This document analyzes potential sites for a food redistribution nonprofit in Colorado Springs. GIS mapping shows the sites are located primarily in census tracts with high percentages of impoverished and minority residents who lack nearby grocery stores. Statistical analysis found the tracts containing sites without nearby groceries had significantly higher average rates of poverty and minority populations compared to tracts without sites or with sites near groceries. This suggests expanding the nonprofit's services to these areas could help address health inequities from limited geographic food access.

1. CSFR:
Poten,al
Recipient
Sites
Analysis
Introduc)on:
The
Colorado
Springs
Food
Rescue
is
a
nonprofit
that
is
shi<ing
their
focus
from
food
insecurity
to
health
equity.
They
are
trying
to
tackle
the
dispari,es
in
health
outcomes
for
different
popula,ons
that
are
nutri,onally
based.
Food
“deserts”
have
been
associated
with
nega,ve
health
outcomes
such
as
obesity
and
diabetes
and
unhealthy
food
environments
are
associated
with
neighborhoods
with
high
percentage
of
African
American
residents
(Gordon).
McEntee
and
Agyeman
breakdown
food
access
into
three
categories:
informa,onal,
economic,
and
geographic.
This
project
aims
to
display
the
need
for
food
redistribu,on
(geographic),
food
educa,on
(informa,onal),
and
policy
changes
(economic)
concerning
food
access
to
disadvantaged
communi,es
in
Colorado
Springs.
It
will
compare
the
number
of
grocery
stores
with
fresh
produce
to
convenience
stores
within
a
third
of
a
mile
to
poten,al
sites.
This
project
will
also
compare
the
socio-­‐demographics
of
tracts
containing
poten,al
sites
to
help
determine
where
expansion
should
primarily
take
place
and
display
the
need
for
this
non
profit
in
Colorado
Springs
.
Methods:
I
used
GIS
to
collate
poten,al
recipient
sites
as
found
by
the
Colorado
Springs
Food
Rescue,
convenience
stores,
and
grocery
stores
with
fresh
produce
in
the
city
of
Colorado
Springs.
I
imposed
a
.33
mile
buffer
around
each
site
and
then
spa,ally
joined
them
with
the
grocery/
convenience
store
loca,ons
to
determine
which
sites
had
stores
within
a
third
of
a
mile. Then, I used census tract information to determine the socio-
demographics of the tracts with potential sites and imported this data into STATA to run
bivariate analyses. In STATA I created two dummy variables, one for grocery store presence
and one for convenience store presence. Each had three components: 0= tracts with no sites,
1= tracts with sites with no grocery/convenience stores with a third of a mile, and 2= tracts
with sites with grocery/convenience stores within a third of a mile. Using these variables I
ran ANOVA tests to compare the means for various percent impoverished, percent minority,
and percent without a vehicle across the tracts.
Variable
Tracts
with
no
sites
Tracts
with
sites
but
no
groceries
Tracts
with
sites
and
groceries
F
sta,s,c
Percent
Impoverished
10.9%
21.2%
16.8%
14.36**
*
Percent
Minority
24.2%
40.4%
33.4%
13.86**
*
Percent
No
vehicle
2.6%
4.5%
3.3%
2.51
Variable
Tracts
with
no
sites
Tracts
with
sites
but
no
convenience
stores
Tracts
with
sites
and
convenience
stores
F
sta,s,c
Percent
Impoverished
10.9%
15.1%
21.3%
15.23***
Percent
Minority
24.2%
32.9%
40%
13.7***
Percent
No
vehicle
2.6%
3%
4.5%
2.68
b Potential Sites
Percent Impoverished
0.4% - 8%
8.1% - 15.5%
15.6% - 28.3%
28.4% - 48.7%
b Potential Sites
Percent Minority
7% - 18.6%
18.7% - 29.4%
29.5% - 45.2%
45.3% - 75.7%
b Potential Sites
Percent with No Vehicle
0% - 3%
3.1% - 7.2%
7.3% - 13.2%
13.3% - 26.2%
Figures
1-­‐3.
