The Athens Farmers Market is located in Ohio’s rural, southeast corner. The market’s mission is to offer business opportunities to regional growers and producers, as well as provide a place for the Athens’ community to buy fresh, local food. Like other Appalachian communities, Athens’ residents have been suffering from high rates of poverty and unemployment for years. But, the market is a bright spot in Athens, and has strived to be a welcoming place for people from all socioeconomic backgrounds since its inception.

To increase the market’s ability to serve the entire Athens’ community, especially its low-income residents, market organizers began accepting SNAP in 2007. Knowing that the project would only be successful if they created a multi-faceted approach to implementation they set about: training vendors, cultivating partnerships with Athens County Job and Family Services who administers SNAP, developing an incentive program and creating promotional materials.

The market’s partnership with Athens County Job and Family Services provided funding for staffing and marketing and helped connect their SNAP clients to the market. They were also helpful in advising on the types of promotional materials and efforts that would work best for attracting new customers.

In July 2008, the Athens Farmers Market offered $5 incentive coupons to SNAP customers to encourage them to shop at the market. Customer participation climbed and even after the incentive program was over the number of SNAP customers shopping at the market continued to grow.

From the beginning, the Athens Farmers Market SNAP project has been attracting new customers and allowing current customers the ability to buy more food for their families. Dedication to the project from the market’s management, vendors and partners, as well as a deep understanding of the Athens community has been rewarded by SNAP sales that are some of the highest in Ohio.

Like many American cities, Oakland lacks adequate public transit and sufficient access to healthy food to nourish its large, ethnically diverse and substantially low-income population, of which about 50% are African American, 20% Latino, 20% White and 10% Asian. The People’s Grocery is one of a number of progressive healthy-living organizations have sprung up around the Bay Area in the last ten years with the intent of improving these conditions.

The People’s Grocery is literally a market on the move. It travels around residential Oakland three days a week, all year long, parking its distinctive red truck at senior centers, public schools, parks and community centers. In low-income neighborhoods where more traditional markets have not been able to sustain themselves, mobile markets can better serve large, home-bound populations of seniors and people with disabilities. Although PPS encourages markets to operate from a stationary location because market sites promote Placemaking and the use of public space, well-established farmers markets may consider developing a mobile market to better reach communities with poor access to fresh foods.

The People’s Grocery maintains an in-house garden that provides about 30% of the produce it sells. The other 70% is bought and picked up from a network of about 14 farmers and gardeners at nearby farmers markets. In addition to fresh fruits and vegetables, the truck sells eggs, beans, dairy products, vitamins, soaps and packaged foods like healthy snacks.

The brightly colored truck is the People’s Grocery hallmark, but the organization is also known around the city for its youth programs and strong partnerships with prominent healthy living organizations. The West Oakland YMCA, for instance, is home to the People’s Grocery summer camp program. And the Rainbow Grocery Cooperative — another partner — runs the business side of the camp — a nine-week, intensive youth training program that introduces kids to cooking, nutrition education, communication techniques and hands-on business and urban agriculture lessons. In a short time, these partnerships have built up the reputation of the People’s Grocery as a grassroots organization that is making an substantial impact on Oakland’s food security.

The farmers market is sponsored and operated by the El Cajon Community Development Corporation. El Cajon CDC partners with International Rescue Committee San Diego Micro-enterprise Program to provide the low-income, ethnically diverse populations of East San Diego and El Cajon with many resources and services. They also assist low-income refugee and immigrant entrepreneurs to open new businesses. Leveraging the existing commercial kitchen operated by the CDC to generate new food-based micro-enterprises. This project was made possible in part by the USDA 2004 grant that helped their sophisticated nutrition and micro-enterprise program get off the ground. Additionally, refugee and low income entrepreneurs enrolled in the entrepreneurship program receive preferential access to market vending booths, comprehensive small business training classes, reduced vendor fees, access to the certified commercial kitchen, cash assistance and micro loans (if eligible).

