CHICAGOLAND FOOD DESERTS

BY: SAMMY PASKVAN

CHICAGO'S FOOD DESERTSMy focused topic is about food deserts that inhabit the Chicago land area, and the direct effects that happen to the families in them. This topic interests me because when I have seen these food deserts in real life, and I want to know why there isn't more being done. The process of following this topic heavily depends on where and why food desert in Chicago are so severe, and how in some areas there is inequality that follows. It is an important topic because there are families that struggle every day to follow good nutrition and it isn't their fault. My research question is, "What factors play specifically into Chicago's food deserts and why?" Some prior knowledge that I know about food deserts is that it is difficult to live in them, and the obesity rates in adults and children has risen a decent amount in past years due to limited healthy food resources.

RESEARCH PLAN

• The sources that I will be using our scholarly articles, academic journals, and sections of books created from multiple authors. I will look for these sources through the library database that is provided on Compass, because this will help me find credible sources to help provide evidence for my research on food deserts. I also will do some searching on other databases that I find. I am going to use the search terms "food deserts" and "Chicago" to find the sources intended for my topic.

CHALLENGES• I think some things that may make the research process difficult is making sure sources are

credible and aren't biased. I also think that finding sources for specifically food deserts in Chicago may be challenging because there might not be as many sources compared to just food deserts in general. I don’t think any of my own bias will get in the way of my research search, because the topic isn’t very opinionative; it is just informational facts on a troubling topic. Although, the ways that I will get over any of the challenges that I endeavor, is by double checking my sources and making sure they are credible and doing my best to do all that I can to find resources for my specific topic.

WORK CITED

BAULD, ANDREW. “FOOD DESERTS DON'T BENEFIT FROM MORE

SUPERMARKETS IN CHICAGO, STUDY FINDS.” UNIVERSITY OF

CHICAGO NEWS, 25 JULY 2018,

NEWS.UCHICAGO.EDU/STORY/FOOD-DESERTS-DONT-BENEFIT-

MORE-SUPERMARKETS-CHICAGO-STUDY-FINDS.

SUMMARYThe first source I am presenting talks about how food deserts in Chicago have worsened over the years. Studies have been found that supermarkets have not benefited from food deserts, because they are too far from them. This is a secondary source by author Andrew Bauld, and he is receiving his information from Marynia Kolak, assistant director for Health Informatics at the Center for Spatial Data Science, and Julia Koschinsky, the Center’s executive director. This is a credible source due to the background Kolak and Koschinsky have in this department.

WORK CITED

SPICER, ERIS, ET AL. “FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA TOURS IRON STREET

FARMS IN CHICAGO IN 2011 ALONG WITH MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL.

(OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PHOTO/LAWRENCE JACKSON).” THE RED LINE

PROJECT, 23 DEC. 2017, REDLINEPROJECT.ORG/CHICAGO-FOOD-

DESERTS.PHP.

SUMMARYThis second source is about examining families socioeconomical background and race involved with inhabiting food deserts. In the past couple years it has been shown that majority of families that live in food deserts in Chicago are African-Americans. This is a primary source created by authors, Eris Spicer, Laura Skindaraite and Matt Byrdak. This is a secondary source due to all the references they made to rely information.

SUMMARYThis last source is about the demographics and quantitative data found with food deserts and who it affects primarily. It states how most African Americans inhabit food deserts, and as of 2006 it has become an important civil rights issue. There are over 20 communities in Chicago that don’t have a supermarket and the source talks about the aftermath of that issue. This source was created by the Illinois Advisory Committee and consisted of multiple authors. It is a primary source due to the research that was found strictly from this committee's work.

WORK CITED

Illinois Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil

Rights. “Food Deserts in Chicago .” Food Deserts, 2011,

www.usccr.gov/pubs/docs/IL-FoodDeserts-2011.pdf.