Select release of 2014 Limited Supermarket Access (LSA) data available on PolicyMap

We are pleased to let our users know that the 2014 Limited Supermarket Access (LSA) data are now available on PolicyMap for a select group of states! The release offers a look at the data for five states – California, Colorado, Florida, Ohio, and Virginia. The analysis is part of The Reinvestment Fund’s (TRF) extensive efforts to address the inadequate and inequitable access to healthy foods in communities across the country. Click here for the full press release from TRF.

Last year, with support from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, TRF announced the creation of ReFresh, “a national initiative designed to improve access to healthy foods in urban and rural communities across the U.S.” The release of the 2014 LSA data will be a great asset for the five CDFIs in the Refresh initiative. The data for these states are available in PolicyMap’s Analytics tab, as well as on the Refresh grantee websites. Click here to see Finance Fund’s LSA widget for the state of Ohio.

Along with this select release of the LSA, we are equally excited to announce that we have updated the Grocery Retail Locations data on PolicyMap with 2013 data! With these data, provided by Trade Dimensions, users are able to select and see only the limited-service stores or the full-service stores. We also included the ability to filter by type of grocery retail location, so you can see whether a site is a full supermarket, dollar store, natural/gourmet foods store, etc. Have fun exploring the availability of grocery retail locations in your neighborhood using the map below!

Also, it is worth noting that a full national release of the 2014 LSA analysis is expected in the spring. In the meantime, for users outside of the 5 Refresh states, the 2011 LSA will remain available for the whole nation on PolicyMap. This can also be found in PolicyMap’s Analytics tab.