El Cajon Marketplace brings fresh food and fresh business opportunities to this region of southern California. On any given Thursday afternoon year-round the El Cajon farmers market has 25-30 vendor stalls set up. Many are farmers, but many are also prepared food vendors and a few are crafters. The farmers accept Food Stamps, WIC and Senior Coupons. The result is a diverse market of vendors, customers and products, which includes everything from empanadas to Persian desserts.

The strength of the market is twofold. The food business incubator program is nested within the market providing new opportunities for marginalized people, while vendors accepting all the government nutrition program coupons allows for an economically diverse customer base.

When the market launched, the 74 farmers who participate in its June-to-October season formed an advisory board to help manage major decisions. One of the first decisions was to choose the market’s location at a parking lot on the campus of Northern New Mexico Community College (NNMCC). Here, market vendors–all of whom must sell vegetables, fruits, chilies, and corn-based crops that they produce, including crafts designed with harvested goods–can prepare value-added products in the college’s certified commercial kitchen.

A range of community events and partnerships utilize the market location to build local support. Seasonal events like the Taste of the Valley Festival and a potluck banquet create a dialogue between the farmers and the 300-500 daily customers about where their food comes from. A poetry contest, which encourages everyone from students to retired residents to write poems about how food and agriculture relates to their lives, is now spreading to local elementary schools. Whether it’s children eagerly pulling their parents to the free book exchange Monday morning, or volunteers building an outdoor Orno (traditional New Mexican clay oven for baking bread), the market is a city-wide affair serving more than the community’s appetite. The book exchange, started by market manager Sabra Moore to serve local kids, is growing continuously, and thanks to donations from organizations like the local library it now serves adults too.

The farmers also ensured that the market would accept WIC coupons. To make the coupons as easy to use as possible, WIC trainings are held in the conference room of the NNMCC on market days, allowing women to pick up their checks at the market site and making it more convenient for them to buy fresh produce. The Espanola Farmers Market is now the second largest WIC redeemer in New Mexico.

Carrollton, Georgia (population 20,000) once thrived on cotton farming. Today, developers from Atlanta eager to build subdivisions and strip malls are looking to buy up Carrollton’s farmland, which is owned mostly by elderly farmers. But the people behind the Cotton Mills Farmers Market have a different agenda for their region: preserving open space and farmland.

As small, local farms gradually diminish, so does the community’s connection to locally grown agriculture. To strengthen the connection between farmers and Carrollton residents, Wendy Krager created a farmers market that would increase consumers’ access to local food, allow farmers to profit from their work, and raise awareness about the need to protect farmland. Working with the University of Western Georgia, the town hospital, and a local banker and attorney, Krager opened the market in 2002. Today, 10-15 farmers sell their Georgia-grown produce to about 300 customers at weekly Saturday morning markets on a grassy downtown lot.

One noteworthy offshoot of the market is the two-year-old Farmers Fresh Food Cooperative. The cooperative works with local farmers to market their crops to restaurants in Birmingham, AL and Atlanta, GA. It also sponsors cooking demonstrations at the market and supports the growing trend among chefs to use local ingredients in their kitchens. Another is the Georgia Agriculture Land Trust, a citizen action group that works to protect zoning laws in Carrollton and conserve farmland. It is responsible for three farms being considered by the state as conservation land safe from sprawling development.

Despite many residents’ excitement about the newfound availability of local food, the market faces some challenges. One such challenge is how to make the market more appealing to people from Carrollton’s lower-income communities. Another is how to secure enough parking for customers. Market managers would also like to attract more farmers. Krager is working to break down the common myth that people cannot succeed financially at farming, and convincing local farmers that there are benefits to marketing their crops at the market.

Cotton Mills Farmers Market has work to do in order to grow sustainably, but it does achieve its goal of preserving open space by raising awareness of local food and increasing the walkability of downtown.

