Illinois seeks to eliminate food deserts with grant program

The state of Illinois is creating a $20 million grant program aimed at bringing grocery stores to areas that lack easy access to fresh foods under a measure Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law Friday.

The program, which Pritzker touted in his budget proposal to lawmakers in February, was approved with broad bipartisan support during the legislature’s spring session, though Republicans voted against the $50.4 billion state budget that actually provides the funding.

Under the Illinois Grocery Initiative, the state Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity will provide financial assistance and other support to independent for-profit and nonprofit retailers, co-ops, and local governments that open or preserve grocery stores in both urban and rural areas that lack or are in danger of losing them.

“We’ve too often seen large retail food chains leave these communities for greener pastures, or what they think are greener pastures,” Pritzker said during a bill-signing event in…