Making Groceries

By LaDonna Redmond

WBEZ, Chicago Public Radio

March 2005

 

Food and Society Policy Fellow LaDonna Redmond recently completed an internship with WBEZ, the public radio station in Chicago. As part of the internship, she produced the radio story Making Groceries. 

 

Read about and listen to the story online at: http://www.wbez.org/programs/specials/chicagomatters/cm05_money/cm05_redmond.asp

 

The summary of the story from WBEZ’s website reads:

 

“The average family spends more money on food than any item besides housing.  Researchers say food purchases account for 10% of a family's income. Last year, African Americans spent 52 billion dollars on groceries. Like everyone else they spent a lot of that money in chain grocery stores. Few of those stores, however, are located in African American communities. That's the current situation in Chicago's West side Austin community, which does not have a single major chain supermarket. Ear to the Ground's LaDonna Redmond explores how this affects the way people eat…and the way they live.”