Community-led GOODS program connects rural consumers to fresh food while cutting costs and travel time for residents, showing how technology and local partnerships can improve food access in underserved areas.
JAFSCD peer-reviewed article by Ivonne Quiroz (City University of New York—CUNY), Katherine Tomaino Fraser (CUNY), Sara Evans Miller (Hope Policy Institute), Kevin Coogan (Hope Enterprise Corporation), and Nevin Cohen (CUNY)
A new study published in JAFSCD demonstrates how an innovative online grocery program is successfully addressing food access challenges in rural Mississippi communities. The Grocery Online Ordering Distribution Service (GOODS) program, in Sunflower County, uses existing community assets and partnerships to bring fresh, affordable food to areas lacking grocery stores.
In their article, Closing the food access gap in rural Mississippi: Evaluation of the Grocery Online Ordering Distribution Service (GOODS) program using an assets-based framework, researchers from the CUNY Urban Food Policy Center and Hope Policy Institute evaluated the GOODS program, which enables residents to order groceries online for pickup at local community hubs or home delivery. The local community hub in Drew, Mississippi, was established using community assets like an armory building that was repurposed for community use and the staff of a local community organization that helped market and implement the program. The study found that the GOODS program improved food access and also generated significant time and cost savings for participants.
KEY FINDINGS
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GOODS participants purchased more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains compared to national averages.
- The program reduced transportation costs and eliminated lengthy travel times for grocery shopping.
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Local staffing was crucial for building community trust, especially among seniors skeptical of online shopping.
- The asset-based, community-driven approach created an effective and sustainable solution to food access challenges.
"This program demonstrates how rural communities can leverage technology and local partnerships to overcome food access barriers," says corresponding author Ivonne Quiroz. "Rather than waiting for a traditional grocery store to open, GOODS provides an innovative solution that builds on existing community strengths."
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY AND PRACTICE
The GOODS model offers valuable insights for other rural communities facing similar food access challenges. As online SNAP purchasing continues to expand nationwide, programs like GOODS show how technology-enabled solutions can be successfully adapted to meet rural communities’ unique needs while strengthening local economies.
“The challenges facing Drew, Shaw, and Sunflower counties in Mississippi reflect a broader trend in rural America, where declining numbers of local grocers and consolidation of larger retailers in cities have made food shopping increasingly costly and time-consuming,” noted Katherine Tomaino Fraser, director of evaluation research at the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute. “While previous research on online grocery shopping has primarily focused on urban food access, the GOODS evaluation addresses an important gap in understanding how these solutions function in rural communities.”
The article highlights important lessons about implementing online grocery programs in rural areas, including the role of trusted community organizations in program success, how to overcome technology barriers among elderly residents, strategies for making online grocery services accessible to SNAP recipients, and ways to leverage existing community assets rather than starting from scratch.
Corresponding author Ivonne Quiroz can be contacted at ivonne.quiroz@sph.cuny.edu.
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Community-led GOODS program connects rural consumers to fresh food while cutting costs and travel time for residents, showing how technology and local partnerships can improve food access in underserved areas. #rural #foodaccess #onlineordering #tech Read the full @JAFSCD article for free: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2025.143.007
