Breaking The Barrier

The Perfect Location  

FreshFarm Markets has 4 farmer’s markets in the Washington, DC area.  Although their markets are not located in my neighborhood I am still an loyal customer.  The Market close to my community is located on H and 13th Street NE. This is about a 30 minutes bus ride on the X2 bus leaving from Minnesota Avenue Station. This specific FreshFarm’s site SCREAMS farmer market to me.  The location is perfect for any means of transportation.  It is located 3 blocks from Union Station on the Red Line, there are more than 5 metro buses that come within one block of the market, and parking in the area is free on Saturday mornings.  Adding to the transportation perks, Capital Bike Share has a bike parking lot located near the exit of the market. The Capital Bike Share program is a 24hour bike rental service with rates as low as $6.25 a month.

*The market's location makes it accessible for many customers, by foot, bike, or car*

Community Supported because they SUPPORT THEIR COMMUNITY 

            The FreshFarm market brings locally grown and fresh fruits, and vegetables into the NE community.  Speaking from experience and the statistics on their website, Their Saturday Market is never empty.

            FreshFarm offers nutrition assistance programs.  This is the number one reason I believe FreshFarm supports the community in which it is located.  They pay attention to the community as a whole, not just the select few who are financially stable.

There SNAP program allows individuals who are receiving EBT (Electronic Benefit Trust a welfare program that allocates funds to families, and individual who are living under the poverty line or just above it) to use the funds at the market. Funds are transformed into tokens of the same monetary value.

There MATCHING DOLLAR PROGRAM allows SNAP customers to double, or match up to $15 dollars of their EBT funds.  For example, if a customer uses $5 of EBT funds, FreshFarm gives them an additional $5 dollars. The maximum dollars matched each visited is $15, but the tokens never expire, and they can be used at any of the 6 DC or Maryland locations.

Such programs erase the barrier that block many people who are unable to buy healthier foods due to financial situations. 

H Street market is fairly new to the DC area compared to Eastern Market and the Florida Avenue Farmer Market (Union Market).  Eastern Market and Union Market both opened in 1871. However, a market wide fire caused Union Market to shut down, and Giving Eastern Market the title of, “DC’s  Oldest Continually Operated Fresh Food Public Market”.  

*A Sketch of Eastern Market from 1875* 

Eastern Market is open 6 days out of the week, and it is closed on Mondays.  Eastern Market is not my favorite place to go because it is a large indoor and outdoor (in the spring & summer) market.  I tend to become over whelmed in over crowed, and loud situations.  Eastern Market is the Farmer’s market for dedicated customers.  If you do not know how to properly blend in, remember prices, and navigate through large crowds stick to smaller markets such as H Street Market. 

*Modern day Eastern Market*

Where are the WHOLE FOODS?

***Before reading this post there are a few basic thing you need to know about the demographics of Washington, DC and the location of the grocery store discussed in the Washington Post article Yes! Organic Market Pulls out of Southeast***

1. The term “East of the River” refers to the Southeast Quadrant of Washington, DC.
  The majority of people living in the S.E quadrant of Washington, DC are African- American.
2. DC’s Total Population (2012) = 630,000
3. DC’s “East of the River” Population (2012) = 140,000
4. Number of full service Grocery Stores in DC = 34
5. Numbers of full service Grocery Stores “East of the River” = 3 
6. More than 50% of DC’s population identifies as African- American.  Simple math can tell you that about ½ of DC’s African- American population lives “East of the River”, and simple math can also tell you that the grocery stores are not equally distributed throughout DC.

Two events sparked this Blog: The conversation we shared in class about Whole Foods, and a recent trip home last week.

* Southeast 1st Organic Market. Yes! Organic Market, located right off of highway 295 on Pennsylvania Ave. S.E. Photo Courtesy of GoogleMaps*

During my trip home last week I noticed that my community’s only Yes! Organic Market was no longer there.  The Yes! Organic Market was created in 2010 with hopes to bring healthier choice to residents who live “East of the River”. Distance wise, the store is about a 12 minute drive from my home, but driving is not an option because the store does not have a parking lot, and it does not help that it is located right off of the highway (and parking in the area is always impossible to find).

