Nadiya Sharif, Chidera Ubah, Abby Barnett, Glenn Tarr, & Nina Agemy

Professor Larry Rowley

PS 1010 (HON)

25 April 2018

Childhood Poverty and Malnutrition in Detroit

The poverty rate is defined by ​the Organization for Economic Co-operation and

Development ​as the ratio of the number of people (in a given age group) whose income falls

below the poverty line (OECD 1). In 2016, 57% of Detroit’s child population lived below this

line (Detroit Future City 33). As a social determinant of health, the effects of poverty ripple into

other aspects of wealth such as food access, education, transportation, environment, housing, etc.

While access to food may not be a social determinant, it is uniquely implicated by all of them: a

lack of food plays a strong role in the development of adult illness. Therefore, it implicates all

social determinants in turn. The state of having an involuntary lack of access to an adequate diet,

typically associated with poverty and low-income status is known as food deprivation. Thus, it

warrants that one asks themselves how children living in poverty in Detroit don’t have access to

nutrient dense foods, which puts them at risk for malnutrition. Malnutrition is defined as the

“severe impairment to health and mental function that results from chronic failure to receive

adequate nutrients in the diet” (Levy & Sidel 239).

The state of having an involuntary lack of access to an adequate diet, typically associated

with poverty and low-income status is known as food deprivation (Levy & Sidel 239). In order to

understand how this phenomenon began in the city of Detroit, one needs to investigate the roots

of poverty in the city. As mentioned, there are 57% of children in Detroit living below the
poverty line (Detroit Future City 33). If one was to dissect that value further, one would find that

79.4% of the children are Black, 15.4% of them account for other minorities such as: Native

Americans, Hispanic/Latinos, Asians (United States Census Bureau 1). The final 5.2% of the

children are white (United States Census Bureau 1). It is evident that poverty is

disproportionately affecting minorities, more specifically the Black community. While some may

want to attribute this values to the large African American population (84.3%), it is not possible

to fairly assess the living conditions of current Black residents without evaluating their shared

history with the city (United States Census Bureau 1).

The 1970s migration from the inner city of Detroit to suburbs outside the metropolitan

area was labeled as racially selective. This term suggests that those who were able to make the

move were largely white. This boiled down the fact that Blacks were unable to afford to live in

the suburbs let alone live sans discrimination. Data collected in a survey conducted in 1966,

illustrates that more than two times as many Blacks were working in unskilled labor with

low-paying wages that whites (Sidney 1). Furthermore, the widespread of out-right

discrimination in Detroit closed door of opportunities to African Americans that remained open

to Whites. The disadvantage illustrated here is known as structural inequality, obstacles

individuals face that are deeply rooted into the history of the city. This then indicated that this

structural inequality is prevalent in present day Detroit as well.

However, the question that can’t be ignored is “what if African Americans were not

qualified?”, meaning they did not possess the education required to carry out a white-collar job.

That being said, we cannot solely attest their low paying jobs/unemployment to discrimination.

Much like racism, education is pivotal in exploring the issue of poverty in Detroit, their
relationship is cyclical: impoverished individuals are unable to attain access to quality education,

without which they fall victim to poverty. The implications of this cyclic relationship became

clear after the fall of the industrial era. The shift from a dominance of unskilled labor to white

collar jobs put many Blacks out of work because in the 1980s only 6.7% of Black Detroiters had

graduated with a degree in higher education (Wilson 192). This value pales in comparison to the

10.2% of Whites who had a bachelor’s degree, especially when one considers the large

differences in the population of Blacks versus Whites (Wilson 192). Therefore, opportunities to

stay above the poverty line were greater for Whites. Furthermore, in 1995, “Detroit had 55 jobs

for every 100 persons” and those jobs were then further divided into unskilled labor and

white-collar jobs ​(Darden, Hill, and Thomas 100)​. Thus, one can evidently conclude that there

are a larger majority of whites who were employed further increasing the percentage of Blacks

who were impoverished.

The existing perception that people eat what they eat because they can, has little

legitimacy amongst the food deprived. Humans eat out of habit and more often than not, and

there are two factors which implicate the development of childhood eating habits: environment

and our parents (Savage, Fisher & Birch 28). For impoverished families it is difficult to teach

children healthy eating habits when purchasing a McDonalds happy meal ensures that your child

doesn’t go hungry tomorrow, over a healthy meal. So, what is it about the Detroit environment

which makes malnutrition a common experience amongst children below the poverty line?

