The most routine choice families make is what they eat. For an estimated 25 million Americans, that choice is limited because of inadequate access to healthy food options in their neighborhoods.

Improving the food landscape in underserved communities provides working families with better access to a wider variety of quality, affordable foods. Supermarkets also create jobs and serve as neighborhood retail anchors, stimulating additional investment. Our expertise in developing supermarket financing programs and identifying areas with inadequate access makes us the leading national resource for policymakers and peers seeking to establish similar programs.

The Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative (FFFI), our first formal initiative around food access, is a nationally recognized success. We are involved in replications in New Jersey, New York, Louisiana and California. First Lady Michelle Obama visited Philadelphia earlier this year to announce improving access to healthy foods as one of the cornerstones of her anti-obesity program. The President has also proposed $345 million in the 2011 federal budget for a Healthy Food Financing Initiative, a program that draws from TRF’s national data analysis and FFFI experience.