Kaiser Permanente's own Preston Maring, MD, shared his Thanksgiving menu – developed using organic, locally sourced produce – on a live ABC News broadcast Wednesday morning.

Dr. Maring, who founded Kaiser Permanente's farmers' markets program in 2003, talked about why good food is such a key ingredient in the recipe for healthy living. Dr. Maring recounted how he created the farmers' market program because he thought that his patients and colleagues could live healthier lives if they consumed more fruits and vegetables.

He opened Kaiser Permanente's first farmers' market at Oakland Medical Center in 2003. Today , 38 Kaiser Permanente facilities offer organic produce markets. Further, Kaiser Permanente's medical centers in Northern California use organic produce in thousands of patient meals each day.

Maring recently received a Kellogg Foundation Food in Society Policy Fellowship for his work creating the farmers' markets.

Watch Dr. Maring now on ABC News. You also can check out his Thanksgiving recipes through his blog.

The Farmers Market Federation of New York, a 2006 PPS grantee, received a $125,000 grant from the Humpty Dumpty Institute to encourage Electronic Benefit Transfer (food stamp) recipients in upstate New York to use their benefits at their local farmers markets. The pilot program hopes to expand the use of EBT cards at 43 farmers markets in upstate counties.

Beginning in the 2008 market season, EBT customers will receive a $5 coupon for every $5 they spend using EBT on fruits and vegetables at a farmers market. This will not only double their purchasing power, but will also double the amount of healthy, local produce they take home. ﾓThis program has double impact. It not only encourages food stamp recipients to purchase more fruits and vegetable, but also benefits New Yorkﾒs small family farmers,ﾔ said Constance Milstein, chairman of the Humpty Dumpty Institute.

Incentives programs for attracting EBT clients to farmers markets have been successful in markets across the nation, including in Lynn, Massachusetts and New York City, where the cityï¾’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is partnering with farmers markets to distribute Health Bucks, $2 coupons for fresh produce, to EBT customers spending $5 in local produce at the markets.

 

When USA Today asked Alice Waters, co-owner of the famed restaurant Chez Panisse, to compile a list of some of the country’s best farmers markets she made sure to include PPS grantee City Seed, located in New Haven, CT.

One of only two East Coast markets cited, the City Seed Wooster Square Farmers Market was noted for their focus on accessibility. The market accepts Farmers Market Nutrition Program coupons, as well as Electronic Benefits Transfer (food stamps), making it easier for low-income New Haven residents to shop and enjoy the market.

Jennifer McTiernan, executive director of City Seed, was pleased with the recognition,“We were thrilled with the USA Today article, not just because it mentioned the market that we run, but because it specifically listed that we were accessible to the community. Though I think that there’s definitely more we could do to make that more of a reality, it was exciting to see the work that we have done in that area being recognized.”

Click here to read the full USA Today article Top Ten Markets for Cultivating Organic Growers
 

 

Three urban planners from PPS visited Churchhill County and Fallon, NV, in an effort to inventory and assess local gathering places and destinations around town. 

Phil Myrick, vice president of PPS, and Elena Madison, assistant vice president, presented a list of sites they felt could be better utilized in Fallon. The team, which also included farmers market expert David O'Neil, toured downtown and the county and polled local residents on needed changes or additions to bring people together and to the downtown area.

There are 4,400 farmers markets in the United States, more than three times the number in 1994, with an estimated sales volume of $1 billion, according to the Department of Agriculture. But not one is quite like Crossroads in Takoma Park, funded in part by a grant awarded by Project for Public Spaces and funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

This interview with Fred Kent appeared in the February 2007 issue of Urban Land:

"As an internationally known advocate for public spaces, Fred Kent, founder of the New York-based  Project for Public Spaces (PPS), sees cities - and the people who inhabit them - through the measured senses of an urban provocateur."

Although New York prides itself on its public life, New Yorkers inhabit a public realm that pales beside what it could become. "After working in cities around the world, we've developed a rich understanding of public spaces that begs to be put to use back in our home town," explains PPS President Fred Kent. "New York can benefit from our experience and become an even greater city in the 21st century."

Museum Mile Festival, 5th Avenue 

Read this special issue of PPS's newsletter Making Places, which includes the city commentary, New York great public spaces and hidden gems, and the places that provide the biggest opportunities for improvement.

Listen to Fred Kent discuss what makes a great waterfront on San Diego's KPBS.

