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Cleveland's Food Deserts

The connections between health, people and place is a reoccuring concern raised at ideastream listening project meetings across the region. One community leader said, "Your zip code is more important than your genetic code in terms of health outcomes." Unfortunately, at least half of Cleveland residents live in areas known as "food deserts"; neighborhoods without access to fresh, healthy and affordable food, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Experts say that plays a huge role in Cleveland's high obesity rate, which in some neighborhoods hovers around 40%.

In our continuing series on "Healthy People, Healthy Places", ideastream's Kay Colby takes a look at two programs designed to fight food deserts and obesity.

 

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