Students map ‘food deserts’
A team of students in the Environmental and Spatial Technologies program at Hot Springs World Class High School is helping the city identify local “food deserts.”
Kayla Bradbury, with the Hot Springs Nutrition Education Committee, reached out to EAST facilitator Cassandra Dixon at the start of the school year for assistance on the project. The committee and the school are working on the project in partnership with the Growing Healthy Communities initiative.
Juniors Sam Capps and Korbin Cottrell and sophomore Kason Fugate have worked since August to plot locations for
fresh produce throughout the city in relation to residents and other food vendors. The city’s previous map had become outdated.
“We mapped out all of the fast food restaurants, places with produce, convenience stores and bus stops all around Hot Springs inside the city limits,” Fugate said. “We put a 1-mile radius around places with produce to show the walking distance.”
The United States Department of Agriculture defines food deserts as “vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables and other healthful whole foods, usually found in impoverished areas.” Food deserts are mainly the result of a lack of grocery stores, farmers markets and healthy food providers.
“The hope is that by identifying these areas residents in the city can plan out ways in advance to access their nearest healthy food vendor,” Bradbury said. “The map helps in this capacity by showing each store’s information and the quickest public transportation routes to and from that vicinity.”
An area of at least 500 people or at least 33 percent of the Census tract’s population that reside more than 1 mile from a supermarket or large grocery store is classified as a “low-access community.” The classification is extended out to a distance of more than 10 miles for rural Census tracts.
Fugate was recruited by the group for his experience using ArcGIS software. The students were able to plot the locations and illustrate the 1-mile radius around each provider of fresh produce.
“The map displays the availability of different types of food across the entire city, with the ultimate goal being to quickly see where healthy food options exist in and around Hot Springs and, importantly, where they do not,” Bradbury said.
Multiple areas throughout the city classify as food deserts. Sections of the population in the southwest, southeast, northeast, north and even the center of Hot Springs live more than a mile from produce providers.
“Whenever I first started, I did not think there were many places in Hot Springs that did not have produce,” Cottrell said. “There obviously is a lot of places that do not have fresh produce.”
Growing Healthy Communities is an initiative of the Arkansas Coalition for Obesity Prevention. According to the coalition’s website, it has helped Arkansas communities since 2009 “build capacity to reduce obesity by increasing access to physical activity and healthy foods, as well as implementing environmental and policy changes that support healthy living.”
“Another goal is to use the map to aid in potential grant funding for ‘pop-up’ farmers markets in food deserts across Hot Springs,” Bradbury said. “Once completed, the map will be added to the city of Hot Springs website to serve as a vital resource for our community.”
Bradbury said the students “have done an outstanding job” on the project. They enhanced the digital map to include information about the plotted points.
“We went around and we took pictures of every single place so we can turn it into a story map,” Capps said. “It will be more presentable and user-friendly.”
All of the various bus routes and commercial locations are color-coded on the map. Users can view the appearance, hours, address, phone number and directions for each business.
The students said the digital map is already complete and they intend to finish the story map before the 21st annual EAST Conference next month. They said they will present their project during the event at the Hot Springs Convention Center. The exhibit hall in Halls A-D will be open for free to visitors March 15-16.