Equity
5 articles
Who Gets Left Behind: Transit Access and Race in California
Majority-minority tracts have shorter distances to grocery stores (0.72 vs. 0.85 miles) but higher mobility desert rates (13.2% vs. 11.1%). Stores are closer, but transit access to reach them is worse. This disparity persists after controlling for income and density.
Better Access, Higher Vulnerability: What 9,033 California Tracts Reveal
The USDA's food desert framework assumes that distance to grocery stores is a primary barrier to food access.[1] Federal policy has directed resources toward bringing stores closer to underserved communities, from the Healthy Food Financing Initiative to state-level incentive programs.[2] Our earlier analysis of 7 Bay Area and major metro counties suggested this framing may be backwards: the most vulnerable communities already had closer stores, not farther ones. But that finding was limited to
The Widening Gap: Why Some Neighborhoods Are Falling Behind
County-wide SNAP rates rose 2 points over four years. But what happens when we look at neighborhoods instead of the whole county? A more complex picture emerges.
The Food Security Gap: How COVID Widened Inequality
County-wide SNAP participation stayed flat during the pandemic. But a census tract analysis of 408 neighborhoods reveals what aggregate data hides: food insecurity worsened in the most vulnerable communities while improving elsewhere, widening the inequality gap by 49%.
Beyond Demographics: How Neighborhood-Level Intersections Predict Food Security Vulnerability
When measuring neighborhood food security vulnerability, single demographic factors don't tell the full story. We built and validated an index that shows how intersecting identities create compounding risk.