Being vested in our communities is what the soda tax boils down to. The tax proposed on soda and other sugary filled drinks is a way of having the low income community invest in our schools, parks and recreation centers the way we invest in soda and hair weaves. Say what you don't want to invest in our community infrastructure? You don't want to reside in safe productive communities built on community schools, libraries, parks and recreation centers? SAYYYYYYYYYYYY WHat? Community school design can reflect varying visions around outcomes and goals. A community school model may be seen as one piece in a much larger strategy to improve the health and wellbeing of a community. It may be aimed at improving student and parent engagement, or addressing issues of school climate. Many community school models have specific academic goals, such as increasing graduation rates or scores on state tests. The model may even be part of an explicit school improvement or turnaround framework prescribed to chronically low-performing schools. And, again, the approach will depend insignificant part on availability of resources, as well as the will and capacity of potential partners to work across funding and administrative silos.
Research For Action
There are icebergs that need to be addressed in the rebuilding of our communities and the Soda tax supports the resources and supports we need to address those icebergs. The mom and pop stores who have profited for so long on these items may want to invest in other items with the assistance of The Food Trust Corner Store Initiative
In 2004, The Food Trust piloted the Healthy Corner Store Initiative to motivate youth and adults to purchase healthier items through classroom education and direct marketing in the corner stores.
The initiative has grown dramatically since 2010 in partnership with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s Get Healthy Philly initiative, with additional support from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, Representative Dwight Evans, the Philadelphia Department of Commerce, the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation and the Jefferson Center for Urban Health.
The Healthy Corner Store Initiative works to increase the availability and awareness of healthy foods in corner stores in Philadelphia through a multifaceted approach including:
- Increasing store capacity to sell and market healthy items in order to improve healthy options in communities
- Training and offering technical assistance to store owners to provide the skills to make healthy changes profitable
- Marketing healthy messages to youth and adults to encourage healthy eating choices
- Hosting in-store community nutrition education lessons
- Educating youth in schools near targeted corner stores to reinforce healthy messages and provide nutrition education through the Snackin’ Fresh program
- Linking corner store owners to community partners, local farmers and fresh food suppliers to create and sustain healthy corner stores.
- Offering free blood pressure checks and referrals by a Jefferson University health care provider to customers in select corners stores enrolled in the Heart Smarts program. These stores also receive in-store nutrition education lessons which include cooking demonstrations and free taste tests.
In partnership with the Philadelphia Department of Health's Get Healthy Philly initiative, The Food Trust implements the Philadelphia Healthy Corner Store Network in more than 600 corner stores. The Food Trust has expanded the Healthy Corner Store Initiative throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and has consulted with communities across the country to provide technical assistance and training to support similar healthy corner store programs.
The Food Trust also founded and convenes the National Healthy Corner Store Network.
What Partnerships are you creating in your community?
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