Understanding and Addressing Food Security in Southwest Baltimore

In 2006 the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) received funding from the United Parcel Service (UPS) Foundation (through the Community Food Security Coalition) to conduct a community food assessment and implement activities promoting a more sustainable food system in Baltimore. CLF forged   partnership with Operation ReachOut Southwest (OROSW) a coalition that represents 13 neighborhoods in southwest Baltimore.

Two census tracts in OROSW were part of a 2003 health disparities study conducted by the Morgan-Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions that revealed the OROSW community’s rate of diet-related diseases was higher than many other communities in Baltimore. This study spurred OROSW to undertake activities to improve the food environment that impacts community members’ health outcomes. In 2005, they started an organic community garden and they became members of the Mid-Atlantic Gleaning Network, which gleans produce from local farms that would otherwise go to waste.

The CLF and OROSW partnership led to the completion of a community food assessment. This assessment includes a food store survey and a self-reported residents’ survey and is not intended to be generalizable beyond the immediate respondents. Community food assessments offer a one-time snapshot of the food landscape in a given community. The store survey captures information on cost and availability of food, while the residents’ survey explores their experiences with food shopping in the neighborhood. This report includes findings from both parts of the community food assessment and provides specific recommendations for improving the food environment and increasing community food security in Southwest Baltimore.