Fiscal Note
No fiscal impact will be incurred by the city to update the Food Access Improvement Map.
Title
Accepting updates to the Food Access Improvement Map and authorizing the Madison Food Policy Council to accept future Food Access Improvement Map updates.
Body
WHEREAS, the Food Access Improvement Map was created in 2015 in partnership with Public Health of Madison & Dane County and the City of Madison Planning Department to broadly identify ‘Areas of Focus’ for the Food Access Improvement Project, with an emphasis on Neighborhood Resource Team areas; and,
WHEREAS, areas of ‘low-income/low-access’ are defined by the United States Department of Agriculture as “Low-income census tracts where a significant number or share of residents is more than 1 mile from the nearest supermarket”; and,
WHEREAS, the updated Food Access Improvement Map provides a refined geographic representation of data pertaining to areas with limited food access within the City of Madison; and,
WHEREAS, the Food Access Improvement Map datasets are primarily composed of USDA ERS Food Access Research Atlas data and Neighborhood Indicators Project data; and,
WHEREAS, USDA ERS Food Access Research Atlas data is used to identify Dane County census tracts classified as ‘low-income/low-access’; and,
WHEREAS, Neighborhood Indicators Project data is used to identify City of Madison Census Block Group demographics; and,
WHEREAS, data used in the Food Access Improvement Map is not static, but changes as new food retail outlets arrive and depart over time, with areas seeing improvements and declines in food access depending on those changes; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Madison’s Healthy Retail Access Program uses the Food Access Improvement Map as a guide to allocate resources to grantees within the identified ‘Areas of Focus’,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Food Access Improvement Map will serve as a supplementary decision-making resource for City of Madison-funded food access and food security-related programs; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that staff from the Mayor’s Office, Public Health Madison & Dane County, and the Planning Department will provide informational updates on the Food Access Improvement Map as new data becomes available; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Common Council accepts updates to the Food Access Improvement Map; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the Common Council authorizes the Madison Food Policy Council to accept future updates to the Food Access Improvement Map.