Exploring Stories of Innovation is a series of short articles that explore how local governments from across the United States are strengthening their community’s food system through planning and policy. Beginning in 2012, Growing Food Connections (GFC) conducted a national scan and identified 299 local governments across the United States that are developing and implementing a range of innovative plans, public programs, regulations, laws, financial investments and other policies to strengthen the food system. GFC conducted exploratory telephone interviews with 20 of these local governments. This series highlights some of the unique planning and policy strategies used by some of these urban and rural local governments to enhance community food security while ensuring sustainable and economically viable agriculture and food production.

The eight Get Healthy Philly (GHP) markets—opened between 2010 and 2011 in partnership with the Department of Public Health—and The Food Trust’s other farmers’ markets continue to grow along various measures of success: SNAP sales, Philly Food Bucks redemptions, customer and farmer survey data, WIC and Senior FMNP sales, customer counts, and number of operating market days. This report summarizes and evaluates the impact, reach and key lessons learned from the 2013 farmers’ market season and the fourth season of the Philly Food Bucks program.

New York City’s Green Cart initiative has increased access to healthy food in otherwise underserved high-density and low-income neighborhoods, influenced customers’ consumption of fruits and vegetables, and created jobs for immigrant entrepreneurs, according to researchers at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). The researchers suggest the program can and should be replicated in urban areas across the country.

Common Market is a regional food hub whose mission is to increase the availability of local, sustainably grown farm food throughout Philadelphia and surrounding areas. This case study provides an in-depth look at Common Market's growth and development, including efforts to build financial sustainability. 

Walk Score announced the ranking of the best and worst U.S. cities for access to food. The ranking measures access to healthy food by calculating the percent of people in a city who can walk to a grocery store in 5 minutes.

Northgate Markets, a family-owned grocer with 34 locations in Southern California, responded to Inglewood residents’ request for better access to healthy food.  Located southwest of Los Angeles, Inglewood is a diverse community, with large African American and Latino populations.  Coming out of the Great Recession, the Inglewood community has continued to face economic hardships, with 21 percent of the population living below the poverty level, compared to 14 percent statewide. With funding from the California FreshWorks Fund (CAFWF), Northgate was able to expand and open 30,000 square feet of new grocery retail, improving food access for 105,000 nearby residents. Northgate also serves as a critical economic anchor for the area, creating 125 new jobs, most of which are held by local residents.

The reopening of Circle Food Store in New Orleans is part of the city's commitment to improve the business and economic infrastructure of the Seventh Ward after the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina.  A predominately African American, low- to moderate-income community, many residents struggle to access healthy food. With funding from the New Orleans Fresh Food Retailer Initiative (FFRI) along with an Economic Development Fund grant from the city and a loan from the Louisiana Office of Community Development, Circle Food Store owner Dwayne Boudreaux was able to finance the reopening and renovation of Circle Foods and help create 65 full- and part-time jobs for the community with 95 percent of these positions filled by local residents.

Mariposa Food Co-op operates as a full-service, cooperatively-owned and -operated grocery store in Philadelphia, PA. With more than 1,500 members they are active leaders in the cooperative movement. They currently employ 45 people, making them one of the neighborhood’s largest employers. This profile highlights the Co-op's impact on the local community and the funding and financing behind their recent expansion.