Denver's 'Healthy Corner Store Initiative' Up and Running

Colleen O'Connor reports on the Healthy Corner Store Initiative, a Denver pilot program that has already been implemented at five corner stores. The program launched in August, led by the city and county of Denver's Department of Environmental Health, funded by a grant of more than $327,000 from the Colorado Health Foundation.

According to O'Connor, "[the] plan is to implement the economic-development model in 50 corner stores throughout these neighborhoods over the next three years, helping the small-business owners by providing technical assistance to help carry more healthy products while promoting positive messages about nutritious foods in their stores. Other organizations in the neighborhood also offer classes in nutrition and healthy cooking." The Denver Healthy Corner Store Initiative is based on the model provided by the Philadelphia Healthy Corner Store Initiative.

The Healthy Corner Store Initiative is part of a larger effort to address the city's food deserts. Earlier this month, for instance, the "Denver Office of Economic Development announced help for the Westwood neighborhood, also a food desert, with a $1.2 million performance-based loan to the nonprofit Re:Vision for development of a food cooperative."