Thirty years after its creation in 1975, the Des Moines Farmers Market continues to meet one of its major goals: attracting people downtown to use the once vibrant city center for business and social events. Between 180 and 200 vendors from 44 of Iowa’s 99 counties market their goods on a closed off city street on Saturdays from May to October. Most of the 15,000 customers that come each market day perceive the central location as “everyone’s neighborhood, where everyone feels invited.”

Despite challenges like a lack of access to electricity, the market helps downtown Des Moines reclaim the sense of place it enjoyed before suburban sprawl drew residents from the city center. Local musicians perform and promote their music at the market’s five different stage areas. At other locations within the market, Des Moines’s not-for-profit organizations publicize their work and upcoming events, and the state college holds pep rallies, leads marching band concerts, and attracts new students. Special events, such as the 15th Anniversary celebration of the Americans with Disabilities Act or the Refugee Celebration for the area’s growing Hmong and Bosnian refugee communities, promote downtown Des Moines both as a community space and a lucrative shopping district for all Iowans.

The market’s ability to attract so many people downtown allows farmers–who comprise 80% of the 200 vendors–to get direct customer feedback on new value-added products, like salsas or cheeses. This helps them decide whether or not to continue making certain foods or to open a permanent shop downtown, which a number of vendors have already done.

The East New York Farmers Market, sponsored by East New York Farms! (ENYF) was established in 1999 to provide fresh food as well as economic opportunity for the youth and elderly of this poor, crime-ridden section in eastern Brooklyn. In a section of the city where access to healthy food is scarce the seasonal, once a week market which consists of several community gardeners, upstate farmers and one fisherman has become a popular gathering space for community residents.

The neighborhood of East New York has the largest number of community gardens in the entire five boroughs of New York. Many of the gardeners are elderly women who are motivated to work in these gardens as much for the social experience as for ability to grow healthy produce for themselves and their families. These gardens are so prolific that they often produce too much for the gardeners’ personal consumption so the connection to the market provides a much needed retail outlet where they can sell produce to their neighbors while earning some money.

For the neighborhood’s youth, EYNF operates a nine-month, paid internship program in which teenagers are given the opportunity to learn about agriculture at an urban farm in a hands-on atmosphere. Youth interns also help manage the market and interact with the elderly community gardeners helping to set up display tables, trash cans, and signs. They run their own produce stands and perform customer counts and surveys. At the end of the day, the youth break down and clean up the market space. On some days the more experienced youth also collaborate on cooking demonstrations. Rooted in high standards, this pro¬gram provides employment in an area of high youth unemploy¬ment and fosters leaders in the community.

In 2007, ENYF was able to acquire a second piece of land which doubled the size of their urban farm. The community gardens and youth-run urban farms were then able to accommodate 22 new gardeners (18 of which were immigrants) who produced $18,000 in produce over the growing season, increasing market sales by 20%. Working together the neighborhood has created economic opportunity for two sections of the population that are often overlooked, the youth and the elderly, while also providing healthy, fresh food for all members of the community.

Yet the organizers soon realized that accepting coupons did not immediately attract those eligible to use them — they had to re-think their outreach strategies to attract low-income customers. Based on the success of the Saturday market, they opened a second market Wednesday nights to make shopping more convenient. To help people without cars get there, city buses re-routed their bus lines during market hours. Since the market does not provide the same array of produce as a grocery store, the market manager created a Crop Availability Chart to help customers determine what food is available when. The charts are extremely successful with local nutritionists who work with mothers eligible for WIC. The local WIC office also began sponsoring two nutrition students at nearby Ball State University to set up a stall at the market delivering WIC vouchers, making smoothies, and holding taste tests for kids.

One of the most successful outreach activities has been a partnership with Motivate Our Minds (MOM). MOM is a popular local literacy and tutoring program run by African American women. They teach students from kindergarten to 12th grade how to grow vegetables and maintain gardens as well as improve reading skills. When kids in the MOM program started selling produce grown in their youth-managed gardens, the market attracted a more racially and economically diverse customer base.

