Editor's note: Across Louisville, more than 120,000 people are living with food insecurity, meaning they don't have reliable access to healthy, affordable food. The issue is linked to higher rates of illness and lowered life expectancy in predominantly low-income neighborhoods. And it's costing taxpayers in Louisville and around the nation millions of dollars in emergency health care.

In June 2018,Courier Journal reporter Bailey Loosemore received a six-month fellowship from the University of Southern California's Center for Health Journalism to learn how food insecurity affects Louisville and how the complex problems could potentially be solved.

This story follows up on a series of articles that explained how food access issues arise and how our community is pursuing long-term change.

By the end of 2019, a mobile grocery store is expected to be traveling Louisville's streets.

The concept is exactly what it sounds like: a tractor-trailer outfitted as a one-aisle grocery store. And it's an answer to Louisville's growing food access problem, which affects thousands of people citywide.

On Tuesday, Dare to Care Food Bank announced plans for the mobile market in partnership with Kroger and Louisville Forward, the city's economic development arm, which committed $60,000 to the project.

The food bank had discussed a mobile market publicly in recent months as a potential way to increase healthy food in neighborhoods that lack access to large-scale grocery stores.

In 30 seconds:What you should know about food deserts in Louisville

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture identified large swaths of Louisville as food deserts, meaning the 44,000 people who lived in those areas did not have the money or transportation they needed to buy healthy, affordable food.

In the three-plus years since, more than a dozen grocery stores of different sizes have shuttered citywide, often causing customers who'd relied on them to spend more time and money getting everyday staples.

Inadequate access to healthy food can lead neighborhoods to develop higher rates of such chronic illness as diabetes, heart disease and even asthma, lowering residents' life expectancy and costing communities millions of dollars in extra health care expenses.

In the past year, Dare to Care distributed 24 million pounds of free food to Kentuckiana families. But executive director Brian Riendeau said it's time for the nonprofit to take the next step in improving access for people who can afford to buy food — but who still struggle to get it.

"For nearly 50 years, Dare to Care has led this community to make sure everyone has the food they need to be healthy," Riendeau said in a news release. "Yet food deserts remain a stumbling block to achieving our vision of a hunger-free Kentuckiana.

"This exciting new program, made possible by Kroger's great operational support and Louisville Metro's financial support, brings a new approach to add to our arsenal of programs and partnerships who work tirelessly to help our struggling neighbors."

Related:Food bank opens one-of-a-kind shop to alleviate hunger in the West End

Details about when the market will launch and what neighborhoods it will visit are stilling being discussed. But the program already has a strong model to base itself on, led by a food bank and a Kroger subsidiary in Milwaukee.

The Fresh Picks Mobile Market — organized by the Hunger Task Force and Pick 'n Save — has been serving low-income residents in Milwaukee since 2015.

That year, the agencies converted a semi-trailer into a single-aisle, climate-controlled grocery store that could bring fresh produce, meat and dairy to underserved areas.

The market accepts debit cards, credit cards and Electronic Benefit Transfer cards, issued to families through the federal nutritional assistance program. It makes two stops daily Monday through Friday, and typically serves between 30 and 40 people at each stop, said Erin Grant, a local Kroger representative.

Kroger's Louisville division will be the first outside of Milwaukee to see if it can replicate the Fresh Picks market's success, Grant said.

Other divisions will be watching Louisville to see if they, too, could incorporate a mobile market as part of the company's overarching Zero Hunger, Zero Waste initiative, Grant said.

Check out:Kentucky SNAP recipients to get February funds early due to shutdown

"The mobile market is a way for us to think outside our normal operating model in a way that can still get fresh, nutritious food to people in an innovative way," Grant said.

"We do have other areas that are going to be looking to us to see if it's something they can move forward in and grow in other areas as well. ... Because we have such a great relationship with the city and Dare to Care, we were like, let's go. Let's figure it out."

Grant said Kroger and Dare to Care will be 50-50 partners in the project.

Kroger will provide two associates to manage and place orders for the market, Grant said, while Dare to Care works with community leaders to determine the market's stops and organize volunteers.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said the city is pleased to also be part of the new model, which will serve residents who need it the most.

"More of this kind of innovative thinking will help Louisville find even more equitable solutions to the challenges which keep all of its residents from experiencing the economic health found in other areas of our community," Fischer said in a release.

READ THE SERIES

Sorry, we're closed: How everyone is hurt when grocery stores shut down

Louisville has a fresh food problem. Can we fix it?

How a low-income Louisville neighborhood became a fresh food oasis

How can cities end food deserts? Here are 4 solutions that worked

Bailey Loosemore: 502-582-4646; bloosemore@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @bloosemore. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: http://www.courier-journal.com/baileyl.

TELL US YOUR SOLUTIONS

How do you think Louisville could improve food access so that everyone can easily get healthy, affordable food? Is the answer more grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods? Or a food policy council led by local government?

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ABOUT THIS PROJECT

In June 2018,Courier Journal reporter Bailey Loosemore received a National Fellowship from the University of Southern California Center for Health Journalism to pursue a six-month project on food insecurity.

As part of the fellowship, she received a $3,000 grant and reporting guidance from two mentors: Pulitzer Prize finalist Carol Marbin Miller, an investigative reporter with the Miami Herald, and Terry Parris, a former engagement editor at ProPublica.

Loosemore began reporting on the project in July and has since spoken to more than 60 residents, nonprofit leaders, health care providers and Metro employees about how food insecurity affects Louisvillians and how the complex problems could be solved.

In October, she launched a questionnaire that sought to shed insight on how access to healthy food varies across the community and received more than 400 responses from people living within 33 Jefferson County zip codes. Information from the questionnaire has been included in this report.

Loosemore plans to continue reporting on food insecurity in 2019. She wants to hear your stories and potential solutions. Contact her at 502-582-4646 or bloosemore@courier-journal.com.