As mentioned previously poverty is closely tied into childhood malnutrition, one cannot

talk about one without discussing the other (Raphel 1). However, it is important to note that,
aside of the obvious connection between the two, the attempt to rise out of poverty can be

stunted by difficulties in school due to a lack of adequate schools in Detroit.

Another factor is a lack of knowledge. Many individuals are under the perception that

they cannot purchase healthy foods but healthy eating does not have to be expensive if done

strategically. However, in Detroit, acting upon this knowledge can be difficult by a lack of large

chain grocery stores and being unable to reach the supermarkets present in the city.

When evaluating the public transport options in the city the DDOT is an option;

unfortunately, it is the only bus which runs throughout the entire metropolitan area and can result

in a grocery trip taking three or four times as long (Felton 2). Evidently, that becomes an issue

for families with only one parent who also needs to work or when children are too young to be

left alone at home, for example. As of 2016, 24.7% of residents were without a household

vehicle (United State Census Bureau 1). However, there is evidence to suggest that many

shopped outside of their direct neighborhoods by coordinating their trips so that they could reach

stores out of walking (Rose 649). Unfortunately, this is not an option available to those who may

need special accommodations, when an individual may need to go back to the store, during

emergencies, limits the amount of groceries individuals can purchase, etc. Moreover, those who

may choose to walk are limited by issues such as the weather. Furthermore, or children who may

have a parent who is physically disabled, the plausibility of even a few blocks may be an

obstacle. Therefore, they may have to settle on feeding their children convenience store meals on

a daily basis. According to a study conducted in 2007 on 55,000 Detroiters found that, on

average, residents travel “twice as far to reach a “mainstream” grocery store than they do to

reach a fringe food establishment” (Gallagher 4).

 Lastly, the absence of large-chain grocery stores throughout the city has made attempts to

ameliorate the issue challenging. While poverty and transportation are obstacles to obtaining

food, without stores frequently dispersed throughout the city, there are few healthy outlets where

the food can be obtained from. Healthy Detroit supermarket/large stores make up 2.7% of all

food outlets in the city, and only one of those is a fresh format (a store that solely based on

organic and natural foods with an emphasis on perishables) (see Appendix A) (Taylor & Ard

112) (See Figure 1 and 2). Contrastingly, Detroit has 460 liquor/party stores, 371 gas stations and

338 fast food locations which make up 67.3% of all the food outlets the metropolitan area

(Taylor & Ard 112). The lack of large-chain stores in Detroit seems to be the indicator which

separates this city from other large cities in the United States. In comparison to Chicago, Detroit

has 25% of its population (United States Census Bureau 1). However, that does not warrant that

in comparing the number of whole foods in each city that Chicago have 11 stores to Detroit’s 1

(Whole Foods Market 1-3). Furthermore, Detroit has no other fresh format store and Chicago has

others such as: Meijer and Walmart. This distinction has ensured that the issue of child food

deprivation in Detroit has few solutions that serve to aid children in the long-run. Clearly, the

odds are stacked against children in the city who are under the poverty line, such circumstances

guarantee that these children grow-up with higher risks of non-communicable diseases and

lower-graduation rates.

It is not difficult to comprehend that the issue of child malnutrition due to a lack of access

to nutrient-dense foods is a problem. However, it is important to question why this issue should

take precedence over others in the eyes of city officials/citizens who have the ability to

ameliorate the issue. When children begin eating food which are solely calorically dense they
become victims of short-term issues such as: anemia, cognitive issues in schools - which stunt

their intellectual development -, anxiety, absenteeism (Kleinman et al. 29) - which puts them at

risk of repeating grades -, asthma (Gunderson & Ziliak 2). Unfortunately, if these symptoms

continue they can lead to malnourishment. If children experience this phenomenon, even for a

short period of time, it places them at a higher risk for future diseases such as: diabetes, obesity,

hypertension, heart disease, cancer, poor oral health and micro/macro diseases (Levy & Sidel

241-244).