Fondy Farmers’ Market, operated by Fondy Food Center, Inc. (FFC), is located in Milwaukee’s Near North Side, a neighborhood with high concentrations of hunger and poverty. Food pantries repre¬sent one of few sources of food for neighborhood residents. Fresh produce is sold in only a handful of grocery stores and according to Executive Director Young Kim, “residents do not have transportation to get to these stores.” To help provide a solution to this community’s food insecurity, the Fondy Farmers’ Market sells local, healthy produce and through a series of events, Fondy teaches community members to prepare and consume healthy food.

Fondy has been successful due to partnerships and an aggressive educational campaign. The market has partnered with the local WIC office to distribute information– and to inform the community that the market accepts SNAP/food stamps, WIC, and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) coupons. In 2007, it distributed 25 sets of DVDs on nutrition and healthy cooking to WIC offices in the area. It also produced six half-hour cooking shows on the local access television station and held cooking demonstra¬tions at neighboring food pantries. The market even distributed pots, pans and cooking utensils to customers who lacked adequate cookware. To make the program more effective, market representatives exchanged information and coordinated events such as health fairs and walking clubs with other public health organizations working in the area.

Beyond providing educational materials, Fondy seeks to solve the lack of healthy food by getting the community involved. According to Kim, “[increasing food access] is a matter of finding lead¬ers… as opposed to imposing a top-down method” of service provision. In 2008, Fondy hired a chef from the community and recipes for distribution were collected from community members to help make the cooking demonstrations more welcoming and effective. As a result, the Near North Side community not only has access to fresh food, but it has the tools and knowledge to benefit from it.

Six years ago Dr. Maring noticed vendors selling jewelry and handbags in the lobby of the Oakland, CA hospital where he worked. As a longtime farmers market shopper, he wondered if he could develop a market at his hospital that would serve large groups of people and support the hospital’s mission. To get started he brought the idea of a farmers market to the CEO and hospital operators. Through them he connected with John Silviera at the Pacific Coast Farmers Market Association (PCFMA) who immediately loved the idea.

In May 2003, with a contract from the PCFMA, the first Kaiser Permanente market opened between the parking lot and the main entrance to Dr. Maring’s Oakland hospital. Functioning as a subtle form of preventative medicine, the eight to nine vendors at the market provided a place for hospital visitors, patients, and employees to buy fresh produce, shop for food at a convenient location, and enjoy a work environment that encourages them to breathe fresh air as they buy locally grown strawberries, apricots, or peaches outside the hospital.

The first day felt like a block party and was an immediate success – strawberry vendors alone made over $2000. Quickly Dr. Maring sent emails and called peers at other Kaiser Hospitals. By the spring of 2004 six new farmers markets were providing fresh food at different hospital locations. The farmer-to-hospital momentum continued building and by the summer of 2005, 25 markets existed in five states, ranging from Georgia to Colorado to Hawaii.

The markets are geographically diverse and unique in that each hospital works with local vendors and farmers to manage their own market. What connects them are their three shared guiding principles: first, the markets must provide certified organic food; second, the food should not need refrigeration, meaning no fish, chicken, meat, or dairy; third, the markets must serve as healthy complements to the existing in-hospital cafeteria food, and not as competitive alternatives.

As a large company, Dr. Maring believes Kaiser can help build demand for fresh healthy food while it supports local farmers through its farmers market programs. Hospitals are where people go to regain their health, and Dr. Maring says there is “something to be said for hospital leadership supporting these markets” – markets that can help patients, visitors, and employees both stay healthy and get better.

In 2007, the Webb City Farmers’ Market began a project to increase the growing knowledge and capacity of its vendors and producers. Webb City, located in rural southwestern Missouri has in recent years experienced an unprecedented growth in Latino and Hmong immigrants. In order to tap into this new customer base, and make them feel more welcome, market organizers wanted to help immigrant vendors become more successful which they hoped would lead to more immigrants shopping at the market.

Many of the market’s immigrant vendors are Hmong and were at a distinct disadvantage because they were unfamiliar with the community’s produce tastes and with the region’s hot and dry climate. To help increase revenue for these vendors, as well as increase the amount and quality of produce being sold, market organizers created a hands-on training and education program with the county extension office and Hmong translators.

