From Hurricane Katrina to Isaac: New Orleans' Lower 9 Still Waiting for Grocery Store

In the meantime, residents will be waiting out one more storm and another day in seven years without a grocery store.

Months after Katrina, the Lower 9th Ward remained flooded with large parts completely underwater.

(NEW ORLEANS) - Jenga Mwendo is a resident of New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward, the neighborhood made famous by months of standing flood waters after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 and subsequently, by Actor Brad Pitt’s home rebuilding project.

But to this day, the Lower 9th Ward is considered a “food desert” by urban planners and even the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to Ms. Mwendo that means the area lacks a grocery store within one mile of the neighborhood. That’s a problem, since 30 percent of the area’s 5500 residents don’t have access to transportation to get to grocery stores which are nearly four miles away.

The area has been experimenting with one-day farmer’s markets, food coops, community gardens and other activities to fill the void. But the grocery store developers have come and gone without commitment. Now, a new storm will make the wait longer, Ms. Mwendo fears.

Still, Ms. Mwendo and her neighbors aren’t sitting back. They intend to draw attention to their on-going need for a simple grocery store by organizing on October 20 a “Grocery Store for a Day” event in the area. The event will feature the replication of a full-service grocery store for one day, in order to draw attention to the residents’ on-going need.

“The Lower Ninth Ward Food Access Coalition (LNWFAC) hopes to draw attention to the Lower Ninth Ward's “food desert” status and what the LNWFAC is doing in response, to mobilize more people in the community to join the effort, and to raise funds to support the implementation of the neighborhood food plan,” said Ms. Mwendo. “ By bringing people together for the grocery store experience, we will be able to spotlight the need in this segment of New Orleans, a city that is known as one of the food capitals of this country. Yet many people who live here do not have access to fresh, affordable food.”

In the meantime, Lower 9 residents will be waiting out one more storm and another day in seven years without a grocery store.

The Lower Ninth Ward Food Access Coalition envisions a neighborhood where availability of fresh, quality food is convenient and affordable for everyone in the Lower Ninth Ward.  Our mission is to invest in the health of the community by supporting the development of sustainable food systems in the Lower Ninth Ward that are directed by and for its residents.

focuses on coastal rehabilitation, greening the built environment and increasing food security by lifting up and strategically reinforcing community driven goals throughout our work of creating an economically, culturally and environmentally sustainable Lower Ninth Ward.