CINCINNATI (FOX19) - Councilman Wendell Young, Chair of the Rules and Government Operations Committee, has invited the Center for Closing the Health Gap to provide an update on the City’s Food Access Task Force recommendations, which address Food Deserts in Cincinnati. Allison Karpyn, Director of the Food Trust Research and Evaluation, is working with the Center and will join the presentation.

"Food deserts" are areas in cities where there is a lack of large grocery stores with good produce selections, leaving the elderly, disabled and those who can't afford cars with convenient access only to small groceries and convenience store that have little in the way of fresh food and are often expensive.

CINCINNATI (FOX19) - Cincinnati neighborhoods Kennedy Heights and Pendleton will see a 90-day blitz of City services this year as part of the city's Neighborhood Enhancement Program. The NEP is a partnership between the City and the community to address blight, crime and other nuisances, and its goal is to serve as a kick-start to long-term neighborhood revitalization and reinvestment.

In past neighborhood blitz programs, people from multiple city agencies have walked the streets looking for zoning and fire code violations, cleaning up trash and litter and taking steps to improve the appearance of the areas.

Kennedy Heights and Pendleton will be the 13th and 14th neighborhoods to take part in the NEP.  U.S. Bank, PNC Bank and Huntington Bank all donated seed money totaling $19,000 to facilitate improvements in both neighborhoods.