Healthy Neighborhood Stores Alliance (HNSA)
The Healthy Neighborhood Stores Alliance (HNSA) supports an evolutionary movement in West Oakland to create a food secure community. MMPlace’s focus on increasing retail access points for affordable fresh, healthy foods and improving neighborhood walkability complement community-wide efforts in nutrition education and community gardening.
HNSA is an alliance between store owners, community members and Mandela MarketPlace that works to improve community physical and environmental health by not only improving the affordability and quality of produce in convenience stores, but also by improving the store environment and its relationship in the community. The HNSA program is rolling out in 2009 with support from California Endowment over 2 years as a model for corner store conversion, youth leadership development, and increase consumption of fresh foods.
On April 3, 2010 Mandela MarketPlace officially launched the HNSA project. WYSE delivered farm-fresh produce to the inaugural member stores, Bottles Liquor and Millennium Market. The two stores are located less than a ½ mile apart. Both are on Market Street, Bottles at 1150 Market and Millennium at 1741 Market.
Although it’s too early to light victory cigars and pop champagne, the first two months of the HNSA project have yielded remarkable results. Since the April launch, WYSE has delivered over 1,500 lbs of fruits and vegetables to the two corner stores! While these numbers are impressive, the response from the community and the storeowners has been outstanding. Customers regularly approach the WYSE team during deliveries and say how much they appreciate having the option to conveniently purchase fruits and vegetables. Although liquor is a popular item at corner stores I’ve never seen a community member thank the Budweiser guy for keeping the shelves full of ice-cold pilsner.
