Louisville, Ky.  — Food insecurity in Louisville is felt disproportionately in west and central neighborhoods, where the scarcity of grocery stores can prevent easy access to nutritional food.

What You Need To Know

  • The Louisville Community Grocery was founded in 2015

  • The grocery owners want to address food insecurity in at-risk neighborhoods

  • Produce is locally sourced whenever growing seasons allow

  • $150 ownership stake grants input on prices, types of food sold

 

In 2015, a group of people started a food co-op called the Louisville Community Grocery, intent on changing the landscape in what are known as food deserts.

"Food deserts don’t just happen, it’s a problem that we created," said grocery board member Nathan Hernandez. "So, we prefer the term 'food apartheid.'”

Hernandez and fellow board member Robin Hawkins Faulkner explained that anyone can shop with the grocery, but an ownership stake of $150 grants input on prices and the types of food offered to customers.

"The community has an opportunity to have a say in the types of food that they want to see in the grocery store," Hawkins Faulkner said.

"We set the prices, we set the food that goes into the store. It’s community owned," Hernandez added. "It’s not going to leave when there’s better opportunities in suburbs to make more money."

We met the pair outside St. George's Episcopal Church in the west end. It was May's chosen site for a monthly pop-up shop, which moves to sites around the city.

The pop-ups are scheduled to continue while board members raise the final funds and find a space to open a permanent grocery.

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