​Yes, let that sink in –  66% of Cleveland’s population is functionally illiterate. That's exactly what Freshwater Cleveland reported in November of 2018.

What does it mean to be functionally illiterate? According to Dictionary.com, if someone is functionally illiterate, they have “some basic education, but still fall short of a minimum standard of literacy or whose reading and writing skills are inadequate to everyday needs.”  In “real life” this means that a person may have a basic grasp of the alphabet, but is unable to fill out a job application, read signs, or follow a recipe.

Another fun fact: In Cleveland, more than a 1/3 of the city's residents do not have access to the Internet in any form, and as many as 1/2 the city's residents have no fixed wired home internet access. Cleveland is the 3rd least connected city in the country.
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Think about how you use the internet at home. Most of us are so dependent on home connectivity that we’d have to drastically change our lifestyles if we were forced to go without. Smart Home technology, streaming Netflix, and ordering food for home delivery are just a few examples of things I depend on.

Working with a population with such grim statistics has its challenges. However, DigitalC is “Connecting the Unconnected” and is determined to drive the adoption of technology through innovation, so that all members of our community are connected and can learn to reap the benefits the internet has to offer.

Programs like Digital Literacy training, Recipe Re-Mix Ohio, and Fresh EBT provide an opportunity for DigitalC to help bridge the divide for the newly connected.

Recipe Re-Mix Ohio, a Social Sprouts Ohio initiative, meets people halfway on healthy eating. Instead of recommending that people completely change what they eat, the project teaches people how to change the way they prepare the foods they eat.
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The project has been piloted with a group at Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority’s (CMHA’s) Cedar Extension High Rise – a residential property for people 55 and older. Learning from them their favorite dishes, dietary concerns, and challenges to healthy cooking, the initiative created a Recipe Re-Mix of some of their favorite foods to rave reviews. The project intends to expand to include a website which will host the recipes with simple instructions and videos for those with limited reading skills.

The Recipe Re-Mix initiative has partnered with DigitalC’s Connect the Unconnected project and Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority to bring positive programming to Cleveland’s urban population.

But what about people who don’t have access to a full kitchen? A full kitchen is equipped with all the standard cooking appliances: stove, oven, refrigerator, and a way to wash dishes – a sink with hot and cold running water or automatic dishwasher.

According to the American Community Survey Fact Finder, in 2017, 39,444 housing units in Cuyahoga County lacked complete kitchen facilities (6.4% of all housing units.) If a person lacks the ability to prepare fresh and healthy meals, they are forced to eat the food that is accessible to them. As discussed in previous blogs, access to healthy eating is a barrier to more than 442,900 people in Cuyahoga County (35% of the total resident population) who live in food deserts.

Living in a food desert without a full-kitchen leaves few options for healthy eating. Thus, the cycle of obesity, diabetes, and other health concerns affected by diet are perpetuated. 

Recipe Re-Mix Ohio, a Social Sprouts Ohio initiative, meets people halfway on healthy eating. Instead of recommending that people completely change what they eat, the project teaches people how to change the way they prepare the foods they eat.
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The project has been piloted with a group at Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority’s (CMHA’s) Cedar Extension High Rise – a residential property for people 55 and older. Learning from them their favorite dishes, dietary concerns, and challenges to healthy cooking, the initiative created a Recipe Re-Mix of some of their favorite foods to rave reviews. The project intends to expand to include a website which will host the recipes with simple instructions and videos for those with limited reading skills.

The Recipe Re-Mix initiative has partnered with DigitalC’s Connect the Unconnected project and Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority to bring positive programming to Cleveland’s urban population.

But what about people who don’t have access to a full kitchen? A full kitchen is equipped with all the standard cooking appliances: stove, oven, refrigerator, and a way to wash dishes – a sink with hot and cold running water or automatic dishwasher.