Eighty percent of the Hmong vendors participated in the trainings and sales among the Hmong vendors increased anywhere from 200% to 500%.These vendor trainings have had particular success in increasing the market’s social diversity, especially with regard to Hmong residents who buy and/or sell at the market. The number of Hmong vendors grew from five to 10 in one year. And market customers were pleased because the success of the Hmong vendors meant that they had access to higher quality produce.

The vendor trainings were so successful that in 2009 the market added English as a Second Language classes to their curriculum.

Both vendors and customers at the market are predominantly Latino, and a big draw has been the Latin American specialties that growers prepare from their own crops. Fresh local food, paired with live music, has turned downtown into an inviting place where families can kick off the weekend together. Other aspects of the market, such as music and art projects presented by Lindsay’s public schools, create a carnival atmosphere.

The market entices some 5000-6000 residents to come downtown every Friday. At the height of the season, people travel up to four hours just to visit the market for an evening. The 200 vendors–half of whom sell farmed produce–are the main attraction, but market-goers also frequent downtown’s retail establishments. Because downtown is now perceived as a shopping area, a few market vendors have even opened permanent shops and can rely on business all week. Making downtown a fun, safe place for city residents to socialize and shop is exactly what Loya, an ex-flea market vendor, and Scott Townsend, the city manager of Lindsay, hoped for when the market opened.

The People’s Grocery is literally a market on the move. It travels around residential Oakland three days a week, all year long, parking its distinctive red truck at senior centers, public schools, parks and community centers. In low-income neighborhoods where more traditional markets have not been able to sustain themselves, mobile markets can better serve large, home-bound populations of seniors and people with disabilities. Although PPS encourages markets to operate from a stationary location because market sites promote Placemaking and the use of public space, well-established farmers markets may consider developing a mobile market to better reach communities with poor access to fresh foods.

The People’s Grocery maintains an in-house garden that provides about 30% of the produce it sells. The other 70% is bought and picked up from a network of about 14 farmers and gardeners at nearby farmers markets. In addition to fresh fruits and vegetables, the truck sells eggs, beans, dairy products, vitamins, soaps and packaged foods like healthy snacks.

The brightly colored truck is the People’s Grocery hallmark, but the organization is also known around the city for its youth programs and strong partnerships with prominent healthy living organizations. The West Oakland YMCA, for instance, is home to the People’s Grocery summer camp program. And the Rainbow Grocery Cooperative — another partner — runs the business side of the camp — a nine-week, intensive youth training program that introduces kids to cooking, nutrition education, communication techniques and hands-on business and urban agriculture lessons. In a short time, these partnerships have built up the reputation of the People’s Grocery as a grassroots organization that is making an substantial impact on Oakland’s food security.

Seven vendors sell at the thirty-year-old market, offering a convenient place at which low-income residents can use federal and state subsidies such as WIC and EBT to supplement their diets. The market is constantly evolving to better provide nutrition and food education that meets the downtown community’s needs. One of the market stalls, for instance, is managed by Nuestras Raices (“Our Roots”), a youth organization that grows produce on urban farms specifically to meet the culinary desires of Holyoke’s Latino community.

Though the Holyoke Farmers Market is not yet self-supporting (due in part to the challenge of attracting more affluent suburban customers to buy at the market), it makes the most of its location next to important civic institutions. Across the street is City Hall, where people can pick up their WIC vouchers. Also neighboring the market are the Holyoke Health Clinic, where uninsured community members receive free and low-cost healthcare, and the Holyoke School Department, which coordinates field trips for 358 Holyoke youth participating in summer enrichment programs and issues coupons worth up to $1,790 that they can spend at the market.

The market has built partnerships to help sustain its finances, pay the market manager’s salary, and place advertisements for the market on city buses. A partnership with the Holyoke School Garden Program allows youth to sell the vegetables they grow at the market and then use the proceeds to support the garden program. Working with kids, in turn, gives garden organizers the opportunity to educate parents about healthy, nutritious food. Thanks to such innovative partnerships, the market is reaching a wider base and attracting more and more residents to its stalls.

