The Hartford Food System

Current Publications · Historical Documents

From the Archives:

The Poor Pay More: Food Shopping in Hartford (February 1984)

A major impetus for Hartford Food System's creation in 1978 was the flight of chain supermarkets from the central city to suburban locations during the 1970s. Grocery retail issues remain an important focus of our work to this day. In the mid-1980s the Citizens Research Education Network, Church of the Good Shepherd, University of Connecticut, and Hartford Food System joined together to publish this report measuring price differences at urban and suburban food stores.

Report of the Mayor's Task Force on Hunger (October 1991)

Partnering with other food advocates and city leaders, the Hartford Food System helped create the Hartford Food Policy Advisory Commission in 1991. It remains one of the oldest food policy councils in the nation. The Commission was preceded by a Mayor's Task Force on Hunger, which had been convened in response to a 1990 report by the Food Research and Action Center documenting high levels of childhood hunger in Hartford. The Mayor's Task Force issued this report the following year.

Toward Food Security for Connecticut (March 1996)

The Hartford Food System also helped create the Connecticut Food Policy Council in 1997, a statewide counterpart to the Hartford Food Policy Advisory Commission. An Ad Hoc Committee on Food Security was brought together by the Connecticut General Assembly in 1995, laying the groundwork for the Council and elevating food policy issues on the state level.

Challenges to Food Security in Hartford (January 1998)

The scarcity of urban supermarkets makes Hartford residents especially dependent on suburban food stores. Throughout our history the Hartford Food System has worked to ensure that bus routes connect low-income neighborhoods to grocery shopping opportunities. One example of these efforts is a 1998 report by the Hartford Food Policy Advisory Commission, which led to the creation of the L-Tower Bus route linking Hartford's North End shoppers to supermarkets in Bloomfield and South Windsor. This bus route is still in operation today.

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