It's no secret Milwaukee has been plagued with nutritional food deserts. A food desert is defined by the Department of Agriculture as a low-income area where a supermarket or grocery store is at least one mile away.
According to data from 2015, The United States Department of Agriculture shows nearly 9% of Milwaukee's population lives in a food desert.
Trasus Wright has lived in Lindsay Heights for more than two decades. He deals with the struggle regularly.
"It's a challenge in terms of getting fresh food," said Wright.
According to Milwaukee's latest fresh food access report, a 2015 survey of corner stores near Milwaukee's west side found that only 54% of area stores carried fresh produce of any kind.
Taste. of Lindsay Heights, a new cafe at 1617 W. North Ave is working to fill the food desert gaps providing affordable, healthy, and local options for residents on the North side.
"My passion is to make this corridor a fresh food access point. There was no place where you could go to get a fresh press juice on the north side, none at all," said Chandra Ellis the Community Wealth Building Coordinator for Walnut Way.
Ellis is managing the cafe operated by Walnut Way Conservation Corps featuring everything from fresh juices to snacks that are all locally made with fresh ingredients.
This cafe is just one piece to Milwaukee's food desert puzzle. The Hunger Task Force is also helping fill the gaps providing fresh produce from a 208-acre farm to more than 47 food pantries across the county.
"This corner now becomes a change agent, an example of what could be," said Wright as he remarked on the hope for a healthier city.
