Running head: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1

Executive Summary: Grocery Stores Missing in Action

Antionetta Bell, Jessica Cady, London Johnson, Zenobia Kindle-Davis

Wayne State University School of Social Work

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2

Executive Summary: Grocery Stores Missing in Action

Executive summary

Our groups intent was to see if there is any correlation between grocery stores made

available in certain neighborhoods using zip codes in and around the city of Detroit. This topic

presented itself after conversation about the distance it takes travelling to and from grocery stores

depending on where in the city one lives. There was also curiosity, due to the recent construction

of a Whole Foods Market, as well as rumors of a Target being built across the street. Why would

a large supermarket chain need to be built in the heart of the city, let alone two? In this study, 6

cities where compared: Southwest Detroit, Midtown Detroit, Livonia, Harper Woods, Highland

Park, and Inkster.

These cities were picked by zip code to attempt to cover a wide range of Wayne County

cities to try and reflect disparities or benefits in the best way possible. It was considered that also

looking at the racial background and median incomes of the zip codes would be helpful because

it could help with the analysis of the cities that were looked at. Citizen demographics including

race and income could help explain the results of the study and help identify if the cities were

becoming gentrified and who that really benefits.

Description of community

Collaboratively, it was decided to compare the cities/zip codes of Southwest Detroit

(48209), Inkster (48141), Highland Park (48203), Midtown Detroit (48202), Harper Woods

(48225) and Livonia (48154). All cities are located within the borders of Wayne County, MI.

Each of these cities represent an area of the county and provided the opportunity to provide a

unique snapshot of the community and area it represents. What was discovered was that

Highland Park, Inkster, Harper Woods and Midtown Detroit are predominantly made up of
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African American citizens, ranking in respective order. Southwest Detroit is predominantly a

Hispanic/Latino community, while Livonia is a predominantly Caucasian. It was also discovered

utilizing Data Driven Detroits Median Household Income database, that Livonia a city with

the least minorities has the highest income at over $72,000. The city with the highest

percentage of minorities, Hazel Park, had one of the lowest median incomes at around $22,000.

Inkster who has a population made up of 80% African Americans has a median income

just a tad higher at approximately $27,000. Harper Woods and Midtown Detroit both averaged a

population of around 50% African Americans in their communities however Harper Woods

whose remaining population group is Caucasians has a median income of around $47,000,

whereas Midtowns remaining population is a mixture of Caucasians, multi-raced and other races

has a median income of approximately $19,000. Once this information came to light, the goal

was to try and see if there was a correlation between not only race, but monetary demographics

in the way grocery stores are made available to the people.

Methods

To obtain the information for the selected communities, a website called Area Vibes was

utilized that was created based on US Census Data. Area Vibes lent the demographic data on the

cities racial break downs. Data Driven Detroit was also utilized to obtain the Household Median

Income by utilizing their database/spreadsheet by the same name. This information from Area

Vibes and Data Driven Detroit where utilized to draw comparisons between the two

demographic indicators. This was done by creating graphs utilizing the given data to compare the

numbers to see any correlations or similarities. Once this was done, we were able to easily

determine that the cities that were demographically more minority based, had lower household

median incomes. The next step was to than take these cities and assess their access to grocery
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stores. This was done by utilizing ArcGIS and mapping out local grocery stores. Liquor stores

and convenience stores are displayed as well but were removed from consideration when

identifying affordable grocery stores.

Findings

As mentioned before in our descriptions of the communities, it was found in the analysis

between race and income that the cities that had a population that was predominately made up of

minority citizen also had the lower median household incomes. Therefore, it was identified that

Household Median Income was directly affected by racial demographics.

When the variable of grocery store locations was added into the analysis, it was

hypothesized that the cities of lower income with higher minority rates would have less access to

affordable grocery stores and that the cities of higher income with less minority rates would have

greater access to affordable grocery stores. However, the map that was created utilizing ArcGIS,

disproved the hypothesis. The map identified that income and access to grocery stores had no

correlation and that the cities of higher income had similar lack of access as the cities with lower

income. While cities of lower income are still at a greater disadvantage due to the monetary

disparities, the cities with higher median incomes still experience lack of access to affordable

grocery stores. The researchers in this study were left with the question - without access to

reliable transportation how does one access a grocery store in Wayne County, MI?

Next steps

Based on the question that researchers where left with - without access to reliable

transportation how does one access a grocery store in Wayne County, MI? the next steps would

to continue to draw data and monitor the opening/closing of grocery stores. It was found that

only Data Driven Detroit had clear data on where grocery stores were located. Researchers
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should continue to monitor and update this data to ensure that it accurate and reflective of current

communities.

Another step could be to identify if there are any community programs that assist citizen

with transportation to and from the grocery stores. For example, the senior citizens that live in

low-income housing have access to the Walmart Bus that takes them into the mid-town area to

access Walmart, Meijer and Kroger on Wednesdays so that they can have access to the grocery

stores. Researchers could continue to search for other community related programs that are

similar to this and help promote, advertise and support these programs for citizen use.
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References

Areavibes. (n.d.). Highland Park, MI population & demographics. Retrieved from

http://www.areavibes.com/highland+park-mi/demographics/

Areavibes. (n.d.). Inkster, MI population & demographics. Retrieved from

http://www.areavibes.com/inkster-mi/demographics/

Areavibes. (n.d.). Livonia, MI population & demographics. Retrieved from

http://www.areavibes.com/livonia-mi/demographics/

Areavibes. (n.d.). Midtown, Detroit, MI population & demographics. Retrieved from

http://www.areavibes.com/detroit-mi/midtown/demographics/

Data Driven Detroit. (2012, May). Southwest Detroit neighborhoods profile. Retrieved
September 17, 2017, from
http://datadrivendetroit.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/SW-Detroit-
Neighborhoods.pdf

Long, J. (2017, June). Median household income. Retrieved from Data Driven Detroit database.

Towncharts. (2017). Harper Woods, Mi demographics data with population from census.
Retrieved from http://www.towncharts.com/Michigan/Demographics/Harper-Woods-
city-MI-Demographics-data.html