There are many direct action methods that are currently being used to alleviate the issue

of povertized children lacking access to nutritious foods. These include general welfare

programs, welfare programs specifically aimed at women and children, school lunch programs

and policies, summer lunch programs, food drives, community gardens, soup kitchens, and

low-budget cooking classes designed for low-income families. In Detroit, where the proportion

of families living below the poverty rate is approximately 40% (Advameg), the most popular

method used to battle the symptoms of poverty and food access is the use of food banks and food

pantries. Food banks and pantries are public locations that store basic provisions, non-perishable

food items, and in fewer cases, fresh produce, and distribute it to individuals and families in need

free of any charges. Many low-income families in Detroit, especially those with a larger number

of members, rely on these food banks and pantries as an extra source of nutritional food when

their finances are insufficient. There is a higher concentration of low-income families in

inner-city Detroit (Advameg), so for this research project, three food banks and pantries in

inner-city Detroit were studied on their abilities and limitations in addressing the issue of

childhood poverty and malnutrition.

 The first site that visited was Gleaners Food Bank. Gleaners is a community food bank

located in southeastern Detroit, and was founded in 1977 by an individual named Gene Gonya.

The organization five distribution centers located all over southeastern Michigan in Wayne,

Macomb, Oakland, Livingston, and Monroe counties, with their headquarters being situated at

the center in Detroit. Through donations, Gleaners provides millions in pounds of food to nearly

500 partner soup kitchens, pantries, shelters, and other human service agencies (Gleaners

Website). Gleaners functions by collecting donations from food manufacturers, grocers, retailers,

and other sources, sorting the food items by food type and perishability, and then distributing

them in defined amounts to partner shelters, kitchens, pantries, and registered families. On

average, all five Gleaners center distributes 89,000 meals each day as a total, and this includes

providing nourishing food and nutrition education to 171,000 children a year (Gleaners Website).

In addition to food donation, Gleaners also hosts an annual cuisine program entitled “Cooking

Matters”, in which volunteer chefs teach adults and mature children how to prepare nutritious

meals while on a restricted budget. In 2016, over 9800 people graduated from the program across

all of the distribution centers. Gleaners also places a strong emphasis on healthy food

distribution; 80% of their food donated in 2016 was considered nutritious, with help from their

corporate partners, the United Dairy Industry of Michigan, Kroger, and Michigan Milk

Producers Association (Gleaners Website). As a volunteer at Gleaners, one would assist with the

collecting and sorting process, and the food is weighed before being given away in an effort to

control how much a family or individual can take.

Despite its variety of successful programs, Gleaners does face two main limitations in

providing nutritional meals and information to povertized children. The first and most important
limitation is availability of resources. Since the number of food-insecure families in the United

States and even Detroit alone is disproportionately larger than the amount of food Gleaners

collects on average, families are limited on the amount of food that they can collect from the

organization. As a result, boxes are weighed to make sure they do not surpass specific amounts

before they are given away. The second limitation Gleaners faces is location. While Gleaners has

a strong presence in southeastern Michigan, it does not have a strong presence throughout the

rest of the United States. This is a significant limitation, as childhood poverty and malnutrition is

a national and even global issue, and being limited to one region of Detroit decreases the scope

of impact for Gleaners.

The second location that was studied for this project was The W Food Pantry. The W

Food Pantry is a small and relatively new food pantry in affiliation with Wayne State University

located on the school’s main campus. In partnership in with Gleaners Food Bank, Forgotten

Harvest, and the Michigan Department of Human and Health Services, and a $34,000 start-up

grant from the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, the pantry opened in April 2017

in an effort to provide Wayne State’s student population with non-perishable food items along

with refrigerated/frozen vegetables and meat products, toiletries, and hygiene products

(Losinski). Since its opening, the pantry has provided over 12,000 pounds of food for almost

1000 individual students. In addition to providing access to nutritious foods, the pantry staff and

volunteers also increase awareness of food insecurity and reduce the stigma of utilizing food

banks to meet personal needs all over campus. Students can visit twice a month (and a third in

case of an emergency) to pick up a grocery bag full of staple items. A student’s visit is

confidential, and there is no required evidence of income or GPA; any and every student is free
to walk in with a current student ID. As a volunteer, one’s duty would be to unload and organize

donation boxes, stock new food items and take inventory, advertise the pantry across campus,

and assist students in picking up food from the pantry. The two biggest limitations that the W

Food Pantry faces in terms of tackling the issue of childhood poverty and malnutrition are the

same as Gleaners: resources and scope. Since the W Food Pantry is entirely donation based and

rather small in size, they are limited in the amount of resources that they allow students to take,

hence the two-visit limit. In regard to scope, the W Food Pantry has a very narrow range of

service. It only serves current Wayne State students, which means that it does not benefit the

overall Detroit community, and cannot reach younger, povertized children.

