City Fresh receives $100,000 to expand food access programs

City Fresh received a $100,000 grant from the Great Lakes Thriving Communities program.

The Great Lakes Thriving Communities program is administered by The Minneapolis Foundation. It supports communities that work to protect air and water, make homes safe, and address environmental hazards. City Fresh, a Northeast Ohio nonprofit, was selected for the funding. The organization focuses on making locally grown produce accessible to residents.

The money supports two main parts of City Fresh's work. First, it funds environmental education programming. These activities include guided hikes, free community celebrations, and workshops. They take place at the organization's headquarters, George Jones Memorial Farm in Oberlin. The farm is located at 44333 St Rt 511. Second, the grant supports the Navigator program. This is a workforce development effort that trains community members to become advocates for food justice.

Navigators host and promote neighborhood Fresh Stops farm box pickup sites. These sites help neighbors access fresh, local food at low or no cost. Navigators also provide nutrition and environmental education focused on seasonal eating. The farm box program delivers more than 9,000 boxes of produce annually. The produce is grown by local farmers. The program uses tiered pricing and accepts SNAP and EBT to reduce barriers to fresh food.

Eleanor, a City Fresh Navigator in the Collinwood neighborhood, described the produce from City Fresh farmers. She said the farmers care about how they grow their vegetables. "You can see it in the produce. It’s so delicious, with vegetables I’d never even heard of or seen before, and I still get them from City Fresh to this day," Eleanor said.

Anna Kiss Mauser-Martinez, Executive Director of City Fresh, explained the impact of the funding. The grant helped deliver programming that connects community members to the source of their food. This includes protecting biodiversity, planting seeds, and nourishing neighbors. Mauser-Martinez stated that the funding helped build infrastructure to sustain the region.