According to the American Community Survey Fact Finder, in 2017, 39,444 housing units in Cuyahoga County lacked complete kitchen facilities (6.4% of all housing units.) If a person lacks the ability to prepare fresh and healthy meals, they are forced to eat the food that is accessible to them. As discussed in previous blogs, access to healthy eating is a barrier to more than 442,900 people in Cuyahoga County (35% of the total resident population) who live in food deserts.

Living in a food desert without a full-kitchen leaves few options for healthy eating. Thus, the cycle of obesity, diabetes, and other health concerns affected by diet are perpetuated. 
 

​It’s not enough to learn how to prepare your favorite healthy recipes, you must also be able to purchase the ingredients.

​If a person can’t afford the ingredients or lacks access due to transportation, they will not be able to follow a healthy diet. For many in our marginalized communities, the barriers to a healthy diet are daunting.

The numbers are staggering. According to an assessment by the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, only 25% of adults living in Cuyahoga County reported meeting the daily recommended fruit and vegetable consumption; One in four adults is obese; about 50% of all Cleveland residents; And 25% of all Cuyahoga County residents live in a “food desert.”

Recipe Re-Mix is successful with helping low-income residents in Cleveland, Ohio, learn how to cook their traditional dishes in a healthier way. However, if people can’t get to a grocery store to purchase the ingredients needed to make the healthier dishes or can’t afford the ingredients once they do get to a store, they are not going to be able to change their diets.
In a recent session we made a crustless spinach and mushroom quiche. I went to three different stores located closest to Cleveland “Food Deserts” to compare the prices of the ingredients used to make the quiche.  The closest store to the residents I’m working with is also the most expensive. The findings:
 
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                                                             Store A          Store B         Store C
Mushroom (8oz)                                 $1.99             $1.50           $1.39          
Garlic (Bulb)                                        $0.97             $ 0.87            n/a
Spinach ( 10 oz Frozen)                     $1.89             $1.56           $0.99
Large Eggs  (Dozen)                          $1.49            $1.19            $1.09          
Milk (Gallon)                                        $1.99            $1.98            $1.89
Feta Cheese (4 oz. Crumbled)         $2.99            $1.50            $2.19
Parmesan Cheese (Shredded)         $1.67            $1.50             $1.98
Mozzarella Cheese (Shredded)       $2.50            $1.50 $         $1.69  
       
Totals                                                  $15.49          $11.60           $11.22
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*The recipe called for smaller measures of the purchased items. Excluding the milk purchase, the stores did not offer lesser amounts of the needed ingredients.

Areas can only be considered “Food Deserts” if more than 30% of its population has income below 200% of the poverty level ($48k for a family of 4) and the area is located more than ½ mile from the nearest grocery store. The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) residents I am currently working with live in an area of Cleveland where over 50% of the residents live over 2 miles from a grocery store.

The absence of personal transportation presents a barrier to anyone living inside or outside food deserts.

When I was living in Ithaca (NY) and Dublin (Ireland) I did not have a car. I walked or used public transportation to get everywhere. My grocery shopping habits changed drastically during that time; instead of buying items in larger quantities, I had to buy smaller quantities which cost more. I didn't have the convenience of pushing a grocery cart out to my car, loading the trunk up with goods, and then leisurely carrying multiple bags into my home.  I had to be able to carry the bags as I walked home or manage them on a crowded bus.

The Cuyahoga County Health Department reports that in Cuyahoga County, nearly 20% of all food desert households have no personal vehicle. Within the City of Cleveland (food desert and non-food desert areas), access to personal transportation is about 26% of the population.
What are the next steps? What can we do to help with the costs of groceries in Food Deserts? What can we do to help the marginalized population gain better access to affordable food? These are the issues we are working on at Recipe Re-Mix, a Social Sprouts Ohio initiative.

Next week I will post updates on our progress as we work on solutions to address these issues in our marginalized communities.

Please visit our website: www.socialsproutsohio.com
 
Ref: Cuyahoga County Health Department: http://www.ccbh.net/cuyahoga-county-supermarket-assessment/


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Do you have a family favorite recipe you'd love to see re-mixed? If so, please leave a comment and I will get in touch!