The final site of interest that was studied was The Children’s Center, located in inner-city

Detroit near Woodward Street. The Children’s Center is a multi-facility non-profit organization

whose mission is to serve as a haven where both parents and children can seek out a number of

services, events, and material goods that directly correlate with their emotional, physical, mental,

and behavioral wellbeing. These services can be medical, donation-based, or personal/academic

success activities. A list these services include assisting parents with education completion and

job application, providing families with material necessities such as clothes and shoes, on-site

medical professionals that work with physical, mental, psychological, and behavioural

conditions, and programs aimed towards child success in an academic setting (The Children’s

Center Website). In regards to childhood poverty and nutrition, the Children’s Center operates a

food pantry within its boutique. Through this pantry, non-perishable food items are donated and

stored for families to pick up twice a month. As a volunteer, it would be one’s duty to organize

the pantry shelves by grouping similar food items. In addition, during evening activities, such as
homework tutoring and craft nights, the children are served dinner. On most days, the meals

constitute of a balanced serving of vegetables, dairy products, fruits, and protein. However, on

special event days, the meals are typically an order of pizza with water or juices. In its effort to

provide nutrient-dense foods to low-income children, The Children faces the same limitations as

the W Food Pantry and Gleaners Food Bank. It is entirely donation based, and thus can only

support families with food twice a month. In addition, the center is not a chain; its buildings in

Detroit are the only locations it has. Therefore, the Children Center’s efforts are not beneficial on

a national or state level, and may not even be accessible to families within Detroit who do not

live near the Woodward area. Finally, the Children’s Center places more emphasis on

behavioural services, and the nutritional value of the food they serve is not a priority. Therefore,

they are prone to serving cheap hot meals that can be bought in bulk (usually pizza), without

looking at more nutritious alternatives.

After studying all three of these sites, it is evident that the most significant barrier that

food banks and pantries face in alleviating the poor access povertized children have to nutritional

foods is limited resources. Since all of these sites and others like them rely primarily on material

and monetary donations, they usually do not have enough supplies to meet the demand of hungry

families. However, this issue can be tackled through a strengthened relationship with the

government, corporations, and individuals.

The government does not allocate any funds towards food banks, as they already have a

primary emphasis on welfare and school lunch programs. Fortunately, the food donated by the

United States Department of Food and Agriculture to various federal programs (such as the

Emergency Food Assistance Program) is further distributed to other food banks, shelters, and
soup kitchens through state and local agencies (USDA). Unfortunately, due to the sheer number

of these type of locations in the country, these resources do not have a large impact on any one

location. In order for the government to be effectively involved in the success of sites such as

Gleaners, municipal, state, and possibly federal governments would have to review their annual

budgets, and designate a specific percentage of the budget towards supporting these food banks.

However, government officials would have to be cautious about which spending categories

might potentially suffer from an adjusted budget, and whether the benefit of funding and

focusing on food banks surpasses the benefit of funding and focusing on the federal food security

programs currently in place.

The most effective way for corporations to get involved in the success of food banks is

through sponsorships and partnerships. To use an arbitrary example, fast food chains such as

McDonald’s run annual charity drives, in which a portion of their profits is donated in support of

various non-profit organizations. In a more relevant example, Gleaners has a partnership with

Kroger, in which Kroger provides monetary and material support towards Gleaners. Through

these corporate partnerships, these organizations have been able to expand their resource

amounts, and consequently the scope of people which they benefit. Therefore, it is important to

advocate to wealthier corporations to share some of their resources by sponsoring a number of

local food distribution centers, allowing food banks to have yet another source that can help them

increase their food availability amount.

Finally, the last aspect of direct action to be discussed is individual support. While

government and corporations deal with the economic spectrum of supporting food banks in terms

of money and materials, individual support is directly related to cultural value. As mentioned
before, most food banks are entirely donation based and rely on the generosity of their local

communities to have an impact. This means that our individual altruism can have a big role in

the ability of food distribution organizations to aid low-income families. However, this altruism

directly correlates with the value we as citizens place on helping the poor. If we do not believe

that povertized children are worth being assisted and well fed, then the donations that food banks

rely on us for suffers in amount and effectiveness. Therefore, we must emphasize the cultural

importance in ensuring that our future generations are taken care of as children, so they can be

functional and effective as adults. As individual agents, we can tackle the issue of childhood

poverty and malnutrition by hosting or contributing to community food drives, educating each

other on the benefits of nutrient-based diets, and volunteering at these food distribution

organizations.