Considering the decline in African American farmers in the United States, Seeds of Hope’s success at helping farmers stay in business is a remarkable accomplishment. The NAACP estimates that the rate of decline for African American farmers is three times greater than that of white farmers. Most of the Seeds of Hope farmers sell at three different congregations per week on average, which provides their primary source of income. Most of the farmers have been participating for at least 15 years and are doing much better financially than before they joined.

Seeds of Hope is also noteworthy for the links it has forged between farmers and religious organizations. It has partnerships with all denominations of churches, as well as synagogues, health centers, hospitals and community centers. Most of the markets operate on church land and their clientele consist of neighborhood residents and church members. Farmers markets located in church parking lots may not be unique, but Seeds of Hope has pioneered ways to tightly weave together the interests of each church’s members, the farmers, and the larger community. For example, produce left over at the end of the day is taken to a hunger agency chosen by the congregation.

Over the years, new farmers markets have sprung up in the towns where Seeds of Hope operates, forcing some of its farm stand to close. Bryan sees these developments as a sign of success. “We consider this a good thing,” she says. “It means we stimulated demand.”

Natwani Coalition Hopi Health Center, Special Diabetes Program

Spring, 2005

11am-3pm, first and third Tuesdays of every month

For more info, contact Andrew Lewis, Program Coordinator, at (928) 737-4646 or Natwani@hotmail.com

The Hopi Reservation in northeast Arizona is a food “desert” in more ways than one. Consisting of a handful of small villages amidst a wide-open desert, it is more than an hour’s drive over rocky, sandy terrain to the nearest supermarket. The reservation itself offers little in the way of fresh, affordable produce, only small grocery stores that sell snack foods and canned goods. The difficulty of accessing fresh fruits and vegetables is exacerbated by a low car-ownership rate and minimal public transportation on and around the reservation. Among other health concerns, rising obesity and diabetes rates on the reservation –and among Native populations in general–have reached crisis proportions. Of the 7000 people who use the local health center, 1600 adults have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. A 2002 study by Hopi Healthcare revealed that of 836 elementary school students, 48% of children were overweight or obese. In addition, a 2003 survey of 328 elementary school students indicated that 55% were outside of the healthy Body Mass Index (BMI) range.

To help address this incredible lack of access to fresh, nutritious food, the Hopi Health Center, the reservation’s only health facility, and the Natwani Coalition, a non-profit group under the auspices of the Hopi Foundation, partnered in early 2005 to bring a farmers market to the community. Though technically not yet a market, as there is still only one vendor, the fledgling program has brought fresh, quality produce – from heirloom tomatoes to fresh winter greens – to the reservation for the first time in many years. The market itself is strategically located in front of the health care center, providing additional opportunities for health outreach by clinic staff.

The market’s lone farmer travels over 4 and 1/2 hours from Glendale, AZ, just outside Phoenix. Although he sells at other markets closer to his farm, he is willing to make the long trip to Hopi for a number of reasons. First, he was honored to be invited to spend time on the reservation. But he also comes because of the market’s draw: demand for his fruits and vegetables is so high among residents, in fact, that he usually sells out his entire supply within 40 minutes of setting up. His own ability to meet this tremendous demand is limited because of both the size of his farm and that of his truck, so to help fill the gap, the Natwani Coalition is trying to get a second farmer before the season is over. Eventually, the community would like to be supported by farmers working on Hopi ancestral lands, but realize that it will take a significant amount of outreach to attract farmers.

The health center’s goal in starting the market, in addition to improving access to fresh, affordable produce, was to emphasize healthy eating and community involvement. Although not yet even through its first season, the Hopi Farmers Market is already starting to have an impact in both of these categories.

