Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance is moving! Effective December 1, 2024, our new office address will be: 200 West Capitol Avenue, Suite 1300, Little Rock, Arkansas 72201

Addressing Food Access

The Arkansas Governor’s Food Desert Working Group was organized in the Spring of 2022 to provide recommendations for actionable steps the State of Arkansas could take to eliminate food deserts.  In December 2022, the group released a report detailing ideas and solutions.

Watch the Food Desert Summit Morning Session

Watch the Food Desert Summit Afternoon Session

Featured Speakers and Panelists

Jimmy Wright

Keynote Speaker
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Jimmy Wright is president of Wright Solutions of Alabama and owner and operator of Wright’s Market, a traditional neighborhood retail food store in Opelika, Alabama. Wright’s Market was the first Independent Grocery in the United States to offer the ability to use SNAP benefits to shop online. He testified before both the U.S. Senate and House Agriculture committees on the importance of SNAP. In January 2020, he formed Wright Food Solutions to offer consulting services to retailers, wholesalers, non-profits and community development groups in the area’s food access, food security and food affordability, with a focus on urban inner city and rural America.

Roshun Austin

Memphis, TN

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Roshun Austin is the President/CEO of the Works, Inc, a 30-year-old community development corporation. The Works, Inc. (TWI) is the developer of single-family and multifamily properties in distressed neighborhoods. TWI is a operates a farmers’ market, a greengrocer, a mobile grocery; provides nutrition education; operates a mortgage loan fund; and does work around the comprehensive needs of children and families. The Works, Inc merged with Neighborhood Preservation, Inc in January 2022 expanding its services to include policy advocacy, the Strategic Code Enforcement Management Academy, the Blight Elimination Steering Team, promoting collaborative efforts to develop practical and sustainable resolutions to blighted properties and to the systems that lead to widespread neglect, vacancy and abandonment of real estate.

She earned her M.A. in Urban Anthropology at the University of Memphis and her undergraduate degree at Middlebury College. She’s the mother of one daughter, Lailah who is pursuing a career in the real estate and the arts.
Ms. Austin is the Treasurer of the Memphis Fourth Estate (The Daily Memphian). She is also Treasurer of Urban Renaissance Partners. She will end her tenure as Assistant Secretary for the Methodist Healthcare Foundation and as the Chair of Mission Advancement on the management committee of the Urban Land Institute Memphis Chapter in June 2023. She has long served in advisory capacity to the Memphis Black Arts Alliance. Recently Ms. Austin joined the Board of Directors of the Mid-South Food Bank.

Gloria Dickerson

Drew, MS
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Gloria Carter Dickerson is the founder and CEO of We2gether Creating Change, a not-for-profit organization, whose mission is to be a change agent in the transformation of the Mississippi Delta from a perceived place of poverty, low skills, and despair to a place of prosperity, abundant skills, and hope. The organization exists to be a catalyst in transforming poor communities in the Delta to a culture of positive possibilities and a place where there are many opportunities for children and families to live meaningful, good and successful lives. The organization began its work in September, 2009.

Previously she worked for the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. She was hired as the Controller for the Foundation and was later named the Program Director to coordinate the Mid-South Delta Initiative, an economic and community development initiative. She retired from that position in, August, 2009. Prior to her work at Kellogg, Dickerson was Vice President of Financial Operations for MINACT, INC. in Jackson, Mississippi.

Dickerson opened the Mae Bertha Carter Learning Center in September 2017 where she instructs and directs youth and adult programs including workshops of life skills, healthy living, African American history, financial literacy, healthy relationships, mindfulness, and career readiness. Dickerson was elected to the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors in November 2015, and is unopposed for her third term as Supervisor.

Dickerson received her bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Mississippi in Oxford and her MBA from Millsap’s College in Jackson, Mississippi. She is a former Certified Public Accountant. She is an instructor/trainer and is certified in Heal Your Life®, Mindful School®, Infinite Possibilities®, and Primordial Sound Meditation™. Additionally, she is a Life Coach, and an Internal Family Systems Counselor. Dickerson lives in Drew, MS. She is married to Donald Dickerson and has one son, Deidrick.

