By Peter Alexander, NBC News correspondent

Central Detroit is the type of neighborhood too often in the headlines for the wrong reasons -- crime, drugs and poverty. The type of neighborhood too often abandoned by its own residents. Today, dozens of boarded up homes line its streets. All of those facts make what Lisa Johanon is doing that much more remarkable. Johanon is the executive director of the nonprofit Central Detroit Christian Community Development Corporation, dedicated to helping invest in and rebuild this mostly low-income, African-American community. Johanon, who is white, has lived here for the last 22 years. As she explains it, she and her family made "an intentional choice to be here in a community of need."

The need in Central Detroit is staggering. So are many of the statistics that help define the immense challenges facing this urban "food desert." According to the Chicago-based Mari Gallagher Research and Consulting Group, 92% of Detroit's food stamp recipients buy their food at a liquor store, gas station or pharmacy.  Gallagher reports access to fresh food in this community -- where many residents rely on public assistance and public transportation -- is extremely limited.

Johanon is trying to change that with Peaches & Greens, the business she started last November to encourage healthy eating in her community. The fresh food market they've opened was once a dry cleaners that doubled as a drug dealers' haven. Two employees take turns driving the Peaches & Greens truck through the neighborhood, selling everything from plums to peanuts. And, importantly, Peaches & Greens accepts food stamps. "This is not rocket science," Johanon explains. "It's an easy model that other people can pick up and make a reality in their neighborhood. We want to see this replicated throughout the city of Detroit."

Now, that appears to be happening. Michigan's Governor Jennifer Granholm visited the Peaches & Greens store recently, announcing a new initiative, "Michigan Neighborhood Food Movers." The program is designed to help individual entrepreneurs set up produce trucks to sell fresh food in other inner-city Detroit neighborhoods. Lisa Johanon has good reason to be proud as she witnesses the fruits of her labor.