            The storeowner is still the same, however he decided to change the name to, ‘Healthy Gourmet Market’.  Two article in the Washington Post, “Yes! Organic Market Pulls out of Southeast” &  “Yes! Organic Market in Southeast to Remain Open Under New Name” discusses his success with his other 10 Yes! Markets in DC that are not located “East of the River”.  The owner believes several factors are to blame for his unsuccessful Southeast Organic Market:

• Location (Located Right off of the highway there is often traffic blocking the drop off points for the store)
• Residents (Can enough members of the Southeast community afford a healthier diet?)
• Accessibility (There is not a parking lot!!!!!)

The points covered in both articles correlated with the Rachel Slocum's article, "Race in the Study of Food". She raised a very important question, "What difference does race make in the fields where food is grown, the places it is sold and the manner in which it is eaten?"

            
Unfortunately, race and accessibility are an issue with this Yes! Organic Market.  The fact that they do not have a designated parking area is a major issue.  This forces the committed customers, like my family, to transform a 12 minute family car ride into a 30+ minute public transportation ride, or during rainy days, a 20 dollar taxi ride. The taxi days suck for me, and I wonder how other families who live a greater distance than me feel.  Since the residents of the area are African- American race comes into play.  Because the Yes! Organic Market was not successful within its first 2 years of business, without incorporating any other factors a general statement such as, This community, which is located East of the River, does not shop at its community Organic market.  However, the people who are constructing such general statements are ignoring the fact that the location of this Market makes it impossible to have customers if they do not live in walking distance of the Market.  The accessibility factor is greater than the race factor in my eyes.

Fixing The Problem

Hopefully, the “failure” of Southeast first organic market doesn’t close the door on future projects, but opens the door with what can work and what will not work.

Informing the community, my family is really active within my community & I remember the hype around Yes! Coming, however I don’t recall any mention (except for the newspaper article) about its name change.  Although they changed its title in September of 2012, the actual sign outside of the market was changed just recently, recently enough that a current GoogleMap search still displays the name Yes! Organic Market.

*for a list of DC demographics click here. 

Why Wait Until College?

Why Wait Until College?

As I was reading the Barlett piece, Campus Sustainable Food Projects I came across a great idea!  Why target universities with “sustainable food project”, why don’t we start with elementary schools or high schools?  Now, I know of two simple responses: Money and Time… But what if money and time weren’t factors in this problem?  The 4 components discussed in the article could easily be converted to aid elementary and high schools:

Four common components of campus sustainable food projects:

1. dining-service innovations in procurement, menus,

and kitchen operations;

2. academic and co-curricular programs, including

courses, concentrations, and internships;

3. direct-marketing opportunities, including farmers

markets and community supported agriculture

(CSAs);

4. hands-on experiences

I have drafted a plan (which is an obvious “revision” of the above plan found in the article)

 Target: Washington, DC Public School Cafeterias & Food Suppliers

Elementary School Sustainable Food Project:

            Dinning Services

Discontinue meal transportation system.  By stopping the meals that are “trucked” in on a bi- weekly bias we are automatically opening up a healthier window option: Have ingredients shipped and prepared the day of services.

            Kitchen Operations

This statement might sound ironic, but, the majority of DC Public Elementary Schools don’t actually have kitchens!  They have a large room within the cafeteria with a giant microwave to heat the food.  

What if every building came equipped with an actually kitchen? And with an actual kitchen you would need actual chefs.  In order to implement the following plan the school will need to hire chefs, just not staff who are trained in using a microwave.

            Academic Program/ Activities

This step is the easiest… Simple incorporate lesson plans about where the food being supplied is coming from.

            CSA/ farmers markets

On the student level, take children to Farmer’s markets for a field trip, and enforce the importance of supporting locally grown food.  Compare a contrast the differences between fresh and package vegetables.

           

The above plan is only an idea.  I do not want to discredit the “New Food, New Visions” program that DC has implemented in several school sites.  But until every public school in DC is receiving locally grown vegetables and fruits we still have a problem.

If nutritional standards are set at a very young education level they well progress with the individuals.  Hopefully, the elementary students who are receiving fresh vegetables will be the college campus leaders who will go the extra mile to support campus wide sustainability projects.