Healthy Corner Stores, Healthier Communities: Expanding Food Access Through Neighborhood Retail

Communities want healthy, affordable food – and the evidence confirms it. Demand is real, local, and unmet in neighborhoods across the country. DC Central Kitchen’s Healthy Corners model reveals and grows that demand. By strengthening the corner stores that communities already rely on, it creates a sustainable, community-rooted path to better food access – without building new infrastructure from scratch. Healthy Corner’s fifteen years of implementation in Washington, DC offers a replicable, evidence-based model for cities, funders, and partners ready to invest in equitable food access. For implementation strategies and tools, explore the companion Building Healthy Corners: A Best Practice Guide  https://dccentralkitchen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Building.HC_.10.8.pdf. For more information about GFI visit:  https://globalfoodinstitute.gwu.edu/

Author

• Global Food Institute, DC Central Kitchen

Language

• English

DOI

•  https://doi.org/10.4079/GFI.2026.05

Keyword

• food access, healthy food, corner stores, community-rooted

Date created

• 2026

Type of Work

• Report

License

• Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Global Food Institute

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/work/79407z28z