Food for Life on Syracuse’s South Side

Tarryn L. Simmons, CNY Vision – Syracuse

Finding fresh, nutritious, and affordable foods on the South Side of Syracuse is virtually impossible. Luanne Stevens, a concerned resident, says, “We must start fighting together for what our community needs.” On Thursday, November 19 plans were announced to begin this fight.

The man with a plan
Walt Dixie, the Executive Director of Jubilee Homes of Syracuse, held a meeting at the Southwest Community Center to discuss initial plans to build a neighborhood supermarket on 601 South Avenue in 2010. The project has been coined The Jubilee Homes Neighborhood Supermarket Initiative. This will not be a chain grocery store, but rather a community owned and operated supermarket dependent upon the South Side’s ability to work collaboratively to make it happen.

The last local grocery store, P&C Foods on South Salina Street, shut its doors in February of this year. This has forced many people on the South Side to take long bus rides or expensive taxi cabs just to reach the nearest supermarket. Corner stores are their only alternatives; providing what resident Victoria Coit calls “horrible options that are overpriced and expired.” This neighborhood supermarket initiative will give residents healthier options from local growers and food producers.
Supermarket will bring $$$ to South Side

During the meeting, Dixie emphasized the possible economic impact of the new supermarket. This will include the employment of local residents, fair wages, and continual employee training opportunities. Committees have been established to oversee specific aspects of the neighborhood supermarket initiative. This includes development, design, legal, finance, and community task force committees. Collaborative partners of the initiative include Matthew Discoll (Mayor of Syracuse), Joanne Mahoney (Onondaga County Executive) and a host of other influential leaders.

Jubilee Homes of Syracuse expects to garner financial support from the City of Syracuse but must first prove that the South Side community will support the local supermarket. A coalition of 15 churches and other community organizations will work to get 3,000 residents signed up, free of charge, for the Jubilee Shopper’s Club Card. Dixie says this will provide “additional leverage” in gaining financial backing for the supermarket.

One step at a time
The neighborhood supermarket initiative has an aggressive Action Plan that involves the following four phases:
Phase I – Site Acquisition
Phase II – Pre-Development (acquire property, solicit community support, prepare site layout, obtain land use & building permit)
Phase III – Construction/Renovation (contract for construction, receive occupancy certificate)
Phase IV – Occupancy (hire employees, stock store, property and store management)
Ultimately, the goal of the neighborhood supermarket is to empower the South Side community by guaranteeing access to nutritious foods, providing jobs to residents, improving commercial opportunities and the aesthetic appeal of the area. However, these lofty goals don’t come without some criticism from members of the community.

Food for life on the South Side
As rates of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes continue to soar in the African American community, residents want the supermarket to help reverse these deadly trends. Coit says “a holistic initiative needs be put in place in conjunction with the new supermarket.” Khalid Bey, also a resident of the South Side says “they have to have health conscious people involved [in the development of the supermarket]…and when they start to put out their newsletters to promote the store they need to get information in there to guide people towards a better diet.”

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recently released a report stating that 27% of residents in Onondaga County are obese and 7% have diabetes. These statistics include an overwhelming representation of the African Americans. South Side residents expect the new supermarket to get involved in encouraging healthy nutrition choices in their community.

Plans to move forward
The next meeting will be held at the Southwest Community Center in December to further discuss transforming the empty building on 601 South Avenue into a bustling local supermarket for Syracuse’s South Side. For more information, contact Jubilee Homes of Syracuse at 315-428-0070.
 

COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE

RELATED STORY