Food Apartheid Identification

This project intended to determine where food apartheid exists in Durham County. These areas were evaluated using their distance to grocery stores, median income, percentage of people under the federal poverty line, and the number of people who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). A layer was created for each of these variables, sourced from 2021-2023 Census data at the block level and block group level. The data was then compiled in a way that the number of households within each block group was counted. A layer of all grocery stores and their service areas were also created.

2023 Median Household Income

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Residents of low-income neighborhoods are greatly affected by low access to healthy food options. They must often resort to either fast food options (which are associated with the long-term burden of healthcare costs from an unhealthy diet) or buying groceries from corner stores where food prices are higher.

The areas in red centrally located in Downtown Durham has the lowest median income in the area with a median income level less than $40,000 a year, some of the neighborhoods in this classification are Duke Park, Wellons Village, Edgemont, Old East Durham. Moving away from the central downtown area orange and yellow classifications become more prevalent. The light blue and dark blue areas are mostly out of the central downtown area except for a few neighborhoods such as Forest Hills, Rockwood, Preston Hills, and a few others. Most of the locations in blue have a higher median income which translates to a higher mobility via transportation and access to food.

2021 Number of HouseHolds that receive Food Stamps or (SNAP) program benefits

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Suppemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients living in areas impacted by food apartheid are 11 times more likely to receive subsidized meals. The areas with larger circles are locations with a higher percentage of the population receiving SNAP, you can click on the circles to see a pop-up indicating the percentage's for each block group.

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Like median income, the number of households under the poverty level is important in identifying which areas have the highest level of need when it comes to food access. These communities may rely on government assistance for food, and these benefits can often be stretched further at proper supermarkets than at corner stores with inflated prices.

Food Accessibility Within Durham City limits

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It should be noted, this analysis is limited to the city boundaries of Durham. However, 87.589% or 291,928 of our estimated 333,292 population as of 2023 lives within the city limits. A layer of all grocery stores and their service areas were created for network distances of 0.5, 0.75, and 1 mile using Network Analyst in ArcGIS Pro. Everything further than 1 mile is not considered to be within safe walking distance with perishable foods. The ability to walk to a grocery store is important when identifying food apartheid because many people may not have vehicles for transportation and cannot afford the extra cost of using public transportation in order to buy groceries.

The map is broken up into four major categories. There are a lot of locations in areas with lower median income neighborhoods in the downtown area that have access to a grocery store within 0.5 miles such as Edgemont, Morehead Hill, Southside/St. Teresa, Old West Durham as well as many others. Near Old North Durham, and the Trinity Park region there is a pocket with very limited food accessibility mostly in the orange and red sectors which indicate that there is a mile or more of distance between these residents and a grocery store. Other areas of concern are residential locations such as Croasdaile in North West Durham, Northeast Hills and other neighborhoods in that immediate vicinity, and large portions of residential southern sections of Durham that have no groceries stores within 1 mile.

This graph shows the number of blocks (3,709) in the City of Durham based on their proximity to a grocery store, as you can see 49.77% of the blocks are greater than 1 mile. While 22.43% are within 0.5, 14.64% are within 0.75 of a mile and 13.15% are within 1 mile of a grocery store.

Community Assets

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There are 61 Food Pantries in Durham according to  End Hunger Durham . They are highlighted on the map as blue dots; the spatial layout of these locations complement already existing grocery infrastructure and fill in some of the holes that present. Of those 62 food pantries 20 (32.258%) of those fall outside of the areas that are not within 1 mile of a grocery store. This provides an alternative to many families that are in need but are unable to consistently get groceries on a weekly basis.

The purple dots are locations for no cost meals for kids, we have over 32 locations in Durham providing these services. Further information can be found on the  DPS website located here .

Community Assets Continued

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The bus system in Durham follows most major roadways and intersects with multiple commercial hubs located throughout Durham. The robust bus system allows its users to get around the city effectively. Each of the bus symbols shown here have a number inside them this number indicates that each of these general vicinities. The more you scroll in the smaller the clusters get. Using the bussing system in Durham is a potential way to help mitigate the distances that would need to be traveled by foot between areas of food apartheid.