Kansas Health Institute | Information For Policy Makers. Health for Kansans.

The Obama administration today released details of an initiative aimed at bringing grocery stores and healthy foods within reach of people living in underserved areas.

The $400 million initiative was announced in Philadelphia by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack appearing with First Lady Michelle Obama, who recently launched the Let's Move! campaign, which is aimed at curbing childhood obesity.

The initiative includes the departments of treasury, agriculture, and health and human services and is aimed at eliminating so-called "food deserts," which generally are found in economically distressed areas that have fast food restaurants and convenience stores but little or no access to fresh produce and other healthy foods.

Officials said lack of healthy, affordable food options leads to higher levels of obesity and other diet-related diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

USDA recently launched a Food Environment Atlas. The online tool allows for identification of counties where, for example, more than 40 percent of residents have low incomes and live more than one mile from a grocery store.

Nationwide, USDA estimates that 23.5 million people, including 6.5 million children, live in low-income areas more than a mile from a supermarket.

Of the 23.5 million, 11.5 million are low-income individuals in households with incomes at or below 200 percent of the poverty line. Of the 2.3 million people living in low-income rural areas that are more than 10 miles from a supermarket, 1.1 million are low-income.

Through the initiative, more than $400 million in financial and technical assistance will be available to community development financial institutions, other nonprofits, and businesses with strategies for addressing community food needs.

Officials said a mix of federal tax credits, below-market rate loans, loan guarantees and grants to attract private sector capital would more than double the $400 million.

Federal funds would support projects ranging from construction or expansion of a grocery store to smaller-scale improvements such as placing refrigerated units stocked with fresh produce in convenience stores.

"Encouraging people to choose fresh, nutritious food is important," said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "But to achieve that goal that kind of food must be available and in far too many parts of our country - both urban and rural communities - that's not the case.