In parts of South Dallas and Oak Cliff, where diabetes and stroke rates are particularly high, the absence of grocery stores is more than an annoyance — it’s an issue of life and death.
Dallas is a rich city in many respects. We have shining skyscrapers and active, colorful communities. But in some neighborhoods, people are unable to find fresh fruits, vegetables and nutritious foods at a manageable distance from their homes. Such areas are called food deserts — where full-service grocery stores are scarce or absent entirely, forcing families to rely on fast-food restaurants, convenience stores or dollar stores that provide processed, packaged foods high in sodium, sugar and harmful fats.
The impact is catastrophic. The Dallas County Community Health Needs Assessment published in 2023 found that people living in food deserts have a much higher likelihood of suffering from chronic illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension and stroke. Unsurprisingly, the assessment identified that the ZIP codes in Dallas that have the highest rates of these illnesses, including 75216 and 75217, are some of the city’s worst food deserts.
When people rely on unhealthy, ultra-processed foods, their bodies take a hit. This is not a public health issue only; this is a social justice issue.
The human toll of food deserts
I’ve talked to residents in these communities who feel stuck. They want to make better choices for themselves and their families, but when they can’t access fresh food, that choice is robbed of them.
Most don’t have cars and are dependent on public transportation, so a simple grocery run becomes an hour-long ordeal. Try lugging bags of fresh produce, milk and proteins on a bus with two kids. It’s tiring, and for many, it’s just not possible.
That’s when they seek out whatever is within easy reach — the gas-station snack aisle or the dollar menu at the local fast-food chain.
I know a woman, Maria, a single mother of three who lives in South Dallas. She told me that her mother had died from diabetes-related complications, and now she fears for her own health. She wants to prepare healthful meals but the closest grocery store is more than five miles from her home. Instead, she shops at a corner store, where fresh fruits and vegetables aren’t sold or are too expensive to buy. It’s a cycle that repeats itself, ensnaring families with poor health outcomes for generations.
Social and economic effects
Food deserts extract financial and social value from our city. Diabetes and strokes are often their companions, bringing high health care costs, lost productivity and more strain on all-too-burdened hospitals and clinics. When entire communities are afflicted with preventable disease, it touches us all.
Businesses can’t thrive in unhealthy communities, and schools have poor attendance rates due to preventable health problems, which the city pays for.
One reason often cited for why grocery stores don’t move into these neighborhoods is that they’re not profitable. But that’s a lack of imagination and commitment. Other cities have figured out how to incentivize grocery chains to come to underserved neighborhoods with tax breaks, grants or public-private partnerships. It’s not an impossible task, only one that takes leadership and the will to do something.
Closing food deserts in Dallas isn’t simply about opening grocery stores, though that’s certainly part of it. It’s about rethinking food access across the board. Community gardens, mobile farmers markets and urban agriculture initiatives can help.
City leaders should do the right thing. We need incentives for grocery chains to invest in underserved areas, funds to support local food co-ops and investment in transportation solutions for those without a car, to name just a few.
Food is a basic human need, and no child in Dallas should go to bed hungry or sick because his or her ZIP code doesn’t have a grocery store. If we want to claim to be a society that values health, opportunity and equality, addressing food deserts must land near the top of our agenda. The longer we delay, the more people suffer.
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