Long Beach is seeking a partner to roll out a healthy, produce-filled vehicle in 2024 that will frequent areas that don’t have easy access to a supermarket.
The Mobile Healthy Food Market (MHFM) will likely prioritize the areas of North and Central Long Beach. The City has identified these areas as being in the lower 50% of the Healthy Place Index according to the U.S. Census.
As the cost of food rises, coupled with low wages, unemployment and business closures due to the pandemic, many residents may be struggling to afford healthy foods. Increasing access to fresh foods and vegetables for food deserts is part of Long Beach’s Racial and Reconciliation Initiative passed in 2020.
The chosen vendor for the MHFM will aim to provide fruits and vegetables at or below the cost of “large retail stores” as well as connecting residents to other services and resources that increase health. The specific foods and resources provided will be determined by the vendor.
Long Beach is offering a maximum of $750,000 to the chosen vendor of the one-year pilot program, which will be funded with Long Beach Recovery Act dollars. Recovery Act funds are from the federal government to help communities recover from the effects of COVID-19.
According to 2015 data from USDA’s Economic Research Service Atlas, Central and North Long Beach are considered food deserts, meaning the residents living there have limited access to affordable and healthy produce.
The exact locations, schedule and decisions on how the MHFM will function will be up to the chosen vendor, according to the Health Department’s Public Affairs Officer Jennifer Rice Epstein.
Interested vendors can apply through the Long Beach Buys website by 11 a.m. on Dec. 5. The City has also released an instructional video about the application and registration process.