Institutional advocacy can address the problems and inequality in a community through

the structures in place. Policy can influence the barriers and improve accessibility for children in

poverty, so they can benefit from the same nutritious options. Proposed policies have been

initiated all over the country to face a similar issue, and small versions have even taken place in

Detroit to combat food insecurity which leads to the malnutrition and obesity.

As stated previously, large-chain grocery stores don’t exist in the city and food outlets are

scarce. For an institutional solution to succeed it would have to address problem areas such as

Highland Park, Hamtrack, and Brightmoor neighborhood to bring better options to the people

living there (Roberts). Children in poverty don’t have many options when it comes to healthy

food choices without them, because they are dependent on what is in the food pantry or is cheap

and local to them.

 Large-scale solutions can benefit the families in the city by providing resources and

places to utilize the programs already in place, such as SNAP food stamps, as well as the

education and advocacy such as in the existing school lunch programs.

The Food Trust is a national campaign that engages with the government, civic, and

economic spheres to improve food accessibility. Deirdre Church, a project manager on their

National Campaign for Healthy Food Access, advocates for a statewide program to open more

grocery stores, especially in lower income areas (Roberts). This can be achieved by the

government financing programs that provide grants and loans to grocery stores and healthy

outlets.

The first statewide financing program for healthier foods was in 2004 in Pennsylvania.

This Fresh Food Financing Initiative (FFFI) was also in retaliation to the scarcity of grocery

stores in the city, Philadelphia (“The Launch of a Movement”). In this instance, they used $30

million dollars from the state government into the stimulus package for the development in a

three-year period. Four other organizations partnered to total the package at $2.8 billion dollars.

With a similar approach in inviting public and private partners, Detroit can gather a sufficient

amount of money to support upcoming grocers and healthy food outlets.

This policy jumpstarted action all over the country. In 2017, $1 million over five years

was invested in loans through Michigan Good Food Fund in Detroit (Welch). Initiatives like this

one prove that there are organizations available and willing to finance the proposal Deirdre

Church brings up. These come into play to bring realistic solutions into what can advance our

similar policy.
 Our group created an idea with more specifics to insure the logistics of the stores and

how they could be accessible from every corner of the city. Our policy combines the structures in

place that separates the city into the six districts and the legislature encompassing them. The

policy is to require each district to support a full-service grocery store which fulfills the

nutritional and financial needs not otherwise met in each area. This would put six stores like

Meijer, Kroger, and Heartland in the city to eradicate the remaining food desert problem and

introduce an abundance of nutritious options for low-income families.

The Food Trust estimates it is incredibly possible for the state of Michigan to put a

priority on a statewide healthy food financing program (Manon). Their goals include support to

healthy food businesses as well as local jobs and market opportunities. This can be achieved

through public investment and involvement across the civic, market, and government spheres.

Our policy would take place with the support from The Food Trust and established

funding from Detroit Development Fund (which supported Michigan Good Food Fund). These

organizations would partner with the six city council districts to distribute the funding and

incentives to establish one supermarket in each district.

Our policy calls for government involvement on the economic dimension because it

demands monetary resources to make it happen. The policy would occur on the legislative

branch on the local level to focus on Detroit. This differs from statewide programs because it

gives greater security in getting the policy accomplished on a smaller level and gives policy

makers better opportunity to accustom the needs of the districts. Therefore, those are the aspects

of our proposed Institutional Advocacy and how it stems from existing solutions and interacts

with the spheres and branches discussed.

 So far in our presentation, we have discussed our problem. We defined what it was and who

it affects. We have also discussed ways we can take action in support or solving this problem and

lessening its harmful effects. Finally we have also discussed ways that students who feel daunted

by taking direct action toward solving the problem can help anyway by advocating for the issue.

Now I will discuss a branch of that direct action that students could be taking in more detail. In

this direct service proposal I will be talking about how students could decrease poverty and the

risk of malnutrition in and around campus through The W food pantry at Wayne State

University.

