The money is meant to avert what city officials call a "desperate health crisis" by preventing heart attacks, strokes, cancer, and diabetes, and by lowering health-care costs.
For years, advocates such as the Food Trust have tried to get fresh fruits and vegetables into corner stores.
Working with the city's Department of Public Health, the Food Trust will use a portion of the stimulus money to augment its Healthy Corner Stores Initiative and reach 1,000 corner stores in low-income areas with high rates of obesity.
The stores will be asked to sign an agreement to participate in a campaign to stock at least two categories of healthy foods, according to Yael Lehmann, executive director of the Food Trust, a nonprofit working to provide access to healthy foods.
"We've been able to show store operators that there is customer demand for fresh foods," she said. "There's a misconception that people [in poor neighborhoods] don't want fresh food. And we're showing store owners that fruits and vegetables are actually profitable to sell."
For example, Lehmann said, a three-year study of youth snacking behaviors by the Food Trust and Temple University showed, among other findings, that a bag of chips offers a profit of 20 cents, while containers of fruit salads sold for $1 bring in 30 cents of profit.
At Romano's Grocery Store in Juniata Park in North Philadelphia, the addition of produce increased business by 40 percent in a short period of time, owner Juan Carlos Romano told the Food Trust.
About 100 stores will receive mini-grants for renovations that could bring new refrigeration and shelving to accommodate fresh produce.
The changes are vital, officials say.
