Youthmarket Brings Fresh Produce to Lower East Side
By Henry Street Settlement
On a blazing Thursday, a team of high school and college students kept crisp their enticing stocks of oregano, blueberries, lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, and tomatoes under a shady tent top. They had set up the recognizable GrowNYC tent in front of Abrons Arts Center at 7 a.m. in time for their produce delivery from a Bronx warehouse—and soon began ringing up purchases.
By noon, the tomatoes had nearly sold out.
The Youthmarket at Abrons Arts Center is a project of GrowNYC, which operates the city’s Greenmarkets. It employs about 50 young people each summer, teaching them small-business skills while providing healthy, locally grown fruits and vegetables to neighborhoods with few healthy grocery options and high prevalence of diabetes and obesity.
“People are so happy to have us back,” says Katherinne Mingo, a junior at Hunter College, who is participating for a third summer. “It is about food justice and trying to make organic food available to everyone.”
Darely Paz, an incoming senior at the Lincoln Academy of Science at Hostos College, was attracted to the program’s emphasis on teamwork, and “the food is so healthy,” she says. “It motivates you to eat better and promotes the health of people in the neighborhood.”
Putting up tent is just one of the things that participants learn in a daylong training that also covers nutrition, the types of payment the market accepts, and sanitation rules—such as never putting a box of fruit or vegetables on the ground. They also learn how to give cooking demonstrations!
The market features foods used in ethnic cooking, such as bok choy and cilantro; selections change with the season’s harvest. During the day, the youth talk about the food with shoppers, who are generally delighted by the super-fresh, colorful offerings.
“My favorite time is when it gets busy and everyone is asking us questions, like ‘Is everything organic?’” Mingo says.
(Answer: Most of the food is organic, although in some cases the farms are too small to have pursued official certification.)
Some neighbors note that certain foods, such as lettuce, sometimes cost more than they do at the grocery store. “We explain that it is all grown on 10 to 15 small farms within 200 miles of us, which really cuts down on the environmental effects of shipping,” Mingo says.
The Youthmarket offers several perks to low-income community members. People who pay with EBT get a two dollar coupon for every five dollars they spend on fruits and vegetables, and staff donate leftovers to anyone who needs them at the end of the day. And best of all? Participants get not only great job experience but armloads of veggies to bring home to their families.
Henry Street welcomes the GrowNYC Youthmarket back this summer!
