Access to affordable, healthy, and culturally meaningful food is essential for community health and wellbeing. Extreme spatial disparities in the food retail environment in the city of Buffalo make it difficult for residents to eat well. Spatial disparities in the food environment are a manifestation of historic spatial racial and economic segregation in the city, trends within the food industry and international trade agreements, and short-sighted public policy by local, state, and federal governments.
The Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP), a community organization in Buffalo, NY, aims to reduce spatial food disparities by operating a mobile fresh produce market, one of the earliest mobile market initiatives in Buffalo, NY. In 2007, MAP began by delivering produce
to a Senior Center on the West Side, and purchased its first truck in 2009. Today MAP’s mobile market travels to more than a dozen sites across the city, selling fresh, regionally grown produce to residents living in neighborhoods with limited access to retail food destinations. MAP continually strives to improve its operations and services to improve food equity in Buffalo. To that end, MAP and its long-time research partner University at Buffalo Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab co-organized a student practicum in
partnership with the Department of Urban and Regional Planning to assess the Mobile Market’s spatial impact.
to a Senior Center on the West Side, and purchased its first truck in 2009. Today MAP’s mobile market travels to more than a dozen sites across the city, selling fresh, regionally grown produce to residents living in neighborhoods with limited access to retail food destinations. MAP continually strives to improve its operations and services to improve food equity in Buffalo. To that end, MAP and its long-time research partner University at Buffalo Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab co-organized a student practicum in
partnership with the Department of Urban and Regional Planning to assess the Mobile Market’s spatial impact.
The goals of the Fall 2024 practicum were to analyze the spatial impact of MAP’s mobile market on reducing inequities in the food retail environment, and help inform MAP’s future programming.
Collaborators:
Dyllan Amato, Joe Brown, Megan Cleary Davison, Austin Epp, Ken Glover Sr, Paul Alejandro Grogan, Sean Kahabka, Camden Lindsey, Nirmiti Pandit, Christian Ross Powell, Mason Duquesne, Vicky Robinson, Fernando Martin Sanchez, Liliana Claire Visca, and Luke West.
Dyllan Amato, Joe Brown, Megan Cleary Davison, Austin Epp, Ken Glover Sr, Paul Alejandro Grogan, Sean Kahabka, Camden Lindsey, Nirmiti Pandit, Christian Ross Powell, Mason Duquesne, Vicky Robinson, Fernando Martin Sanchez, Liliana Claire Visca, and Luke West.
ADVISORS AND SUPPORTERS
MAP staff:
Benjamin Bachman, Emily Gonzalez, Sarah Klawinski,Joe Kurtz, Gabriel Montone, Katie Pfohl, Diane Picard, Tabitha Wechter
Benjamin Bachman, Emily Gonzalez, Sarah Klawinski,Joe Kurtz, Gabriel Montone, Katie Pfohl, Diane Picard, Tabitha Wechter
UB instructors:
Kahad Adamu and Samina Raja (professor)
Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab:
Carlos Calderon Jr, Faithwin Gbadamosi, Kate Hays, Samina Raja
Kahad Adamu and Samina Raja (professor)
Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab:
Carlos Calderon Jr, Faithwin Gbadamosi, Kate Hays, Samina Raja
