BRAINFART I

Food security involves obrtaining food in a socially acceptable fashion

Access is a subset of security

Access defined in three ways:

• Geographical
• Price
• Items available

Food security indicates access to non-emergency sources

For many in certain neighborhood, access involves the acceptance of:

• Food stamps
• WIC (Women, Infants, Children)

Sources for non-emergency food

• Supermarkets
• Convenience stores
• Ma-and-pa stores
• Large deparment stores
• Other grocery stores (including markets, etc.)

Factors in achieving access to proximity

• Money
• Geographical proximity
• Transportation
• Time
• (Nutritional) Education

BRAINFART II

Approaches to study:

• Food security
• Access to food (test cases of)
• Urban inequality/access theories
• General urban geography theories
• Transportation (private/public) accessibility
• Retail site location theory/application
• Social welfare history and welfare "reform"
• Urban disinvestment and suburbanization
• Akron grocery store history/market/industry
• Intra-urban activity patterns (community and obligatory)

Broader issues, questions, theories to incorporate:

• Feminism
• De-centralization
• Egalitarianism
• Capitalist critique
• Sustainability
• Democracy
• Eco-/bio-regionalism
• Anti-authoritarianism

BRAINFART III

Writing a thesis proposal / To include within:

Food security <---> food access

Physical access (geographical)

Financial access

Method for study

Background info/review on hunger, security, and access in US and Ohio

Vision within structure of "economic rights"

Geographic rationale of food access

Components of study:

• Location of supermarkets/convenience stores
• Availability of certain food at those stores
• Prices of certain foods at those stores
• Transportation (private/public) to these stores
• Options for food stamps/WIC, etc.

Importance of study

How to create change? What good will come from study? What then?

Literature review

To do for it:

Organize committee

Get approval/reviews from committee

Feedback from Kent and committee

Write it

BRAINFART IV

How to go about the "research":

Official (?) listing(s) of all supermarkets/convenience stores/food markets

• Geocode locations as points

Visit/call in order to ascertain/interview the store about:

• Availability and prices of certain staple items
• Acceptance of food stamps, WIC
• Hours open

Census 2000 (!!) data, to be used for:

Household income

RAce

Population (# of households, children, female heads of households, etc.)

Car ownership (available?)

Akron Metro, review of transportation accessibility

• Accessibility for Section 8 housing
• Accessibility for retirement communities

BRAINFART V

Food security:

• Availability
• Access
• Utilization

Subset of access:

Geographic

• Proximity of stores
• Means to get there
• Time to get there
• Right sort of nutritional items availability

Financial

• Financial means to get to store
• $ to feed family
• $ to afford items in a store

BRAINFART VI

Methodology / Criteria for "Access"

Overlap of store's domains

Reach/service area

Proximity to transit

Size/variety of store

Population size area served

Demographics (from Census 2000) within census tracts/blocks

• HH income
• Owner-renter
• Race
• Education-level (HS grad)
• Population density
• Vehicle ownership
• Literacy
• HH size
• # of children

Road-based travel times (Network Analyst)

Index of Dissimilarity (or the like)

BRAINFART VII

Layout for thesis proposal:

Abstract (necessary for a proposal?)

Introduction

Literature review (or background info?)

Hypothesis

Methodology

• Goals
• Analysis criteria
• Methods of research (How, Why)

References