Fighting Food Insecurity in El Paso County

About the Program

Category: Community and Economic Development (Best in Category)

Year: 2020

According to the “Food for Every Child” study done by the University of Texas at El Paso with the Philadelphia Food Trust, over 160,000 El Paso County residents, including 52,000 children, are food insecure. Food deserts exist throughout the County, especially within low income, rural areas. These neighborhoods lack access to healthy, retail food establishments, contributing to high incidence of chronic illnesses including diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. To mitigate these issues, in 2018 the County adopted a Healthy Food Financing Initiative to support the establishment or expansion of retail, healthy food offerings within vulnerable communities. Funding was approved in 2019. Three grants were awarded in 2020 to diverse projects within socio-economically disadvantaged communities across El Paso. These projects tackle the issue of food insecurity from a variety of angles including: the establishment of food hubs for production and distribution of local foods, a farmer’s market stand with refrigeration and sanitizing equipment, and the expansion of a healthy, affordable meal prep service. The County is eager to evaluate and measure impact so that these projects may serve as case studies in the expansion of the HFFI program, while stimulating economic development through small business support and entrepreneurship.