers markets, and healthy food providers.

Currently, there are more food deserts in low-income communities than in higher income communities. As a result, people living in low income communities are more likely to have high rates of high blood pressure, diabetes, and other health-related diseases compared to people living in higher income communities. A study by the University of Minnesota’s Dr. Nicole Larson et al. found that, “the highest levels of obesity (32%-40%) were observed in census tracts with no supermarkets,” where the residents only had access to bodegas and convenience stores. It is unsurprising that lack of supermarkets in minority and poor neighborhoods and the high rates of obesity and diabetes would be correlated.

Experts list neighborhoods in the Harlem, the South Bronx and Brooklyn as some of the city’s various food deserts. Food deserts are usually plagued by poverty, which is certainly the case in these areas. For instance, in the impoverished Hunts Point section of the Bronx, which is home of the Northeast’s largest fresh food wholesale markets, the irony is that the neighborhood surrounding it does not have even one supermarket. Additionally, bodegas — which mainly offer snacks and quick meals loaded with preservatives — make up about two-thirds of the food stores in East and Central Harlem, whereas they make up only one-third in the Upper East Side — half the proportion. In contrast, 19% of the food stores in the Upper East Side are supermarkets, more than double the 8% of East and Central Harlem.

It is clear that food deserts are a huge problem in New York City. Programs like Green Carts and the Healthy Bodega Initiative are helping to bridge the food gap and increase health in low-income neighborhoods. The healthy Bodega Initiative was developed by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s (DOHMH) Physical Activity and Nutrition Program, in their Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention and Control. Additionally, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn initiated the Green Carts initiative, which has been bringing affordable fresh fruits and vegetables to under-served areas while providing jobs for vendors since 2008. The policy created a new vending permit class for the sale of fresh fruits and vegetables, as a part of a larger strategy to fight food deserts. It established 1,000 new Green Cart licenses available for use in low food access neighborhoods across the five Burroughs (350 for Brooklyn, 350 for the Bronx, 150 for Manhattan, 100 for Queens, and 50 for Staten Island). Hundreds of Green Carts are on the streets in food deserts, and that number is rapidly increasing as prospective vendors obtain training, licenses and permits from the city. These programs are an important first step to fighting food deserts, but more needs to be done on a policy level to ensure that all New Yorkers have healthy access to fresh, healthy food.

Even though New York City is one of the richest cities in the world, food poverty is around every corner. There could not be a more critical moment to create policies that increase access to healthy food, education around food, and food choices for all. If we fail to act now, food insecurity will only increase in the long term. Food is connected to everything, therefore we are all impacted by it because it is not only a public health crisis, but it also affects our families, children, environment, economy, and communities. The discourse on food needs to be changed and by shifting the consciousness and power. By refocusing major development efforts, we will be able to develop a new or more integrated policy approach to food desserts in NYC and therefore decrease levels of poverty and hunger. In America, if the most basic human need is food, then it must be distributed fairly and be treated as a human right.