This sign-on letter was developed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). The letter will be submitted to Dollar General to express our collective call for Dollar General to pilot and expand WIC authorization in Dollar General stores, specifically in areas with low incomes and low food access. 

We are only accepting sign-ons from organizations and researchers. If you are not a researcher or an organization and you would like to support the petition, please click here. 

Our deadline for signing is December 15th. Please let us know if you need additional time.

Current signatories: (Updated 12/14/2023)

Organizations:

Hunger Free America

Association of State Public Health Nutritionists

National WIC Association

Alliance to End Hunger

UnidosUS

American Heart Association   

Partnership for a Healthier America

Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy

Moms Rising

Coalition on Human Needs

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago

NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice 

Food Equality Initiative

Socially Responsible Investment Coalition

Trinity Health

Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR)

CommonSpirit Health

Adirondack Foundation

Researchers:

Abby Gold,  University of Minnesota Department of Food Science and Nutrition, School of Public Health, and Extension

Pasquale E. Rummo, PhD, MPH; NYU Grossman School of Medicine  

Allie Reimold, PhD Candidate, Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Allison Karpyn, University of Delaware, Center for Research in Education and Social Policy

Chet Van Wert, Assistant Adjunct Professor and Associate Research Scientist, Center for Sustainable Business, NYU Stern School of Business

Amy K. Mottl, MD University of North Carolina  

Xavier Morales, Executive Director at The Praxis Project

_________ 

We, the undersigned, call on Dollar General to expand the number of stores that participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC program), prioritizing stores in areas that both have lower incomes and limited food access. 

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) recently conducted a national survey of people with lower incomes who live near dollar stores and heard from these dollar store community members across the country that they want dollar stores to make healthy food more available, affordable, and accessible. 

Nearly 40 million Americans live in areas where residents have lower incomes and limited food access. A majority of CSPI survey respondents believe dollar stores have a responsibility to improve the health of the communities to which they belong. Dollar stores may serve as important food access points in some communities, but many have limited healthy food options – only 16% of Dollar General locations sell fresh fruit or vegetables. 

There are more than 35,000 dollar stores across the U.S. -- more locations than the other top ten largest food retail companies combined. Dollar General owns over 18,000 of them. Dollar stores tend to be located in majority Black and Latine communities where access to supermarkets is more limited. Dollar General could improve healthy food access in these communities, however almost none participate in WIC, a federal program that improves access to nutritious foods for the six million women, infants, and children with lower incomes who participate in the program. 

Although 14 million people are eligible for WIC, fewer than half of WIC-eligible families participate, in part due to barriers to program access. Dollar General could expand WIC accessibility by accepting WIC in more stores, especially in areas lacking a nearby WIC-authorized retailer. By meeting the nutrition-promoting WIC stocking standards, Dollar General would increase stock of healthy items like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy, eggs, baby food, and formula, improving healthy food accessibility for WIC participants and healthy food availability for everyone who shops at a WIC-authorized dollar store. 

Sincerely,