- Associated Press - Sunday, December 29, 2019

JACKSON, Tenn (AP) - Every week Jackson Transit Authority bus driver Tony Neely, 60, comes across hundreds of Jacksonians.

One day he might be driving a man to his job at the Kellogg Plant. Another day it might be a mother who’s going to Kroger for groceries. Or it might be an elderly Jacksonian trying to get to a doctor’s appointment.

“Most of the riders are people who’ve either lost their license, can’t drive or don’t have a car,” Neely said. “A lot of them are just trying to get out to the mall, to the grocery store or a dentist and doctor appointment.”

Many of Neely’s and JTA riders are what a United Way of Tennessee report would call ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained and Employed) or worse. These households work – sometimes multiple jobs – but do not earn enough money to afford necessities like a car.

Nearly one in two Jacksonians fall into this category, just one flat tire away from being in poverty, according to the report.

The Jackson Sun worked in conjunction with the United Way of West Tennessee to examine what the report means for Jackson in this four-part series. Part four focuses on food deserts and the economic concentration of ALICE families in Jackson.

’Jackson’s food desert problem’

All of Jackson’s 38301 zip code is a food desert, where at least one-third of the area lives at least half a mile away from a grocery store. Nearly two-thirds of those in ALICE or poverty in Jackson live in the 38301 area.

The United States Department of Agriculture defines food deserts based on an area’s average income and a lack of nearby grocery stores or other places with healthy, affordable food.

The definition assumes that in a lower-income area a household is less likely to have access to a car. The farther away a grocery store is, the less likely it is that someone from that household can walk to the store. Instead, they’re likely to turn to alternative - often less healthy - food options at local convenience stores or gas stations.

“When we think about the layout of Jackson and start to focus on the areas without access to healthy affordable food, downtown and East Jackson are definitely that,” United Way President/CEO Matt Marshall said.

In East Jackson, the food desert problem is severe. There are no grocery stores in the traditional East Jackson area. From some points in East Jackson, the nearest grocery store is three miles away.

Grocery stores line the edges of East Jackson. There is a Kroger at North Parkway, Food Giant off exit 85 at Interstate 40 and a Food Rite off Chester Street.

Grubb’s Grocery, a market offering mainly organic options, is the only grocery store in the downtown area. Marshall said it doesn’t qualify as an affordable place to buy food because of its comparatively high prices.

‘Kids in ALICE and poverty are hurt the most by lack of food options’

Reflected in this lack of access to healthy foods for ALICE families is the Jackson-Madison County School System’s free breakfast and lunch. Every student in JMCSS receives a free meal option because over 80% of JMCSS students qualify for free meals.

“For most kids in Jackson, the most nutritious meal (they eat) is that breakfast or lunch meal they got a school,” Marshall said.

During the summer, the lack of access to nearby healthy food can become a problem. Part of defining a food desert is a lack of transportation to grocery stores and places to eat that aren’t within walking distance.

“When families and kids live in food deserts, they naturally turn to convenience stores or places with less quality food,” Marshall said.

Organizations like RIFA step in to offer backpack lunches for kids for days they aren’t in school. The Snack Backpack program feeds more than 1,000 children on Saturdays and Sundays for 42 weeks of the year, according to RIFA’s website. But the root of the problem remains: families in Jackson’s food desert still lack access to healthy foods.

The Jackson Transit Authority tries to bridge this gap by providing transportation to places with food, but it only runs to each stop every hour.

The lack of public transit isn’t confined to Jackson. In the state of Tennessee, there are no mass transit systems, making it nearly impossible to survive as a family without a car, according to the ALICE report.

‘Jackson’s transportation problem ’

Transportation and access to a car are critical to ALICE families, according to the United Way report. Most ALICE families need a car to get to work, the grocery store and in some instances, to take children to school and daycare.

“Most people don’t work an 8 to 2:30 or 3 job like most Pre-K programs run,” Olivia Abernathy, Family Advocate at Hands Up! Preschool, said. “Families just don’t have the resources to be able to pick up a kid at 3:30, get them there at 8 and still work a full-time job.”

To survive in Madison County an ALICE family has to spend $322 on transportation costs (including a car payment, car insurance, gas, and repairs). The average cost for a small used car is $295 per month.

The only other option for families that can’t afford a car is the bus system, which can be confusing, requires impeccable timing and often involves multiple transfers.

Kevin Womack, 60, takes the bus once a week. He said using the Jackson transit buses involves creating a precisely-timed system.

“The bus is usually good, but you have to time it right or you could be waiting for a while,” he said.

When Womack plans to go to Walmart to get his groceries, he knows he has either 20 minutes or an hour and 20 minutes. What bus he makes determines the course of the rest of his day.

‘Jackson recognizes the problem, but not always the people’

In 2009, the city of Jackson created the Community Redevelopment Agency to address the deterioration of its midtown, downtown and East Jackson areas.

By forming the CRA, the city recognized that businesses were leaving these areas and further exacerbating the cycle of poverty. The ALICE report explores the human impacts of what CRA recognized a decade ago.

“One of the things that has become hard to overcome is the perception of blight,” Marshall said. “To change this, it’s about investing resources in these areas. It’s about valuing a downtown area, the businesses, and the people. That’s how we need to look at it in Jackson for the long-term.”

This is the area where Jackson is changing. Jackson Mayor Scott Conger recently created an anti-poverty task force that plans to address many of the problems referenced in the ALICE report.

Recently, Conger gave the task force a simple request to look into mobile farmer’s markets to address the food desert problem.

Conger explained it as a way to bring healthy, affordable food into low-income areas around the city. He said these mobile groceries need to accept SNAP/EBT cards, so ALICE families and those in poverty can access the stores.

Marshall, the chairman of the task force, said things like mobile farmer’s markets are some of the first steps the city needs to take towards helping families that are living paycheck to paycheck.

“The ALICE data is sobering,” he said. “But by acknowledging it we begin to change the conversation and hopefully begin to tackle the issues together.”

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