GIS
Maps
Displaying
a
census
tract
breakdown
of
percent
impoverished,
percent
minority,
and
percent
without
a
vehicle
in
Colorado
Springs.
Tables
1-­‐2.
ANOVA
Results
for
Grocery
and
Convenience
Stores
within
a
third
of
a
mile.
Figures
4-­‐5.
Box
Plots
of
Means
for
Percent
Impoverished
for
Grocery
and
Convenience
Stores
within
a
third
of
a
mile.
Results:
Figures
1-­‐3
display
census
tracts
for
Colorado
Springs
with
color
scale
for
percent
impoverished,
percent
minority,
and
percent
without
a
vehicle
for
each
tract.
The
poten,al
sites
for
CSFR
are
layered
on
top
to
show
their
distribu,on
across
typically
disadvantaged
communi,es.
Almost
all
sites
are
located
in
darker
areas
of
the
map,
with
excep,on
in
Figure
3.
Park
Meadows
Community
Center
is
the
only
site
located
in
a
dark
red
tract
in
Figure
3,
however
ANOVA
tests
showed
lible
difference
in
average
percent
with
no
vehicle
across
tracts.
A<er
crea,ng
a
third
of
a
mile
buffer
around
each
of
the
sites
and
spa,ally
joining
them
with
grocery
stores
that
sell
fresh
produce,
only
three
sites
contained
a
grocery
store
within
the
buffer.
Contrarily,
almost
all
buffers
contained
a
convenience
store
within
a
third
of
a
mile.
Tables
1-­‐2
show
the
ANOVA
results
for
the
average
means
across
tracts
without
sites,
with
sites
but
no
grocery/convenience,
and
tracts
with
sites
with
grocery/convenience
stores
within
a
third
of
a
mile.
There
was
a
significant
difference
in
means
across
tracts
for
percent
impoverished
(F(2,101)=15.23
and
14.36,
p=.
000)
and
percent
minority
(F(2,101)=13.7
and
13.86,
p=.000).,
but
not
percent
without
a
vehicle
(F(2,101)=2.68
and
2.51,
p>.05).
While
owning
a
vehicle
would
be
crucial
to
gefng
to
a
grocery
store
more
than
a
third
of
a
mile
from
your
house,
owning
a
vehicle
would
not
stop
someone
from
choosing
to
shop
at
their
convenience
store
down
the
block
instead.
The
boxplots
in
Figures
4-­‐5
illustrate
the
distribu,on
of
tracts
for
percent
impoverished
by
proximity
to
sites
and
grocery/convenience
stores.
They
add
to
the
associa,on
of
CSFR
poten,al
recipient
site
tracts
having
higher
means
of
poverty
and
not
only
less
access
to
healthy
foods,
but
greater
access
to
unhealthy
ones.
Discussion:
Previous
studies
have
shown
the
associa,on
between
food
deserts
and
nega,ve
health
outcomes.
The
Colorado
Springs
Food
rescue
is
working
to
combat
these
health
dispari,es
in
disadvantaged
communi,es
by
redistribu,ng
food
that
would
otherwise
be
wasted.
This
analysis
has
shown
that
the
sites
they
hope
to
expand
to
are
predominately
located
in
food
deserts
in
terms
of
fresh
produce.
Conversely,
most
of
these
sites
have
convenience
stores
within
a
third
of
mile
which
are
indeed
convenient
but
offer
less
healthy
food
choices.
Through
expansion
to
these
sites
the
Colorado
Springs
Food
Rescue
plans
to
have
food
be
distributed
to
parents
at
schools
and
through
community
markets
in
community
centers
and
mobile
home
parks.
They
also
hope
to
begin
educa,ng
their
clientele
on
healthy
op,ons
in
their
area
and
how
to
prepare
the
food
being
distributed.
As
their
organiza,on
grows
they
hope
to
gain
the
poli,cal
power
to
enact
food
policy
changes
that
tackle
these
health
dispari,es.
*p<.05
**p<.01
***p<.001
(two-­‐tailed
test
of
significance)