On April 23, the city approved a $5.8 million incentive package to open a new Tom Thumb location in Redbird as part of an effort to offer greater food accessibility to lower-income areas. Developers will be breaking ground on the project sometime in 2024, with Tom Thumb set to open in the following year. Other developments, such as Save U More’s revitalization and re-establishment as Food Basket, provide additional options for South Dallas residents. As the city invested $2.8 million into Save U More’s construction, Food Basket LLC has agreed to repay this sum if they fail to sustain the business for 69 months.
However, as made clear by the words, “NO SAGGING, NO HOODIES. NO SHOES, NO SHIRT, NO SERVICE,” emblazoned on the glass pane at the entrance of Food Basket, grocery stores strive to serve middle-class demographics with a steady stream of income.
South Dallas, specifically District 7, has seen food scarcity progressively worsen in previous years. Accordingly, non-profit organizations like North Texas Food Bank have offered assistance to residents through community food pantries; affiliated sites such as MLK Fresh Produce Distribution Center provide free groceries to community members in need. But as poverty has continued to adversely affect residents – with roughly one in three families in District 7 dependent on SNAP/WIC programs – community members have called for the city to incentivize affordable grocers to establish stores in lower-income areas.
“I applaud the food pantries and what they provided to the community. But it’s a band-aid and the community needs these bigger stores,” says Okema Thomas, community activist and volunteer with Bring the Light Ministries and Dallas Bethlehem Center. “[District 7 Residents] have paid more taxes than anyone else because they need to go outside their communities to get what they need. [We need to] use the money within the city to provide for the people. All the people.”
When asked if the number of food pantries in South Dallas/Fair Park indicates a greater need for grocery options, a spokesperson for City Hall identified this as a non-factor in commissioning stores. “Food pantries would not help or hurt the case for another grocer. That would be based on the income levels of an area and the viability of the stores. Food pantries are typically considered to be serving a separate economic demographic.”
Existing stores in the area, like Save-A-Lot and Fiesta Mart, struggle to meet the daunting task of providing enough groceries to the residents. “Necessities are low on busy days and sometimes the produce doesn’t look good. There usually aren’t enough registers, you can be here for hours on some days,” one shopper says. “Card payments are down sometimes. It’s definitely inconvenient, to say the least.”
As grocery delivery could potentially ensure accessibility to higher-quality products, the City Council is more focused on securing the services for lower-income areas than directly instituting new programs. In 2019, Dallas City Council offered $2M in incentives to Kroger Co. to establish a distribution center. This came with conditions, including the prohibition of redlining, meaning that service areas must include lower-income zip codes.
As the City Council has discussed a free food delivery program without any concrete plans, residents have given a lukewarm response to the possible measure. “When you have broken promises and broken policies, you’re going to have to build some trust. That is where we are at. It is time for a change because the trust is not there,” says Thomas.
Establishments like Tom Thumb offer free delivery to SNAP/WIC recipients, but rising food costs amidst inflation complicate the utility of the programs. “[In March,] my SNAP benefits were cut back down, and food prices going up with less money to work with has been really tough,” a shopper explains. Some community activists, like Thomas, believe raising the minimum wage in Dallas is one key solution to both the issues of food shortage and inflation in areas like District 7. They posit that offering a higher rate of income – rather than simply widening grocery options – would address the problem head-on.
“If they pass something establishing a city minimum wage, the people would be able to afford to buy the quality essentials they need,” says Thomas. “And we would give more single mothers opportunities to become homeowners.”
According to a study by the Economic Policy Institute in 2021, a minimum wage increase would improve the pay of half of the DFW metroplex’s labor force, roughly 181,000 people. This would benefit around 23,000 Black workers, or about 46% of all Black working residents in the metroplex. Likewise, District 7 would see a huge economic boost, as 84% of the area’s residents are Black.
Dallas previously set the minimum wage for its city workers to $15 an hour and recently proposed raising it to $18 an hour in their 2022-2023 budget proposal. Additionally, Dallas previously enforced higher wages when they passed legislation requiring construction workers to be paid at least $15.50 an hour. Other metropolitan cities, such as Denver and Seattle, have raised their minimum wages in 2023 to $17.29 and $18.69, respectively.
Dallas City Council, like most city governments in the United States, makes no guarantee of accessibility to food to all residents. As the economy worsens, SNAP/WIC assistance becomes less effective, and quality food becomes increasingly scarce, working-class residents remain susceptible to hardship. With a future uncertain, the signage of the South Dallas Food Basket offers an important reminder to us all, “NO SAGGING, NO HOODIES. NO SHOES, NO SHIRT, NO SERVICE.”
To learn more about food assistance through North Texas Food Pantry, visit ntfb.org/our-programs/get-food-assistance.