Chiquikta Fountain

Shaw, MS
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Chiquikta Fountain is the Executive Director of Delta Hands for Hope in Shaw, MS, where she has served since 2019. Over her 18-year career in working with communities, schools and families, she has developed a passion for service, educating children and being an advocate families across the state of Mississippi. In her position as the ED, Fountain focuses on providing quality year-round educational programming, leadership opportunities and cultural exchange to youth in Bolivar County. One of her main focuses since the pandemic has been tackling food insecurity and working with numerous organizations and agencies across the state and country to keep children fed. S

Ms. Fountain is a two-time graduate of Delta State University, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism (2010) and a Masters of Business Administration (2012). She serves on the Board of Directors for Friends of the Environment, the Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities and is the Chairperson for the Bolivar County Community Action Network (CAN). She is a native of Drew, MS and currently lives in Cleveland, MS.

AJ Johnson

Tulsa, OK
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Aaron “AJ” Johnson is founder and CEO of Oasis Fresh Markets, the first full service grocery store in North Tulsa’s historically Black neighborhood (once called “Black Wall Street”) in 14 years.  Growing up in Milwaukee, Johnson saw tremendous differences between resourced and under-resourced communities.  After moving to Oklahoma, he learned that North Tulsa residents have a life expectancy eleven years shorter than residents of other Tulsa communities.  Many North Tulsa residents must travel miles for resources that non-distressed communities have readily available.  Johnson launched The Oasis Projects to provide services including rental and utility assistance, support for single parents, banking, workforce training, and health-related educational classes.  Johnson believes the Oasis model provides a blueprint for under-served communities by equipping people for every aspect of healthy life.

Kevin Coogan

Moderator
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Kevin Coogan serves as the vice president for community and economic development at Hope Enterprise Corporation (HOPE), where he works to support HOPE’s mission of strengthening communities, building assets, and improving lives in economically distressed areas of the Deep South. He is actively involved in the organization’s Small Towns Partnership and healthy foods access financing initiatives. Previously, he worked for Whole Foods Market in the areas of marketing, supplier relations, and community outreach, as well as the company’s various foundation efforts. Coogan holds a
bachelor’s degree in business marketing from Loyola University New Orleans and is a graduate of the Executive Program in business administration at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Bill Ludwig

Dallas, TX
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William “Bill” E. Ludwig is the Regional Administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service’s (FNS) Southwest Region. He oversees 16 federal nutrition assistance programs in Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and 49 tribal organizations with a regional budget of nearly $21 billion. These programs include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, and other nutrition assistance programs.

Bill’s mission is to ensure that children throughout the region have access to safe, nutritious, and balanced meals. He is a strong advocate of partnerships and believes they are critical to accomplishing the region’s mission of reaching the youngest and most vulnerable populations.

During his tenure, he has built a solid network of more than 300 partner organizations at the Federal, State, Tribal and local levels. These connections have resulted in a greater awareness of the FNS programs and have generated a variety of innovative ways to get healthy food to families and children  at-risk of hunger.

Bill believes in leaning forward and stretching across barriers to help those in need, whether they are in an urban or rural community, through programs such as the WIC/Medical Model, the Community Eligibility Program, the Summer Food Service Program, and Mobile Farmers Markets.

Staying connected is important to the business of fighting hunger, so in conjunction with his travel throughout the region, Bill and his team have developed creative ways to keep their audiences informed through social media, e-newsletters, and partner calls.

A native of Bossier City, Louisiana, Bill earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Louisiana State University and a master’s in business administration from Louisiana Tech University.

Governor’s Food Desert Working Group

The Arkansas Governor’s Food Desert Working Group was organized in the Spring of 2022 to provide recommendations for actionable steps the State of Arkansas could take to eliminate food deserts. The Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance asked the Governor to convene a working group, representing a diverse group of Arkansans, to define and discuss the issue, and to propose policy and economic development recommendations.

