Augusta could be a half-million dollars closer to helping establish a grocery store in one of the city’s many food deserts.
The faith-based nonprofit T.D. Jakes Foundation, collaborating with banker Wells Fargo, announced Thursday that a $500,000 donation to the Community Foundation of the CSRA is targeted to “fund the introduction and development of a grocer” in Augusta’s Laney-Walker neighborhood, the Jakes Foundation said in a prepared statement.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Access Research Atlas, 26 Census tracts comprising about half of Richmond County are considered either food deserts or food swamps. That means at least one-third of people in urban areas are at least a mile from the nearest grocery store, and in rural areas 10 miles.
The USDA defines a food desert as a neighborhood with poor access to affordable, healthy meals. Food swamps have fast-food places, convenience stores and liquor stores, but few, if any, healthy-food options.
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