Grocery stores are valuable assets to a community: not only do they make healthy food more accessible, but they also can provide living-wage jobs, raise the value of surrounding property, and anchor and attract additional businesses to the neighborhood.

Public health officials and advocates can partner with economic development and other city agencies to help bring new food retail into low-income neighborhoods. This fact sheet is designed to provide a basic overview of how economic development programs work, highlighting a variety of ways for advocates to influence the process. Also available in Spanish!

Be sure to check out another California-specific fact sheet, How to Use Redevelopment to Create Healthier Communities, designed to give advocates a general introduction to how redevelopment works and highlight ways for advocates to engage in the process.

You may also be interested in our other products:

• Economic Development and Redevelopment: A Toolkit on Land Use and Health offers a fundamental overview of the economic development and redevelopment tools available, their use, and how to effectively participate in decisions about their use.
• Getting Involved in Redevelopment: Strategies for Public Health Advocates shows how redevelopment can help build healthier communities, and how advocates and residents can partner with redevelopment agencies throughout the process.