The combined population of Lower 9-Holy Cross decreased 71.5 percent from 2000 to 2010, according to U.S. Census data compiled by the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center. The 2010 figure is 5,556.
“One of the main things I hear grocery store operators say is the issue of the numbers,” said Jenga Mwendo, food security coordinator with the Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development. “(They say) we don’t have enough people in the neighborhood to support a grocery store.”
The CSED is leading a one-day event Oct. 20 aimed in part at dispelling that notion. The organization will assemble rows of shelves stocked with canned and dry goods in a lot at St. Claude and Caffin, across from a vacant, former grocery store. The hope is to serve 500 families, who will pay what they can.
Even if the event can’t simulate an actual day’s returns, Mwendo hopes it will at least demonstrate the kind of demand that will encourage skittish operators to take a second look.
Mwendo notes that, despite severe population loss, the Lower 9th Ward possesses natural geographic advantages, as it links St. Bernard Parish communities with New Orleans.
“People from Chalmette come through the Lower 9th Ward every single day, going to work in the city,” she said.
Short-lived bricks-and-mortar development efforts in recent years have focused on the St. Claude-Caffin site and the Holy Cross School site between Reynes and Deslonde streets. These efforts relied heavily on the city’s Fresh Food Retailer Initiative, which offers low-interest and forgivable loans to operators who open in underserved areas.
But the program is not designed as a silver bullet and requires operators to bring resources to the table.
“The FFRI can help,” Jenga said. “But (most importantly) we have to have a grocery store operator who is courageous enough to take that risk.”
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