MetroFuture would enhance the region’s health and food security by bringing new resources to currently underserved communities with less access to healthy food. Urban neighborhoods would have more supermarkets, produce vendors, and farmers markets. Students would have more nutritious choices at school, and residents who find it hard to afford healthy food would more fully utilize public assistance. Improved diets will lead to lower rates of obesity and better health, increasing productivity and lowering medical costs. MetroFuture supports the objectives of the Massachusetts Partnership for Healthy Weight, which has adopted the national goal that 95% of the region’s children and 60% of adults will be at a healthy weight by 2010. Currently, 51% of residents in the MAPC region are overweight (35%) or obese (16%), and 70% do not eat the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables. As of 2002, Massachusetts had the lowest Food Stamp participation rate of any state in the country; only 39% of eligible persons received food stamps. Based on actual food costs in the City of Boston, a standard “market basket” of food staples costs $27 more than the maximum monthly Food Stamp benefit, and an alternative, healthier “market basket” costs $148 more. Urban residents also have less access to healthy food because the smaller stores more common in urban areas feature fewer healthful foods than larger stores and supermarkets.

Objectives:

• In each Community Type, 95% of children and more than 60% of adults will be at a healthy weight.
• An increasing proportion of the region’s residents will eat the recommended number of fruits and vegetables per day.
• All children that qualify will receive school meals.
• The nutritional quality of school meals will improve.