Since 1997, Arkansas has seen a steady decline in the number of supermarkets and grocery stores. This has created a significant problem for Arkansans, particularly low-income Arkansans — it means that many people live in areas with limited access to affordable healthy food, often called food deserts. According to the AR Center for Health Improvement (ACHI), food deserts negatively impact a child’s weight, while low- income families who live NEAR a grocery store see their child’s weight positively impacted. Food deserts also impact obesity rates for adults, increasing obesity statistics. Seniors living away from grocery stores and supermarkets eat fewer vegetables and less fruit, as opposed to their peers who live closer to grocery stores and supermarkets.
As grocery stores close across Arkansas,
the resulting “food deserts” have broad health and economic consquences.
In the early and mid-2010’s, Governor Hutchinson convened a group which wrote the Healthy Active Arkansas Plan (HAA), a 10-year plan to reduce obesity in AR, and the corresponding chronic diseases associated with obesity, such as hypertension and diabetes. In 1995 (around the time we started to see grocery stores closing), the obesity rate in AR was 17%. By 2016, it had soared to 34.5%. Over 20% of Arkansas teens are rated as obese and 22% of AR high school students are obese. This leads to higher costs to the individuals concerned, as well as higher health care costs for all. HAA reports that the difference in health care costs for an Arkansan aged 65-74 of normal weight and an obese Arkansan is 104%. That progressive cost differential is huge, and has a negative impact on all of us.

One of the pillars of HAA is access to healthy foods. The first goal listed in this section is “working to eliminate food deserts.” (page 21) Yet in spite of efforts by many, we have failed to make progress. Sen. Keith Ingram has studied legislation passed by other states, offering financial incentives, such tax rebates or forgivable loans. Other states have worked to create private-public partnerships, with some support from foundations. However, the number of grocery stores continues to decline in Arkansas, without sufficient alternatives being presented. Various non-profits, including the Alliance, are in conversation with retailers, national non-profits, minority farm organizations, neighborhood associations, health care professionals, and others as we seek new ways of solving this issue. For every Tulsa and Birmingham who have seen a new grocery store open in a food desert, we have seen a rural area where a grocery store closes with no replacement.

The Alliance asked the Governor to convene a working group, representing a diverse group of Arkansans, to define and discuss the issue, and to propose policy and economic development recommendations. The report was delivered to the Governor and presented to the public in December 2022.

Recursos

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Food Access Fast Facts
Voices for Healthy Kids
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Beyond Food Deserts
The Brookings Institution
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Arkansas Food Deserts
ACHI

Governor’s Food Desert Working Group Members

Kathy Webb, Chair
Kenya Eddings, Vice Chair
christie jordan
kara wilkins
Rachel Spencer
Sandy DeCoursey
Kelley Jackson
Jean Noble
Steve Goode
Dr. Derek Lewis
Gary Proffitt
Cynthia Edwards
Julia Harkin
Dr. Joe Thompson
Debbie Landers
Lance Whitney, Alliance staff
Kathy Webby, Chair
Kenya Eddings, Vice Chair
christie jordan
Kara Wilkinsn
Rachel Spencer
Sandy DeCoursey
Kelley Jackson
Jean Noble
Steve Goode
Dr. Derek Lewis
Gary Proffitt
Cynthia Edwards
Julia Harkin
Dr. Joe Thompson
Debbie Landers
Lance Whitney, Alliance staff

Upcoming Meetings

December 16, 2022

Governor’s Food Desert Working Group Press Conference

10am

Virginia Bailey Conference Room

Little Rock Union Station

1400 W. Markham Street, Little Rock

The event will be live streamed on YouTube and Facebook.
Facebook Livestream
YouTube Livestream
Past Meeting minutes
October 3-4, 2022
View minutes

August 17-18, 2022
View minutes

June 27-28, 2022
View minutes

Contacto

200 West Capitol Avenue, Suite 1300
Little Rock, Arkansas 72201

Info@arhungeralliance.org

501-399-9999

501-399-9996

Boletin informativo

Alliance Alert se envía a los miembros, defensores y otras personas que desean mantenerse al tanto de los problemas del hambre en Arkansas. Vea nuestro último boletín.

© 2024 Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance
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