LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders recognized four recipients Arkansas Minority Health Commission’s (AMHC) Food Desert Elimination grant program at a special ceremony alongside the Department of Health.
“Every Arkansan deserves to have healthy, affordable food available in their neighborhood,” said Governor Sanders.“I’ve tasked my administration with combatting food insecurity and was proud to sign our state up for the Summer EBT program, which fills critical gaps for households during the summer months. These grants will help us address Arkansas’ food deserts and fight food insecurity, one of my administration’s top goals.”
The following groups received grants today:
- City of Pine Bluff: Funds will be used to implement a plan to investigate the socioeconomic factors influencing food deserts in the area.
- Innovative Community Concepts (Pulaski County): Funds will be used to implement a series of mobile market "pop-up" shops to assess the operational feasibility and opinions of consumers of a mobile grocery unit. The mobile market pop-ups will be hosted in the four Little Rock council districts (1, 2, 6, and 7) identified as food deserts in the Little Rock Food Desert Task Force report.
- McElroy House (Yell County): Funds will be used to develop a Seed Sharing and Seed Tending program. McElroy House will partner with a local food pantry, Sharing and Caring, to build raised bed gardens and expand existing bilingual gardening models. They will also create and distribute a bilingual "local foods calendar" of events to inform locals about fairs, festivals, and other events with locally-grown produce available.
- UA Division of Agriculture (Jefferson County): Funds will be used to grow and strengthen community gardens located in food deserts in the county. Jefferson County will increase regular working and harvesting at demonstration and community garden sites by master gardeners and interested community members.
“The Arkansas Department of Health is proud to partner with communities, non-profits, and local government organizations to improve nutrition and find new ways to make healthy food more accessible and affordable,” said Renee Mallory, Secretary of Health. “These sub-grantees have proposed innovative ways to help eliminate food deserts across the state.”
In January 2024, Gov. Sanders, the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS), and the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) announced the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) program, a new grocery benefits program that provides families $120 for each eligible school-aged child to buy groceries when school is out.
The new program is in addition to free meals that kids can pick up at summer meal sites in their communities.
"Reducing food insecurity and increasing access to healthy food is not one-size-fits-all,” said Kenya Eddings, Director of the Arkansas Minority Health Commission. “The recipients of these inaugural grants will work towards improving the physical, mental, and emotional impacts of food insecurity in the communities they serve. This, in turn, improves the overall health of all Arkansans."
During her first legislative session, Gov. Sanders signed legislation that gives free breakfast and lunch to students who previously qualified for reduced meals.