TOn Thursday afternoon you will see colorful scenes at the 51st Street Green Line L station – a large flight bus with bright photo collages with fruits, vegetables, and glowing faces, parks, parks, parks, and 20 large-scale small businesses. To reduce food security in the South and West, this is the last of three stops for the city’s mobile non-profit mobile phone market. Growth Force disbanded in 2017, but the bus will be run by urban growers, under the leadership of former Chicago Growth Director Erika Allan Manot, a new food justice organization.
On the hot afternoon I visited, about ten people stood outside the new mobile market, wearing masks and waiting in line and patiently buying fruit, vegetables, and canned goods at grocery farms. Laurel Sims, a partner at UGC, buys most of the seasonal and non-climatic options: bananas, avocados – from Midwest Foods so consumers can find the fresh ingredients they need. However, much of the negotiation, which is well-represented on the overlapping wire racks, will grow out of the participants in one or eight of the eight UGC farms for the Chicago inclusion program, which will provide training to BIPOC farmers who need it.
For its part, Sims said, by growing the food itself, UGC can keep customers low. The new mobile market also accepts dual-value coupons and offers $ 10 vouchers throughout the pandemic, an option that SIMs hopes to extend until the end of the year.
The hot mobile market is moving
urbangrowerscollective.org
Of course, lowering prices is a central concern. Food insecurity in southern and western Chicago — although many grocery stores call it a desert, or more importantly, apartheid production — only worsened during the epidemic. The UPC has turned its attention to emergency relief, using the Fresh Moves bus as one of several ways to transport more than a million pounds of food to those in need. UGC uses the bus to distribute USADA food boxes between 200 and 500 boxes per day. “People appreciate the consistency of the bus,” Sims said. “Many businesses had to be shut down in COVID. During the outbreak, we thought about how to raise and expand funds at ten sites.
Hot activities stop at three locations a day from Monday to Friday, spending about two hours at each station – as Claretian collaborators in South Chicago, Trina Davila in Humboldt Park and several Howard Brown Health Clinics. And the demand is high – Sims said Fresh Movis customer base has tripled in the last four years. Auxiliary van – portable stock – follows the bus to each station, filling the shelves for staff members with peppercorns, tomatoes, eggs, and onions. If I look at the Bokville stop, it’s a process.
Sims UGC said it wants to deploy a second hectare bus on the west side of the Green Era campus: a nine-hectare development farm, a teaching kitchen, a farm, and an anaerobic plant. To open in Auburn Gresham in the spring. The company is struggling to produce enough to meet current demand.
Most of the hot spots are health centers and churches, charities that connect and serve people in need. But I was especially interested in visiting the Boxingville Park because of the 51st and Calumet Avenue vibrations. Fresh mobile consumers can browse the brightly painted small fronts at a custom clothing store, healthcare store, or Sandville, Washington, director of engagement. People can have snacks at consciousness plates, vegan / alkaline restaurants or (like me) snacks. UGC has half a shop in a box to sell dried and packaged dried herbs and teas for children in their internship program. While I was waiting, I saw an old woman cyclist, a young boxer, who had started a bicycle business. Gob itors can wander across the street to the Bronzeville Community Garden and admire the wall-to-wall wall of Chard, Echinisa and dressing green beds. For deep-rooted injustice – two brilliant solutions – one on wheels, one on transport – to meet and create an atmosphere of optimism and hope.