Earlier this month, the Greater Cleveland Food Bank held a press conference at its new community resource center to announce how it plans to address food injustice and eliminate food security in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio communities. Kristin Warzocha, President and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank (GCFB), stated the Community Resource Center, at 15500 S. Waterloo Road in South Collinwood, is the “first of three” designed to provide wrap-around services to address the food and social barriers preventing some Cleveland residents from leading productive, healthy, and sustainable lives.
The highlights of the announcements ranged from Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb announcing the addition of a “Food Justice Czar” to his staff, to the opening of a Meijer grocery store in the Fairfax community, a partnership with Dave’s Supermarket, and a $10.5 million contribution to the GCFB over the next five years from the Cleveland Clinic. Their goals are to not only eliminate food insecurity of Cleveland residents, which would ultimately lead to saving lives, but also to committing to offering healthy, quality food choices and wrap-around services for families.
The center includes a full-service grocery store and houses 15 nonprofit organizations: MetroHealth, Shoes and Clothes for Kids, Legal Aid Society, Diaper Bank of Greater Cleveland, College Now, Cuyahoga Community College, Ohio Means Jobs, Cleveland Housing Network, Benjamin Rose, Towards Employment, Future Plans, United Way of Greater Cleveland, MAGNET, Family Connections, and Jobs and Family Services, as well as a demonstration kitchen to teach residents how to prepare healthy meals.
The center is open Monday, Tuesday and Friday from 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday from 8:30 a.m.–7 p.m., and the second and fourth Saturdays of the month from 8:30 a.m.–12 p.m.
Cleveland leaders commit to addressing food injustice
Representatives from the GCFB, Mayor Bibb and leaders in the healthcare industry shared how the Community Resource Center is the catalyst for eliminating food injustice and insecurity in Northeast Ohio. One of Mayor Bibb’s targets is for Cleveland to be the model for other major urban cities as a “15-minute city.” His focus is to ensure that accessibility to a quality grocery store within a 15-minute walk is feasible for the young and the old. To address the food desert in the Fairfax community — a community that has not had a grocery store in over 40 years, according to Mayor Bibb — a new Meijer grocery store will open in January 2024.
The messaging during the press conference around building quality food options was echoed by the healthcare leaders: eliminating food and social inequities and creating accessible pathways for Cleveland residents to enjoy healthy, quality food promotes healthy lifestyles. These leaders implied that when people have access to healthy food options, diseases like hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease are more likely to decline.
Dr. Olusegun Ishmael, Chief Operating Officer of MetroHealth said that, “Without proper nutrition, people’s blood pressure is going to rise. People are more likely to develop diabetes, heart disease, and are more likely to be diagnosed with depression and anxiety.”
The partnership and collaboration of the healthcare giants in Northeast Ohio is critical to the GCFB’s efforts to eradicate food inequities and insecurity. MetroHealth has a long history of working with the GCFB to, “Address the social drivers of health to work upstream to prevent illness,” said Dr. Ishmael. He also stated that, “The GCFB must do more than fill empty stomachs, we must help fulfill dreams, because when dreams come true for one of us, it comes true for all of us.”
University Hospitals also has a legacy of recognizing that our most vulnerable and underserved are those that are “most worthy,” said the hospital system’s CEO, Dr. Cliff A. Megerian, CEO. Their commitment to serve is proven through the Food for Life Market which provides free food and consultations with dietitians at the UH Otis Moss Jr. Health Center in Fairfax and other Northeast Ohio communities, and the Community Wellness Centers in Glenville and Bedford.
Dr. Megerian said, “… UH made community health investments promoting health equity as a key aspect of our strategic plan that includes putting in place programs to promote food activity in addressing food insecurity in the region with the opening of our first UHF Food for Life market in the Fairfax neighborhood.”
Sandra Golden previewed the opening of the Community Resource Center for The Land in October.
For more information on the Greater Cleveland Food Bank’s efforts to reduce food insecurity, visit its website. To apply for food assistance, call the helpline at 216-738-2067. For more information on the Community Resource Center, click here.
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