Coalition to bolster fresh food access in Kenton Co.

COVINGTON – A lot of Kenton County residents — particularly children — aren't getting enough nutritious food, but a regional coalition promises to help combat the issue.

Kenton County Plan4Health has received a $135,000 grant from the American Planning Association to map the area's full-line grocery stores, locate neighborhoods with limited access to healthy foods and increase the supply of fresh produce for residents in need.

The coalition plans to do it, in part, by offering mini grants to corner stores.

"Many corner stores in Covington do not offer many healthy food choices," said Rachel Hastings, director of neighborhood and housing initiatives for the Center for Great Neighborhoods of Covington.

To help, the center will provide a new grant program, the Healthy Corner Store, that will help corner stores improve their offerings and design a marketing campaign to encourage shoppers — especially youth — to make healthy food choices, Hastings said.

Here's part of why Kenton County qualified for the grant:

• Kenton County suffers from an overall "food insecurity" rate of 13.9 percent, with 18.4 percent for children.

- Source: Feeding America's Food Environment Index. The USDA defines food insecurity as the, "lack of access, at times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members and limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods."

• 17 percent of Kenton County and Covington residents meet the daily nutritional requirement of fruits and vegetables.

- Source: 2013 Greater Cincinnati Community Health Status Survey

• 22 percent of Kenton County adults are obese and 61 percent are overweight.

- Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kenton County Plan4Health was officially created in December, with OKI Regional Council of Governments, the Planning and Development Services of Kenton County, Northern Kentucky Health Department and Center for Great Neighborhoods partnering.

Area planners are in the coalition because they're working to include health as an aspect of planning for the region.

"It is becoming a more popular idea that planning and health are related," said Jenna LeCount, principal planner for the Planning and Development Services of Kenton County.

Emi Randall, OKI senior planner, said a mapping study will help identify neighborhoods in the county that have close proximity to full-line grocery stores, which have an abundance of fresh fruits, vegetables and other foods, and those without that kind of access. The study will take public transit access into account, she said.

After the coalition learns which neighborhoods get what kind of food and from where, the group will be able to help provide the corner stores with better range of nutritious foods for their customers.