Food Equity in Prince 
George?s County
Professor Spivy; Darcy Drewyer, Eva Macek, 
Jared Williams, Katherine Rush, Laura Exar, 
Liana Torres, and Adam Scheckman
Outline
? Background Information
? Project Goals
? Methods
? Tasks/Objectives Progress
? Preliminary Findings 
? Obstacles/Difficulties
? Timeline Updates
? Questions
Background Information
? Food injustice is a global phenomenon with communities having limited access to 
healthy, affordable, and safe food options 
? Prince George?s County, our area of interest,  is heavily impacted by food injustice 
with 44% of the residents having limited access to healthy food (Kavi, 2019)
? A  correlation exists  between living in a low-income, minority neighborhood 
and having poor access to healthy, affordable, sustainable, safe, and culturally 
appropriate food (Segal, 2010)
Background Information Continued
? Food Swamps - Communities where access to fast food or other unhealthy options 
substantially exceeds access to healthier options 
? Contrast to ?Food deserts? a.k.a Areas of Limited Access
? Public Health - Food injustice is linked to higher rates of nutritionally-based diseases, 
such as type II diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers (Kavi, 2019)
? Minority Impact - Prince George?s County is the highest income, black-majority 
county in the US, yet experiences a disproportionate degree of food injustice 
(Healthy Food Policy Project, 2018)
Project Goals
? Identify challenges and opportunities, as well as provide recommendations for 
creating a healthy, equitable, and sustainable food system that ensures every Prince 
Georgian has access to nutritious, affordable, sustainably grown, safe, and culturally 
appropriate food.
? Goals:
? Provide the The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-
NCPPC) with an updated interactive map showing priority areas of access 
? Identify food trends in the data and report on the associated demographic patterns
? Give recommendations for future food endeavors and plan for the next capstone 
group to continue our work
Methods
1. Literature review to determine appropriate definitions
2. Create a geospatial map using data to identify low-income and low-access areas in 
Prince George?s County
a. PALS - map of restaurants and food stores
b. Data layers from EPA?s EJScreen and Johns Hopkins University Center for 
Liveable Future
c. Buffers, cluster analyses
Tasks and Objective Progress 
Research Team:
? Completed initial background research and defined key definitions. 
GIS Team:
? Completed preliminary data cleaning/visualization on restaurants, SNAP and WIC, and food 
stores.
Preliminary Findings: 
Restaurants & 
Vulnerable % 
Preliminary Findings: 
Restaurants & Low 
Income % 
Preliminary Findings: 
Restaurants & 
Minority % 
Preliminary Findings: 
SNAP and WIC & 
Vulnerable % 
Preliminary Findings: 
SNAP and WIC & Low 
Income % 
Preliminary Findings: 
Food Stores & 
Vulnerable % 
Obstacles or Difficulties
? The GIS Team does not have a shared folder or account, so we have had difficulties 
working on maps separately and sharing our work
Timeline Updates
Complete Map Complete Final Deliverable 
Apr. 3 May 8
Mar. 9 Apr. 17 May 19
Midterm Presentation Future Steps Send Final Deliverable 
Questions?
Works Cited
Segal, Adi. ?Food deserts: A global crisis in New York City causes, impacts and solutions.? 
Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development, Vol. 3, 2010
?Food Equity.? Food Equity - COE: Community for Global Health Equity - University at Buffalo, 
September 29, 2020. http://www.buffalo.edu/globalhealthequity/global-projects/foodequity.html. 
U.S. Department of Agriculture .?Documentation.? October 31, 2019. 
https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/documentation/
Healthy Food Policy Project. ?Prince George?s County Food Equity Council: Taking on Food 
Swamps through Policy Change.? Prince George?s County, 2018. https://healthyfoodpolicyproject.org/case-studies/prince-
georges-county-md
?U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Prince George's County, Maryland.? Census Bureau QuickFacts, July  
1, 2019. http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/princegeorgescountymaryland/PST045219. 
Kavi, Lucy, Jair Sinisterra, Coline Bodenreider, Meslech Bellay, Kamran Ayub, Vivek Ravichandran, 
Jan-Michael Archer, and Sacoby Wilson. ?Environmental Justice and the Food Environment in Prince George's County, 
Maryland: Assessment of Three Communities.? Frontiers. Frontiers, October 1, 2019. 
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbuil.2019.00121/full. 
?Healthy Food for All Prince Georgians: An Assessment of Access to Healthy Food in Prince 
George?s County, Maryland.? The Maryland-National Park and Planning Commission, 
November, 2015.