WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) - It's been months since a corner store expanded near 21st Street and Piatt, giving people living in the 21st and Grove area access to fresh produce and meat within walking distance. There are still many more low-income neighborhoods in Wichita in need of fresh, accessible gr oceries. City leaders say they're taking steps to address the food deserts. A food desert is defined as an area without access to fresh food within a mile, and most people living there are low-income. When people live in a food desert, they're not within walking distance of a store with fresh foods and may not have enough money for a car. In the past few months, the DG Market on 21st and Piatt underwent an expansion. It's now a resource. "You couldn't go in there and get meats or nothing like that," nearby resident Cammetta Moose said. "All that is new along with the building." Moose lives a 10-minute walk from the store. She says having healthy food options close helps her and her neighbors, who don't always have cars. Kansas nonprofit gains new partnership to help families battling rare diseases "The fruits and vegetables are more important to me because they're healthy," Moose said. "Having produce and knowing how to prepare it is a big deal," Wichita District 1 City Council Member Brandon Johnson said. "That's another educational opportunity that we've got to take in these food desert areas. When you have access to chips and sugary drinks, you're kind of used to that." He says other food deserts in Wichita's downtown core and low-income neighborhoods must be addressed. It's an issue council member Becky Tuttle has had her eye on for more than a decade. "We allocated $1 million toward addressing food deserts, so we're developing a pilot program called a healthy corner store initiative," she said. The initiative aims to incentivize the expansion of existing corner stores to include fresh vegetables and meats. It's a shift that happened organically at the DG Market. Over the past few years, the city says it has done several things to address the lack of access to food. In 2020, the city drafted a food system master plan, which the City Council and County Commission adopted. The plan aims to improve access to healthy food and increase local food production. Another factor they've looked at is giving people free rides to farmers' markets on public transit. ...read more read less