DC Central Kitchen’s Healthy Corners program has proven that small corner stores can become robust, reliable access points for healthy food—and that customers residing in every ZIP Code want and will buy fresh produce when it’s accessible, affordable, and available. This pioneering approach to expanding healthy food access began in 2011 by convincing hard-pressed small business owners to trust us with installing unassuming table-top refrigerators near their check-out counters. Now, thanks to years of trust-building and support, we’ve completed the most ambitious store transformation project in Healthy Corners’ history: co-designing and installing a full-scale produce department in the heart of Ward 8.
Stanton Supermarket, located at 1453 Howard Road SE in Ward 8, now looks markedly different than what you might assume of a DC corner store. In place of the previous refrigerated open-air shelves and tiered basket stand that we had kept stocked at this location for years, the new produce department includes five full-sized refrigerators, two freezers, an upgraded open-air fridge, and shelving to hold a bounty of fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, including fresh cut fruit and vegetables. Healthy Corners is made possible in part through the long-time support of DC Health’s Healthy Corner Store Partnership Program along with focused grants from the Longer Tables Fund, The Morningstar Foundation, and Dia and Peter Sherman.
This program and partnership have grown steadily over the course of ten years. Stanton Supermarket has been working with Healthy Corners since 2015. DC Central Kitchen CEO Mike Curtin spoke about the importance of store owners’ buy-in to the program—which he would say is emblematic of DCCK’s ‘good business’ mindset. “One of the hurdles that we were facing was getting these store owners, these small stores, the lifeblood of these communities, to understand that this was a smart economic investment,” Curtin said at the raucous ribbon-cutting on September 12, complete with healthy food tastings and several partner nonprofits providing information about local food benefit programs. For owners, said Curtin, this wasn’t [just] doing something for the health of the community, necessarily. “This was a way to bring business into the stores and to create more of a living vibe into these retail outlets. Some store owners bought in heavily, none more than our friend Yonas, who saw the value of creating community in his store and offering these fresh alternatives to his community.” One business-to-business partnership also paid off at the opening, as staff from Wegmans were on hand to see the finished product after working with Stanton Supermarket’s staff and DC Central Kitchen to host an informational tour of Wegmans’ own produce department and visit Stanton for a technical assistance visit on the finer points of produce merchandising.
Now that it is fully stocked, Stanton Supermarket owner Yonas Haile spoke about the impact this new produce department will have on his store and the community. “This new produce section is more than shelves of fruits and vegetables,” Haile remarked. “It’‘s about access, affordability, and healthier choices for families. We are especially grateful to DC Central Kitchen, not only for being our partner, but also our vendor, supplying us with affordable, fresh produce and making the SNAP program possible. SNAP customers receive a five-dollar coupon to spend back on more fruits and vegetables after spending 50 cents on produce. This means more fresh fruits on the table, healthier options for children and stronger families in the neighborhood. I’m pleased to announce that we have also started accepting the WIC program. This is another way of making sure everyone in our community has access to healthy foods they need. This produce section is not just about business investment, it’s a community investment.” Stanton Supermarket is one of nine Healthy Corners stores we have helped become approved WIC vendors—an effort that took years of legislative effort and attentive technical assistance, but has more than tripled the number of WIC-accepting retailers in DC’s underserved communities.
Speaking about community investments, DC Councilmember At-Large Christina Henderson, who chairs the Council’s Committee on Health, noted the importance of the Healthy Corners program. “I often hear from residents, particularly in Wards 5, 7, and 8, that they desire to have grocery stores in their neighborhoods,” Henderson said. “It’s sometimes very difficult to quickly deliver on a full-service supermarket. And so programs like Healthy Corners have been so critical in being able to stand in the gap as we continue to work on those particular efforts.” Henderson relayed a personal anecdote of turning to Healthy Corners when she was on the go and needed a healthy snack for her children. Her kids’ pick? Our popular fresh-sliced mango.
The Councilmember was followed by DC Health Senior Deputy Director of the Community Health Administration Sara Beckwith, who detailed the years of progress that DC Health and DC Central Kitchen have achieved together, including deepening partnerships and shared outreach efforts among DC Health grantees focusing on different models of expanding healthy food accessibility. Beckwith lauded Healthy Corners’ success in pushing back against stereotypes and assumptions regarding our low-income neighborhoods and elevated rates of chronic disease. “We know that the choices you make are determined by the choices made available to you,” she said. “Your ZIP Code should not determine whether you live a long and healthy life. DC Central Kitchen knows how hard it is to distribute healthy food in our city. They have created a retail model that people can trust and offers high quality, affordable food.”
After ten years of selling Healthy Corners produce and nearly a year of behind-the-scenes work with our team to identify refrigeration needs, align electrical systems, and introduce this resource to the community, Stanton Supermarket now has a full-scale produce department. By some measures, this is only the second such second option in all Ward 8, an area with more than 86,000 residents. Stop by Stanton to see what a collaborative effort between a small business, innovative nonprofits, public sector leaders, and generous philanthropists can look like.
