Tell me your zip code and I will tell you your life expectancy.

Those are the words of Dr. Robert Ross, President and CEO of The California Endowment, who talks about the dire statistics related to healthy food access in a video for the newly launched California Fresh Works Fund.

• In the United States, one in every three children under the age of five are overweight or obese.
• 23.5 million Americans who live in low income neighborhoods lack access to a supermarket within a mile of their home including 1.7 million Californians.
• In California, adults in neighborhoods with low access to healthy food options are 20% more likely to be obese than those with high access to healthy foods.
• Each year in California, obesity causes thousands of deaths and costs families, employers, the healthcare industry and government more than $6 billion.

On July 20, 2011, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the launch of the new fund, a public-private partnership that will loan $200 million to increase access to healthy food in underserved communities in California using a tested and scalable solution. In addition to an interest in promoting good health, the fund’s investors want to stimulate economic development, job creation and promote innovation. The partnership includes grocery industry groups, healthcare organizations and leading banks. With at least $20, you too can become an investor through the Calvert Foundation, a project partner.

“Food deserts” exist in neighborhoods that severely lack access to affordable, nutritious foods. Corner stores filled with junk food like chips, soda and cupcakes and other unhealthy products might be the most accessible stores in some neighborhoods.

Berkeleyside recently ran a story about corner stores that stirred quite a debate. I wonder if it would be possible to turn some of these establishments into “healthy corners stores.” Seems like it could be a win-win for shop owners and customers. The Healthy Corner Stores Network, a project of The Food Trust, offers many resources.

On the other side of the spectrum, you can find high quality and organic food in the burgeoning healthy grocery store chains like Whole Foods Market, but are these stores affordable? DJDave raps about paying “80 bucks for 6 things” in the viral video Whole Foods Parking Lot. (You can listen to an equally amusing Bay Area remix here. To find out what is behind the video and the song’s lyrics, read Sarah Henry’s piece on KQED’s Bay Area Bites blog.)

More reading:

• Fresh Works Fund Revitalizing Food Deserts Across California on Philanthropy Front and Center, the San Francisco Foundation Center’s blog
• Food Environments Near Home and School Related to Consumption of Soda and Fast Food – New policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
• James Berk of Mandela Foods Brings Produce to His People by East Bay journalist Sarah Henry on her Lettuce Eat Kale blog

Bay Area Food Justice Organizations:

• Oakland: Phat Beets Produce, City Slicker Farms, Mandela Marketplace, People’s Grocery and Planting Justice
• East Palo Alto: Collective Roots
• Berkeley: Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice Program and Spiral Gardens Community Food Security Project
• San Francisco: Literacy for Environmental Justice – Food Justice Program
• Richmond: Urban Tilth
• San Jose: Veggielution

Disclosure: I am a grants consultant for Outward Bound, and I am writing this because I am a big fan (not on assignment).

“I will take Police for 200.”

Question: “If you are stopped by a police officer, what are three things you should do?”

Do you know the answer?

Last night at the Stanford Faculty Club, this clever game of “Law Jeopardy” challenged guests celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Fresh Lifelines for Youth (better known as “FLY”) on their knowledge of the California legal system.

This creative spin on the iconic American quiz show illuminates one of many innovative ways that FLY staff and volunteers capture the attention of FLY’s Law Program students, youth ages 14-18 who are on probation, at-risk of probation or incarcerated.

After hearing the words, “If only I knew how much trouble I would get into … ” over and over from incarcerated youth while she was a Stanford law student, Christa Gannon built FLY on the advice from kids in Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall who were facing lengthy prison sentences. It turns out that some youth who break the law may not have been fully aware of the consequences of crime in the first place.

Following the trade show concept, in the “FLY Expo” staff and youth clients shared interactive games like FLY Law Jeopardy along with creative photo montages, books of poetry and other creations by youth whose lives were turned around by FLY’s law, leadership and mentor programs.

After the Expo and a meet and greet in the faculty club’s outdoor atrium, over 300 supporters gathered to hear about the organization’s 10-year journey. They made a convincing case for how every dollar invested in FLY delivers a winning cost-benefit to society. This image, posted on the FLY website, illustrates the point.

As a consultant to FLY, I am proud to support their grant program. You can learn more about the history of FLY on their website and read a recent article on the Knight Foundation blog:

“How do you turn teens in trouble into youth who give back? Social entrepreneurs give tips on engaging youth.”

To learn more about FLY’s founder and executive director, Christa Gannon, visit her profile as an Ashoka Fellow at Ashoka.org.

Listen to the NPR story:

• Nonprofits Count!: A project of the Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network, this website provides information, including best practices, on how nonprofit organizations and human services agencies can help produce an accurate count of hard-to-count populations.
• Mapping Hard-to-Count Communities: Hard-to-Count (HTC) populations are groups that may have a higher non-response rate on the 2010 Census. With support from The California Endowment, Healthy Cities has generated a portal through which Census stakeholders may locate communities at risk for undercounting in California.
• Justice Department Confirms Confidentiality of Census Information – March 5, 2010 article by the Washington Post
• The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
• Census History: Counting Hispanics – March 3, 2010 article by the Pew Hispanic Center
• Census: Battleground for Money and Justice – February 17, 2010 by Blue Avocado
• Most View Census Positively, But Some Have Doubts - February 12, 2010 by The Pew Research Center for the People & The Press
• California Complete Count Committee
• The Census Project Blog: A collaboration of state and local governments, civil rights and labor groups, housing and child advocates, businesses, professional societies, and research organizations interested in a fair and accurate Census 2010
• Brookings Institution Census Information

Grantmaker Initiatives

• Census 2010 Grants Will Bring Visibility to Hard-to-Count Populations – The San Francisco Foundation
• New York Foundations Push to Get Accurate Census Count – Philanthropy News Digest
• Private foundations offer millions to ensure accurate census count – Contra Costa Times
• The California Endowment has awarded nearly 11,000 grants across California totaling more than $1.9 billion.

Recently, I spoke with Ian Kim, policy director for the Oakland-based Ella Baker Center about his organization’s aspirations of building opportunities for disadvantaged communities in the “new green economy.” With an affinity for creating memorable names like “Silence the Violence” and “Books not Bars,” I was immediately struck by the campaign called “Reclaim the Future” and its “Apollo Challenge.”

Simply put, they are urging supporters to sign on, challenging Oakland to create sustainable jobs and energy independence within 10 years, the same amount of time President Kennedy gave the nation for “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” In 1969, Apollo 11 met the lunar challenge after 192 hours. In the Winter 2007 issue of Yes! Magazine, the Center’s executive director Van Jones and communications director Ben Wyskida wrote about their ideas for creating high quality jobs for Oakland residents while cleaning up the environment, improving public health and helping the region achieve energy independence through the promotion of alternative energy technologies.