Our proposal is that Wayne State students could work toward the goal of securing

funding and support in assisting the expansion of The W food pantry in order to help more

students of Wayne State University who are at risk of or are suffering from malnutrition because

of poverty. Our proposal will also regard perhaps eventually expanding the influence of The W

food pantry beyond the college and into the surrounding neighborhoods of Detroit. This process

increasing its impact on the students it currently helps. This process also would involve

attempting to take more at risk persons under its support.

Before discussing the specifications of the direct service proposal, some background is

needed. The W food pantry opened on April 2, 2017, and works to assist Wayne State students in

food insecurity. “The pantry is meant to be a supplement so our students don’t have bare

cupboards,” said Dean of Students David Strauss. To get the pantry started, the organization

received a grant for $34,000 00 from the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan

according to C and G news. The W food pantry also has an ongoing partnership with the food
bank Gleaners, and receives a limited amount of food for their supply from the donations that

Gleaners receives.

The first thing that needs to be established in order to expand The W is for the pantry to

establish a specific and achievable goal. A likely first step, before expanding beyond Wayne

State students, would be to become a supporter for more students at the university. Being able to

accomplish this expansion would include increasing awareness about the pantry within Wayne

State University as well as increasing the amount of food that the pantry has in stock through

more donations. Another thing that will need to happen is an increase in the amount of

volunteers.

This expansion could utilize students as volunteers both in the typical way, volunteering

at the pantry stocking, accepting donations, and helping students who come in get their food, as

well as using students as tools to spread the word about the food pantry through fliers, word of

mouth, and social media. The pantry needs to have a larger base of people who need food

assistance who are willing to come into the pantry before it feasibly needs more support.

Once the number of students in need increases, The W would have to gather more donations in

order to meet all the need of Wayne State students. Because of this need for more food, an ideal

time to start gathering these donations would be over the summer to give the pantry more time to

form a large enough cache of useful donations. These useful donations would consist of

nonperishable goods that would stay good until students and others would be ready to pick them

up. The W could then increase its partnership with Gleaners, getting more food to provide for

more people.
 There would also need to be more funding for the pantry. Perhaps in addition to the

$34,000.00 that the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan provided to get the pantry

started, the foundation would be willing to assist further in providing more capital for the

expansion of the pantry.

If the expansion into nearby neighborhoods is not a feasible course of action, or if it is

something that The W would rather not take on, perhaps the pantry could focus on creating more

community gardens around campus in which students volunteer to grow and gather produce for

the pantry. This is another way that the pantry could branch out besides just reaching more

students. This is also a wise way to expand because the city of Detroit has a lot of abandoned

areas, which leaves a lot of space for urban farming.

This project of expanding The W food pantry at Wayne State University is something

concrete and achievable that students looking to combat the issue of childhood poverty and

malnutrition could go out, serve, campaign, and work for in and around the Wayne State Area.

This project only helps a small group of students, but The W does make an impact and

expanding it could have an even greater impact on poverty and malnutrition.

One in three children living in Detroit suffer from chronic malnutrition due to an

unsustainable source of income (Action). Most of the low income families within Detroit do not

have the money, resources, or transportation to obtain nutrient dense foods, resulting in obesity,

diabetes, heart issues, and cancer. Within Detroit, there are numerous organizations such as

Gleaners, the Wayne State Food Pantry, and The Children's Center, as mentioned before, that

have taken initiative toward the issue of malnutrition. After working first hand within these

organizations, as a group, we have performed further research as to how these organizations and
policies within Detroit have contributed to tackling malnutrition in a positive or negative way.

As college students living/attending school in the heart of Detroit, it is important that us as well

as others living in the community have access to nutrient dense foods. In order to ensure this, we

must advocate for change within the spheres of our government. Within this advocacy proposal, I

will be proposing structural change within our own city of Detroit, change in requirements of our

state schools, and discuss future organizations within Wayne State that will tackle the issue of

child malnutrition.

The main reason for malnutrition within Detroit is due to the lack of access to nutrients

dense food. Within Detroit, there is a population of over 800,000 people, yet only 8

supermarkets, which are discount stores, to provide fruits, vegetables, meat, and essential

nutrient needed by every being (Griffioen). In comparison to this, there are 400 liquor stores and

