Addressing issues with food deserts in Gary is important to Mayor Eddie Melton, he said, going back to his days as an Indiana state senator.
“I tried to pass legislation to study food and pharmacy deserts in urban communities,” Melton said. “It didn’t pass, but I continued to try to work on it through other organizations, and coming in as mayor, I knew this was going to be an issue I wanted to address. … Based on Gary’s geographic footprint and our population, it’s clear we don’t have the level of quality and quantity of providers for fresh and healthy food.”
Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune
Indiana University Northwest professor Ellen Szarleta speaks during a press conference to highlight a grant to start the FAITH Food is Medicine program on Monday, October 17, 2022. (Kyle Telechan for the Post-Tribune)
The city of Gary and Indiana University Northwest have collaborated on a food security study, which is expected to be released in the early spring of 2026. Indiana University’s Center for Urban and Regional Excellence has worked to gather data from various resources, including the U.S. census, Feeding America and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to understand food insecurity and what’s needed in Gary.
Ellen Szarleta, director of CURE, said the city approached the university to create the study, which will then help create strategies to help address food insecurity issues throughout Gary. The organization began work during the fall semester when students returned to campus, Szarleta said.
CURE looked at statistics over the course of a decade, Szarleta said, seeing what information might be available in cities, counties and states.
“If you look at some of the maps out there, you’re going to see that food desert areas that are mapped don’t stop in the urban core areas,” Szarleta said. “You can pretty clearly see that this is an issue that more than urban areas face, so it’s important to recognize that this doesn’t stop at city boundaries, and it goes into other municipalities and into other counties.”
Addressing food insecurity in Gary is “extremely timely,” Szarleta said, because food security and economic development go hand-in-hand. Since Melton was inaugurated, he’s focused on improving economic development and the quality of life, Szarleta said.
In August, two Gary grocery stores — Miller K Market and Save More Foods — closed due to health code violations. The two stores opened following early September health inspections, according to Post-Tribune archives.
Melton previously said the city increased inspections to raise standards for local businesses and “create healthier and safer spaces for our community.”
Szarleta believes the food security study will open conversations between the city of Gary and its residents that can find the best approaches to improving economically.
CURE has looked at food security before, Szarleta said, but the organization hasn’t focused specifically on Gary. The city and CURE have worked together on other projects, which Szarleta said is an important partnership to maintain.
“The city and other municipalities, they not only have the subject matter and expertise, but they know what will be most impactful,” Szarleta said. “The university can have the expertise but maybe not the connection to issues and what decision makers are thinking about those issues. When you bring those two together, you’ve got information that becomes very impactful.”
For Melton, the partnership between CURE and the city of Gary is important, and he’s worked with the organization for years, including when he was a state senator.
“Our working relationship and their expertise is able to bring people from different walks of life and different perspectives together to think through complicated issues, and it’s very helpful,” Melton said. “Having the credibility of a higher education institution that is based in Gary just makes it even more beneficial.”
Melton is already in conversation with local grocers to assess the viability of data from the food security study, he said. He expects the data will help discover where stores are needed to provide best access to fresh fruits and vegetables and quality meats.
So far, Melton has found most of the city’s stores on the perimeter of Gary, and he’s also considered having the city work with a private entity to sustain grocery stores.
“We’re also in conversation with other grocers to figure out the viability of their presence here, even if it’s not a full grocery store but having some of those essentials that we can have access to,” Melton said. “At the end of the day, I’m looking at this from a health perspective … and all those things that plague minority communities. That’s very important to me.”
Szarleta is excited for the study findings to be released because they will serve as a framework for decisions made citywide.
“I’m really excited about the fact that they’re embracing it, and we’re going to be contributing to it,” she said. “For the general public, increased awareness of the situation in Gary will be important, so people can see how much food insecurity affects them.”
mwilkins@chicagotribune.com
