PETITION CLOSED

  • The time period for signing this petition has ended.
Ask Congress to Support Investment in Access to Healthy Foods
  1. Signatures
    274 out of 500
    Petitioning
    1. The U.S. House of Representatives
  2. Created By
    Change.org
About this Petition Petition Letter

A bipartisan group of twenty members of Congress has just introduced a resolution in support of a National Fresh Food Financing Initiative.

More than 27 million people, mostly people with low incomes and people of color, in the United States do not have access to fresh affordable food. The National Fresh Food Financing Initiative would create public-private partnerships devoted to expanding access to grocery stores, farmers markets, and other access programs for fresh foods.

The program would also create new jobs and economic growth in struggling communities. The idea is based on a program is Pennsylvania that has created 4,800 new jobs and brought expanded access to fresh foods to more than 400,000 people.

Now it’s time to do the same thing on a national level. It is good for people’s health, good for creating new jobs, and good for spurring sustainable economic growth. Send a letter to your Representatives asking them to support the National Fresh Food Financing Initiative.

photo: NatalieMaynor

Recent Signatures

Support the National Fresh Food Financing Initiative

Dear Representative,

I am writing to ask you to support the National Fresh Food Financing Initiative (NFFFI), introduced recently as a resolution by Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) and a bi-partisan group of twenty representatives.

The resolution recognizes the potential for a national fresh food financing initiative to provide an effective and economically sustainable solution to the problem of limited access to healthy foods in underserved urban, suburban, and rural low-income communities, while also improving health and stimulating local economic development.

A similar public-private partnership operating in Pennsylvania since 2004 has already resulted in the creation or retention of 4,800 jobs and has provided expanded access to fresh food to more than 400,000 state residents. In 2008, Harvard University named the program one of the most innovative government initiatives in the country.

With hunger and food insecurity spreading rapidly across the country, we need to expand this program onto a national level. It is good for people’s health, good for creating new jobs, and good for spurring sustainable economic growth.

I hope that you will lend your support to this bold and effective idea, particularly when a bill creating the NFFFI is introduced in 2010. We all deserve good jobs and access to fresh affordable food.

Thank you,

[Your name]

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