1,245 fast food restaurants out of the 3,000 food outlets within Detroit (Irimia). Each of these

supermarkets are over 1.1 miles away from the average citizen's house (Irimia). Due to low

income, residents may not have the transportation to get to its destination, resulting in the

purchase of cheap fast food that is closer in location. A solution to this issue would to make

supermarkets more accessible in residential areas. As shown in ​Figure 3​, there are 7 districts

within Detroit: Northwest, North Central, Northeast, East, Central, Southwest, and West, all

containing between 97,000 to 107,000 people within each one (Griffioen). There is no policy

relative to the number of fresh produce stores within Detroit. A proposed policy idea would be to

insert at least one supermarket, such as a Kroger, Meijer, Walmart, or Aldi, within each district

where neighborhoods are densely populated. This would allow resident to have more access to

fresh produce, meat, and higher quality packaged food. Advocating for this proposal would
include reaching out to the Detroit City council and representatives of large food corporations. In

order to persuade these council members and corporations to support this policy, an argument

must be made as to why this policy is needed, the effects of it, and the cost at which it will take

to accomplish. A step in which I have personally taken to advocate for this policy is contacted

the Detroit Health Department, where I was able to speak on the phone with executive Brian

manning. Although he stated that this proposed policy was “much needed” it would be difficult

to execute due to the large amount of money and time needed.

Another factor contributing to malnutrition is the lack of knowledge that one has about

nutrient dense, and safe foods. As shown in Figure 4 the state of Michigan does not require

health classes at the elementary, middle school, or high school level, to inform students about

Foodborne illness, or how to prevent it (Adolescent). By definition, Foodborne illness, is any

illness is any illness resulting from the spoilage or contamination of food (Food Safety). Each

year, 48 million people get sick, 128 are hospitalized, and 3000 die from this illness. Because

Foodborne illness comes from everyday food that we eat such as meat, dairy, eggs, and even

fresh produce, it is necessary that high school, and especially college students be informed of

what foodborne illness is and how to prevent it. As college students and people living within low

income areas, we are looking for the most accessible and cheapest food that we can find, but we

need to ensure that what we are eating is clean and not harmful to our bodies.This also leads

back to having sufficient supermarkets in each district so that each person buying everyday foods

knows they have a reliable source. In order to ensure the education of students on Foodborne

illness prevention, a policy change to the State Level School Health Policy System must make

this illness prevention issue a mandatory subject in health classes. In order to do this, a contact
from the Michigan State level Health Policy System must be reached. Yet again, a proposal must

be presented on why this policy is needed, the effects of it, and the costs.

A way for us as students to decrease malnutrition in Detroit is to create a student

organization that advocates and participates in the support for nutrient dense foods . The

University of Michigan Ann Arbor has an organization called “Student Advocates for Nutrition”

which is ran by undergraduate and graduate students(maizepages). If an organization as such was

created at Wayne State, we would be able to pair up with other organizations in Detroit who have

the same goal. One well-known organization would be the Detroit Policy Council, which is an

education and policy advocacy led by Detroiters(DFPC). Within Detroit Policy Council,

members create local food systems while promoting food security and sovereignty in Detroit

(DFPC ). Within the created organization at Wayne State, students would be able to come

together to create solutions, discover new ways to purchase affordable nutritious foods, and learn

how to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and engage in advocating for necessary policy changes

within the city.

There are multiple pros and cons when it comes to advocacy vs. direct service.

A pro of advocacy is it can lead to a possible policy change, which has long term effects.

Also because a policy is in place, it is easier to attack the problem on a national level, having a

greater effect. Also, because advocacy is indirect, meaning that the desired change does not

occur immediately, there is always room for improvement.The cons of advocacy is that a desired

policy may take a long time to enforce or change. It may also be difficult to persuade officials to

see a point of view. Lastly, there is not always a guarantee that the policy will be made/changed

or even be effective.
 When it comes to benefits of the direct service proposal to expand The W food pantry at

Wayne State University, the pros of this proposal are reaching more students and decreasing

food insecurity in and around Wayne State. This program also works toward the goal of

increasing community involvement and awareness of the need for healthy, nutrient dense foods

that the pantry can provide.

On the flip side, negatively impacting the cause, the cons of the proposal include the fact

that the pantry is a very small program and it would take a significant amount of funding for it to

increase in size, expand in duties, and be able to take on more responsibility in the community.

Also, the pantry it would require more volunteers than are currently used by the pantry, which

may prove difficult to find, especially since the new volunteers must commit to doing more from

the pantry than what has been required of volunteers before. These are the limitations of the

project, but if surpassed, this direct service proposal could be put into great effect, helping more

people combat the risk of malnutrition caused by poverty.

Appendix

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Figure 4:
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