Sonia DeMarta hatched the idea for the Lexington Farmers Market after reading an article in WorldWatch Magazine titled “Where Have All the Farmers Gone?” By launching the market, she hoped to make a more secure future for farmers in Massachusetts. The challenge was finding the right farmers and building a broad customer base.

Between seven and fifteen longtime Massachusetts farmers sell at the Lexington Farmers Market, as well as several recent immigrants and women farm operators who are new to the scene. Completely volunteer-run, the market is very diverse given its location in suburban Massachusetts. The expectation is that the wide range of vendors will appeal to an equally varied group of customers.

DeMarta was able to invite newcomers to sell at the market through the Tufts New Entry Sustainable Farming Program. Many universities around the country have similar new entry or extension programs, including Iowa State University, the University of Illinois and Cornell University. In general, these programs link immigrants to farmland and help them make contacts at farmers markets and other venues where they can sell their goods. The Tufts New Entry Program connected the Lexington Farmers Market with two immigrant farmers — one African and one Hmong. Both sell local produce as well as fruits and vegetables that are popular among their ethnic communities. Two other immigrants sell prepared food at the market: A Chinese vendor sells homemade tofu, and a Brazilian vendor makes a special coconut dessert.

The market also broadened its appeal through a food coupon program that helps a small number of low-income residents shop at the market. The market received an anonymous grant of $1000 for this purpose, using it to distribute $10 coupon books to houses of worship, a senior center, and the local Food Bank. The coupons have helped the market promote itself and form partnerships with these important institutions. The challenge now is to make the program sustainable in the long-term.

Camden, New Jersey

Camden Area Health Education Center (AHEC) operates a network of farmers markets in the distressed city of Camden, serving the needs of low-income customers and communities with a special focus on advancing public health. The network’s goal is to create awareness of the role that the markets play in improving public health while contributing to the revitalization of Camden. The network, which started with just one farm stand, has grown to four farmers markets spread throughout the city operating in parks, outside hospitals and at transit stops.

To address the city’s troubling health issues the market network not only provides access to fresh produce, but also serves as a temporary health clinic for its customers. Every market day local community health groups table alongside farmers and vendors, sharing health and nutrition information and education. Some of the health organizations even screen customers for diseases, such as high blood pressure. The success of these groups has made the markets popular places to reach out to Camden residents and the network now has a waiting list of health groups interested in tabling at the market.

To better connect to Camden youth, the network started the Junior Chef’s Program; eight two-hour interactive classes held at a summer camp. The program, held in partnership with Rutgers Cooperative Extension, consists of nutrition and exercise lessons, cooking classes and field trips to a farmers market, family-owned farm, community garden and a supermarket.

By connecting the ability to purchase fresh, healthy food from regional farmers with nutrition and health advocacy and information from city health organizations the market network has created a dynamic public gathering space for Camden residents to feel safe and enjoy time together.

In 1932, in the midst of the Great Depression, a group of female Maryland farmers were looking for a way to support themselves and their families through farming. They began with one food stand, which became so successful they soon moved into a small white building on Wisconsin Avenue. Over 70 years later, the continued success of the Montgomery Farm Women’s Cooperative Market shows the decision was a good one.

The market’s tradition of being managed by women has not changed through the years, and there are no plans to change any time soon. Market manager Barbara Johnson points out that at the Women’s Market, “Once you get a stand, you get married to the market.” Some women have been there for 50 years and their families now assist in selling goods at the year-round, three-times-a-week market.

Other aspects of the market, like what types of food are sold, have changed. Today the market is known as a unique, community place to buy prepared food – not as a traditional farmers market with fresh, locally grown produce. About two thirds of the 26 vendors, only four of whom are men, sell prepared food made from either home-grown or store-bought ingredients. The fact that customers can buy all the food they need or want–ranging from cakes to potato salads to vegetables–is viewed as one of the market’s greatest assets. The only restriction on food sold is that each vendor must sell different items than the other vendors.

The market may not be the best place to purchase local food, but it is a terrific example of how 22 women can turn their skills preparing food, whether through farming or baking, into a profitable business connected to generations of loyal customers.