Author: Josh Medore | Photo credit: Josh Medore
It wasn’t long into the partnership between ACTION (Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods) and Flying High Inc. to deliver freshly-grown produce into Youngstown neighborhoods that the two nonprofits realized the work could be more efficient and effective.
“By the second year, we realized that’s a lot of work – loading and unloading tables, setting up produce – and that we can really only do it on warm, nice day,” says Vicki Vicars, ACTION’s lead organizer.
The solution, it turned out, was a project less than an hour away in Stark County, where community market StarkFresh had started its own mobile shop about eight years ago. After a visit and conversation with the Stark County nonprofit, ACTION got to work on fundraising and in a little over six months, raised enough to buy, equip and staff the custom-made van – $280,000, including a combined $80,000 from the Western Reserve Health Foundation, William Swanston Charitable Fun and the Community Foundation.
“Everyone saw the need for something like this,” says Rose Carter, the executive director for ACTION. “It was all because of the generosity of donors like the Community Foundation, the Swanston Charitable Fund, the Western Reserve Health Foundation, other local foundations and community members that we’re out here.”
Making several stops every week across the city, the Mahoning Valley Mobile Market is staffed by a team from ACTION and Flying High and sells produce grown at Flying High’s GROW Urban Farm on the North Side of Youngstown, as well as products from local farmers and other important staples, such as eggs, butter and milk.
As part of the effort to improve community health and address the lack of grocery stores across the city, the goal of the Mobile Market isn’t just to deliver produce – it’s to provide a scaled-down version of what you could find in most markets.
“Access to all food is an issue. We want people to be able to purchase affordable produce, affordable grains, affordable foods of all kinds that are important for a healthy diet,” Vicars says. “We can really meet a lot of needs. As long as you aren’t looking for anything super exotic, we can meet the needs for all the food groups that a family needs.”
The market doesn’t give food away, but does offer $10 vouchers at every market and accepts SNAP cards, WIC vouchers, Produce Perks tokens and senior vouchers.
At many markets, ACTION welcomes community partners also working to improve community health, such as the Youngstown City Health Department, Mahoning County Public Health, Mercy Health, Humana and more. While the van is emblazoned with Flying High and ACTION’s logos, this work isn’t theirs alone, Carter and Vicars say.
“All these health services are part of the bigger picture for a healthy community. We’re thrilled that Mercy is here doing cooking demonstrations. We’re happy that Humana is here to talk about services for seniors. We’re excited to have the health departments here talking about shots,” Vicars says. “All of these things are what’s going to make us a better community and uplift people toward better health.”
Adds Carter: “There are a lot of organizations out there working to address barriers to food access and we applaud that work. We’re happy to support them and work with them. This market is just one piece of building a true safety net for our community. I don’t think that we’re the ultimate solution; we’re one part of that solution. It takes a community to solve a community problem like this.”
