Solving Food Scarcity Requires Rebuilding Hartford's Transit System

By Emma Hundt

---

Levo International's hydroponic system installation in Hartford

---

Hartford, Nov 25, 2025

The city of North Hartford is facing a glaring problem that is all too common in urban areas today: food deserts. Levo International, a nonprofit organization based in Hartford, is determined to make nutrient-rich food more accessible and address the food desert that engulf upper Albany and the areas around it.   

Hartford ranks seventh nationally among the worst food deserts in the country. William Heiden, Executive Director for Levo International explains that the city’s poorly planned infrastructure perpetuates the scarcity and access to healthy food options.   

He said, “One of the things about the way Hartford transportation works is that it's sort of a hub and spoke. So, if you want to travel from one side of the city to the other, you go into the middle of the city and then catch a transfer and go out the other way. [...] you have to go back in and back, even though it's a shorter distance from a straight line, you have to go into the center and back out. So, the structure of the transportation can affect the access to food as well.” 

The current transportation system makes it highly inconvenient for an average person to travel back and forth each week to shop groceries; as a result, it leaves many North Hartford residents dependant on gas stations convenience stories, markets, and bodegas for their products. 

However, this opens the community up to a much larger problem. Much of North Hartford is oversaturated with fast-food businesses and corner stores offering lower-quality foods, in turn creating, as Heiden explains, a food swamp.  

Lack of nutritional options have detrimental effects on the health of the community, leading to higher risks of diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. Easy access to unhealthy options is much of what the community has to rely on for their next meal; however, with the help of Levo International, this stress is beginning alleviate. 

Using the hydroponics system, Levo International has utilized vacant spaces in Hartford to grow vegetables and fruits in water-based nutrient-rich solutions instead of soil. The idea of plants growing without soil may seem like something out of a sci-fi movie; however, it is much simpler than one would think.

Most of the work that the organization does is simplified hydroponics.  It is done outdoors or in greenhouses, so the plants receive natural light , and it just needs a nutrient solution with water, and then the plant has everything that it needs. It is also relatively easy to scale down. Located right in the heart of the community, the hydroponic system can put food close to the folks that need to consume healthy food. 

Alia Te,  Engagement Manager for the organization, added,, “We just got a new site on Enfield street, [...] And its pretty comparable in size to this site right now, which is actually pretty big. It is directly in the neighborhood, more residential, and we are going to building up a hundred hydroponics systems there.”

Levo International does not stop there, however; to make their commitment to the community known, they host events like farm dinners, in which the community comes together and shares the fruits of Levo’s labor.  Heiden shares that Levo International is always looking for volunteers, as he welcomes the help of college students to aid in the development and awareness of the organization 

"Because if we're going to change the food system, if we're going to eliminate food deserts and make that a more just community, we have to change the system, and we can't change the system by taking from one and giving to another."