Student research project draws attention to price disparities in low-income neighborhoods

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• Geoff Bennett:

  A student research project in Boston is drawing attention to price disparities between grocery stores and high and low-income neighborhoods.

  Student journalist Sriya Tallapragada reports on this story produced during "NewsHour"'s Student Reporting Labs' Summer Academy, where teens from around the country come together to hone their journalism, film and storytelling skills.

• Euniss Yoyo, Hyde Square Task Force:

  It's kind of like something that you put off to the side and you just kind of underestimate yourself and your gut feelings, but then, when you really do the research and you find all the facts, it's an injustice.

• Sriya Tallapragada:

  Meet Euniss and Dereck, two 15-year-old members of the Hyde Square Task Force, a Boston-based nonprofit working to amplify the voices of youth.

• Dereck Medina, Hyde Square Task Force:

  So Ken Tangvik, he's our teacher. He has been involved with us since the start of this project.

• Ken Tangvik, Hyde Square Task Force:

  So I definitely tried to go in and see what their interests are. And so we had a brainstorming session in January of 2023.

• Euniss Yoyo:

  They wanted to find out more about the effects of inflation on their community, and they came across an article that stated that low-income communities pay more for groceries than higher-income communities.

  They wanted to put that to the test, so they went to our local Stop & Shop. Later, another group of youth went down to the Stop & Shop in a more affluent neighborhood. And we bought the exact same products, down to the same brand. And we found that the total amount that we spent at the Stop & Shop in Jamaica Plain was significantly higher than the Stop & Shop in Dedham.

• Ken Tangvik:

  We all thought it was interesting and could be valuable to Stop & Shop. And so I thought for sure, they'd say, wow, a group of students. This will be good public relations. We can talk to them about it. We can learn together.

• Dereck Medina:

  Then they answered back to us. They basically said, good luck with your project.

• Ken Tangvik:

  We got a consensus within our organization, like, yes, we should go to the media. Stop & Shop was being followed by reporters from all over the city and reporters saying, are you going to meet with the youth? And they kept saying, we can't comment on that. We can't comment on that.

  Then the attorney general called us and said, we want to meet with you.

• Sriya Tallapragada:

  When asked for comment, Stop & Shop said there are many factors that contribute to different prices, such as rent, labor costs, store size, and selection. They then referenced their history of opening community initiatives throughout the Boston area, including 20 school-based food pantries.

• Ken Tangvik:

  Interestingly enough, the day after the Boston Globe story came out, and it was a big front-page headline, they opened up a food pantry and tried to call in the citywide media to cover them that just happened to be in our neighborhood, just happened to be a couple days after the Globe story came out.

• Sriya Tallapragada:

  Stop & Shop says the food pantry was planned long before the student report. They also highlighted the small tract of land surrounding the Jamaica Plain store that you had selected to determine median income as being misleading.

  After the media coverage, Stop & Shop agreed to meet with the task force.

• Euniss Yoyo:

  We don't want to assume anything, because we don't want to, like, throw any accusations around or make any uneducated assumptions about Stop & Shop, which is why we're going to that meeting to hear them out.

• Sriya Tallapragada:

  In a statement after the meeting, Stop & Shop says they toured the newly opened food pantry and shared their concerns with the task force report.

  They say the 20 products the student purchased represent 1 percent of the 10,000 items available in the two stores, and the overall difference in price between the stores is much lower than reported.

  The Hyde Square Task Force students are reviewing this information to respond.

• Dereck Medina:

  This issue can affect not just Boston or these two small communities. It can affect everywhere, because food equity is an issue that is all — is an all-around world thing.

• Euniss Yoyo:

  Being part of Hyde Square Task Force has helped me see community issues in a way that I haven't seen before and helped me believe that I myself can help make those changes that I want to see in the community.

• Sriya Tallapragada:

  For the "PBS NewsHour" Student Reporting Labs, I'm Sriya Tallapragada in Boston, Massachusetts.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Student journalists making a difference.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Good for them.

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