Greater access to Healthy Food Takes a Big Step Forward

The Indianapolis City Council passed an ordinance that will change how Indianapolis manages all aspects of food

Jump IN is extremely happy to announce a big step forward in our healthy food access work.  Early this year, the City-County Council approved an ordinance establishing the Indianapolis Community Food Access Coalition (the ICFAC). The ICFAC will be affiliated with the City’s Division of Community Nutrition and Food Policy. Formerly the Indianapolis Food Council, the Coalition will be comprised of key city staff, food organization leaders, and community representatives from each of the eight major Indianapolis regional neighborhoods. The ICFAC will be tasked with resolving food issues city-wide and will enable the Indianapolis food system stakeholder groups– food insecurity response, healthy food access (retail), and food economy (growers and supply chain) to communicate, problem-solve, and ensure that all Indianapolis residents have access to nutritious food that supports optimal health and wellbeing. 

The ICFAC is the product of multiple years of food access work by many partners including Jump IN, the City of Indianapolis, and the Marion County Public Health Department.  As you may know, a persistent barrier to community health in high-risk areas is lack of access to healthy food.  Jump IN began its healthy food access work on the Far Eastside of Indianapolis, with the healthy corner store conversions.  Those conversions were just the first step in increasing healthy food access and will continue. Jump IN’s work has much more fully developed during 2020. The results of scores of resident and leadership surveys, interviews and focus group discussions across Marion County yielded a robust and clear picture of community needs and preferences that led to a new vision and proposal (and now passage!) for an empowered and sustainable food system leadership infrastructure for Indianapolis.   

The City of Indianapolis wants to hear from you right now. A new initiative, Food/Comida/Rawl, is asking for Indianapolis residents to complete one or more surveys on this page. Your input will help the City collect direct feedback from local residents. And by participating, you’ll be entered to win $50 gift cards! The name Food/Comida/Rawl comes from the translation of the word food in the three most commonly spoken languages in Indianapolis: English, Spanish, and Burmese. This initiative wants to include everyone, and the title helps communicate that. The website is available in all three languages as well.

And in other news…

It’s Farmer’s Market season! Two new Farmer’s Markets have recently started up in downtown Indianapolis: one at White River State Park and one at Broadway United Methodist Church. And our friends at Lawrence Community Gardens are hosting their own market. Eggs, honey, fresh produce, and other vendors will be found at all three markets. Now that’s finally hot outside, pay them a visit and pick up your garden-grown produce. You can get your 5 daily fruits and vegetables straight from the growers.

Your physical activity challenge of the week:

This week’s short workout comes from Shape Magazine, with lots of fun ideas for outdoor physical activity that you can do solo or as a family – in your yard or in your neighborhood park. Be sure to stay hydrated with plenty of water.