On a hot August afternoon, a small band of staffers and volunteers from African American Roundtable fanned out in the Granville neighborhood on Milwaukee’s northwest side.
They knocked on doors, asking the few residents who answered what issues they have with food access.
For Jule Thompson on West Darnel Avenue, it’s food bias. Thompson often travels to Woodman’s in Menomonee Falls to shop. He said the food is fresher and better-quality than he can find in his neighborhood.
Thompson’s observation and grocery commute is a common refrain canvassers have heard since AART started its food access canvass in June. What they learn will be the basis of the organization’s next campaign.
AART plans to present its findings and possible solutions to food access at a community meeting from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, at the Urban Ecology Center-Washington Park, 1859 N. 40th St. Registration is preferred.
Milwaukee’s Black neighborhoods face food apartheid
Food access has always been an issue on the northwest side, said Ryeshia Farmer, 30, AART’s community programs manager.
The group shies away from the term “food desert.” Farmer said that implies the lack of grocery stores or healthy food access is happenstance. Instead, the group uses the term “food apartheid.”
“Unfortunately, the food access here is kind of designed,” she said.
There are systematic factors contributing to food apartheid, including disinvestment or “crime reputation,” where neighborhoods are constantly described as crime-ridden, making stores less likely to open there.
“There is not a high population of grocery stores in the area,” Farmer said.
Another concern the canvass found is the walkability to stores. Like Thompson, many people travel to Woodman’s in Menomonee Falls to buy groceries.
“There aren’t a whole lot of options in close proximity on the northwest side,” Farmer said, adding that it’s by design. “There are only a few strips of businesses. The northwest side is not walkable. All of these things contribute to a climate … where food access is not a plentiful as people would like it to be.”
Grocery store closures are an issue, too. Pick ‘n Save announced plans to close five Milwaukee-area stores this year. Threats to federal food programs like SNAP and their possible effects on food pantries also affect food access, Farmer said.
Land stewardship is another. Farmer said there aren’t many public community gardens or farmers’ markets on the northwest side.
AART is exploring opportunities to create food access at a micro level, like potted gardens for apartments or backyard gardens for homeowners. There’s a link between access to healthy and fresh food, especially for youth, and cognitive ability. Kids can’t learn, focus or make informed decisions if they’re hungry, Farmer said.
The campaign’s research also will help inform who the organization has to apply political pressure to address food access.
The group has had several wins among its campaign initiatives. Recently, it convinced the Common Council to pass a resolution allocating $600,000 for a resident-led community budgeting program. The program allows residents to determine how those funds should be spent.
Northridge Mall’s closure has unintended consequences on food access
This campaign is personal for Anyia Griggs, 27, AART’s canvass manager. Griggs was born and raised on the northwest side but now lives near the Glendale border. She, too, recognizes Milwaukee’s growing food apartheid.
It’s not just Pick ‘n Save shuttering stores but convenience stores like Walgreens, which closed six locations between 2023 and 2024. This year, the Deerfield, Ill.-based chain closed a downtown pharmacy at 275 W. Wisconsin Ave., and a northwest location at 6442 N. 76th St.
“I lived very closed to here growing up and remember when every storefront was populated with something; when it was a bustling business center,” she said of the area along Brown Deer Road.
The area has faced rampant disinvestment since the closure of Northridge Mall in 2003, though plans are in the works to redevelop the site.
“I drive around now and I see that it is all gutted,” Griggs said. “That’s why I get out here and organize to make things better.”
Food access for Griggs is building community interdependence, where members rely on each other to meet their food needs.
“Who knows how to garden, who has chickens in their backyard (to) share some eggs or who can barter different services so that we can keep it in the community?” Griggs said.
‘You have to take a bus to another bus to go somewhere’
This was Mia Rimmer’s first time canvassing. Rimmer, 24, agrees that food access is a big problem for the northwest side. She, like others, have to leave her community to shop at Woodman’s or Sam’s Club for groceries.
And as more grocery stores close, it adds pressure to the Pick ‘n Save near North 76th Street and West Good Hope Road, which she said isn’t well-stocked.
Rimmer said parts of the city, especially Black neighborhoods, are facing food apartheid because stores are leaving. It’s important, she said, for residents to use their collective power to hold the city accountable for inaction around food access, but also find ways to work together to address food insecurity.
“You have to take a bus to another bus to go somewhere,” she said. “I would love if we just walk, take a shuttle or bike-ride somewhere very close where there is reliable, fresh, healthy foods.”
Rimmer planted a vegetable garden and shares it with neighbors and friends. At the moment, her dill and kale are flourishing.
“The ability to grow our own food is empowering in so many ways,” she said.
“We don’t know if these very capitalistic sources of food are going to keep giving us the food. What can we do in our power to help and show up for our people?”
