food apartheid

H-E-B’s press release announced the new stores would be Joe V’s Smart Shop, which offers “a price-conscious shopping experience.” Both will be located in southern Dallas; the first store opening next summer at the corner of West Wheatland Road and Highway 67, and a second store opening in 2025 at the corner of Buckner and Samuell boulevards.

Gipson Grocery store converted into a one-stop shop with many services aimed to strengthen its community members.

Already, 65,000 people in DFW are enrolled in Amazon’s SNAP delivery program, but the company found that people who live in “food deserts” weren’t using the service, so launched a new outreach program Jan. 1.

Southpoint is proving to be a miracle in this sparsely populated South Dallas neighborhood between Al Lipscomb and Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards. Access to healthy, affordable food has been among the top concerns for residents here.

Aunt Bette's food pantry at St. Philip's in South Dallas is set up like a grocery store to provide choices to hungry neighbors. This can create the kind of positive psychological environment conducive to healthy consumer habits, experts say.

"Most people that come to our [Red Bird] food pantry come to it as a last resort, when their food stamps have run out at the end of the month,” says Katie Peters, who manages community relations at Crossroads Community Services. “The unique thing about our community partners is that they typically have recurring clients."

In an effort to address food insecurity in the community, Cornerstone Baptist Church is opening Southpoint Community Market, a neighborhood grocery store that will sell fresh and affordable food.

Jubilee Market in Waco has attracted the attention of city leaders from across Texas looking for innovative ways to provide affordable and nutritious foods in low-income neighborhoods. However, Jubilee may be a unicorn, because it relies on a leader who lives in the neighborhood, a strong base of supporters and a financial safety net.

Community gardens have been a way of life for people in South Dallas for years. Without a nearby grocery store, residents have often had to rely on their own gardening skills for fresh fruits and vegetables.

The idea formed a few years ago, when UNT Dallas biology professor Kelly Varga took her students to the Mill City neighborhood to help clean up a community farm. The woman who ran the farm told Varga she saw a need in her neighborhood for quality food and a healthy outlet for young people.

The Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Free Press, in partnership with the national Solutions Journalism Network, are looking for a reporter to spend the next five months reporting on "food apartheid" in Dallas.