TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – The fight to address food insecurity in Toledo continues despite some initiatives to address food deserts.

Those on the ground say the need to resolve the problem remains great.

The lack of access to healthy food options for inner-city communities has persisted for decades, community leaders said.

As churches and organizations try to fill these gaps, Leaders say more needs to be done, faster, to address food insecurity.

Not having healthy food options is costly in many ways.

President of United Pastors for Social Empowerment, Rev. Dr. Among the effects on people in food deserts are “lower academic performance, poor mental health, higher incidences of obesity, heart disease, and other health problems,” Donald Perryman said.

Some Toledo Black and brown communities are at the center of food deserts. Places where the majority of residents have limited access to healthy and affordable foods.

That’s something Indiana Avenue Missionary Baptist Church in Toledo wants to help end.

“There is a great need in this neighborhood, given the number of families we serve each month,” said William C. Foster Sr., Pastor of Indiana Avenue Missionary Baptist Church.

Indiana Avenue Baptist Church is located in the middle of one of Toledo’s food deserts.

Every month, people have the opportunity to shop for free groceries at church.

“This neighborhood is in a food desert, this is a small part we can play in helping families in this neighborhood,” Foster said.

According to Perryman, closing the gap requires strategic economic investment in underserved neighborhoods.

“At the root of this, food shortages have one root, and that is economic disinvestment,” he said.

Perryman said he is working with leaders to create a “healthy food distribution district.”

“This will encourage economic development in food deserts and deter predatory retailers,” he said.

But the push to end food deserts in Toledo still isn’t happening soon enough, according to community leaders.

“It’s a rallying cry, but there’s a movement in this war,” Perryman said.

A map from Forward Toledo The plan shows that in 1966 there were 58 grocery stores in the city, and in 2023 there will be 23 grocery stores.

The plan was announced in 2024.

In the plan, the city partly acknowledges the structural racism role of food deserts and practices such as redrawing barriers to accessing healthy food.

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