County Planning recently completed work on a countywide Supermarket Assessment with the Cuyahoga County Board of Health under its Creating Healthy Communities (CHC) program. Results and recommendations from the study are posted on the Board of Health website.

The study began with a detailed inventory of approximately 180 supermarkets in and around Cuyahoga County. County Planning staff was then able to identify low-income census blocks that are more than a half-mile from their nearest supermarket. Those census blocks also contained a wealth of socio-economic and health outcome indicators which, altogether, provide a detailed picture of food deserts in Cuyahoga County.

County Planning developed an interactive map of food deserts, together with static maps for 28 focus areas throughout the County. They are also available on the Board of Health’s website.

An earlier phase of this year’s CHC work produced detailed community profiles for each of the County’s 59 communities and each of the City of Cleveland’s 34 Statistical Planning Areas.

County Planning staff presented their findings as part of a Listening Session to interested stakeholders this past October, as well as at the Northeast Ohio GIS Symposium this past August.

In 2018, County Planning will continue to partner with the Board of Health on supermarket access. County Planning is developing methods that will allow for quarterly updates to the supermarket landscape, including store opening and closure scenarios, as needed.

Media coverage

• As many as 450,000 people in the county live in food deserts; group wants to increase access to supermarkets
  The Plain Dealer (October 4, 2017)
• Thousands in Cuyahoga County Don’t Have Easy Access to Healthy Food
  WKSU (October 6, 2017)
• 450,000 People Live in Food Deserts in the Cleveland Area
  Planetizen (October 6, 2017)