Congratulations to the San Jose/Guerrero Coalition to Save Our Streets, co-recipient of the 2006 Grand Award, given by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in San Francisco.

The Coalition of neighborhood activists successfully transformed a dangerous 6-lane arterial into a traffic-calmed street with wide medians, safe pedestrian crossings, and bike lanes. PPS worked with the Coalition to create a Neighborhood Plan, to further redevelop the neighborhood's streets into great public spaces.

Read more about PPS's work with the San Jose/Guerrero Coalition to Save our Streets here.

Less room for cars translates to more room for bicyclists. (Photo: Noah Berger)

At Brooklyn Bounty's forum "Farms, Food and Healthy Communities," supporters of farmers' markets in low-income neighborhoods of Brooklyn met to discuss the challenges they face in providing access to fresh, healthy foods, building relationships between farmers and consumers, and creating farmers' markets that function as community meeting places.

The forum was part of a year-long planning effort funded by Project for Public Spaces. 

PPS is seeking a Transportation and Placemaking Project Manager in its transportation line of business. Candidates should have experience in several of the following areas: transportation and land use planning and/or policy, TOD,  transportation facility design, public participation and facilitation, community development, redevelopment and real estate development  market analysis. The selected candidate will report to the Vice President for Transportation and work with other VPs, project associates and interns on a range of planning, research, and marketing projects, including land and community development projects and general and specific plans for communities, cities and counties.

Read more about this position at: http://www.pps.org/info/aboutpps/jobopenings

An extensive study conducted by Project for Public Spaces of Anchorage's popular weekend open market concludes that it works well in its present location, but should grow to interact more with the rest of the downtown area.

A report by Project for Public Spaces recommended that Covington, KY, build an open-air public market to anchor its planned Times-Star Commons project.

Crystal Crawford, mayor of Del Mar, CA, attended a presentation given by Fred Kent, President of Project for Public Spaces, and writes this of the experience:

"I was totally impressed by his presentation and struck by the possibilities for Del Mar.  I sat captivated by Mr. Kent’s description of what creates wonderful public spaces while seeing his photographs from around the world demonstrating those very concepts.  I could not help but think about how we could apply these very concepts to the revitalization of Del Mar’s business district and, by doing so, further the principles of our Community Plan."

An interview with Fred Kent, President and founder of PPS, on what it means to create a great place and why the concept of Placemaking has gone international.

Phil Myrick and David O'Neil traveled to Anchorage to visit the city's markets and meet with businesses to better connect the markets to the city's main retail area.  

 

Image (c) Anchorage Daily News 

PPS staff members Steve Davies, Ethan Kent, and Elena Madison traveled to Flint MI for two days of meetings with city officials, community leaders and stakeholders, and tours of potential sites that could be transformed into vibrant destinations.

PPS will return to Flint for public workshops that will focus on Riverbank Park, and the Flint Farmers' Market, which will take place on July 25 and 26.
 

PPS is assiting with the development of a new public market that will feature 48 vendors in an open-air shed, and is helping to ensure that the market represents the community that is 79% hispanic.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact - Chris Heitmann or Shin-pei Tsay, Project for Public Spaces 212-620-5660
May 30, 2006
 
Grants totaling $900,000 will increase the capacity of farmers markets to expand and enhance their operations

NEW YORK, NY - Eleven state and regional associations founded to advance farmers markets will capitalize on the massive growth of member markets with support from the international non-profit Project for Public Spaces (PPS). Grants of $55,000 to $100,000 will be used to develop innovative programs to increase the impact they have on communities, with a focus on low-income communities, while expanding opportunities for farmers.  

PPS received 75 proposals from across the country in this new grant initiative, which is being undertaken with funding provided by the Ford Foundation and W.K. Kellogg Foundation.  The grants are part of a three-year, $3 million grant-making program, which began in 2005.  

The growth of farmers market networks and associations is a direct response to the rapid growth of farmers markets across the country. The number of farmers markets across the United States has increased by 65% in the last decade to an estimated 3,700 today. 

Most farmers markets are started at the grassroots level with few resources from which to grow.  Collectively, as part of metropolitan networks or statewide/regional associations, multiple farmers markets and/or public markets within one metropolitan area can be operated, sponsored, or facilitated by a single network.  Markets can share operating costs, increase economic sustainability and enhance their viability in low-income communities, thereby improving farmersï¾’ profits.  Networks can also develop broader community partnerships and effect change on a larger scale than individual markets might be able to.  

Associations have a broader reach than networks, and can also serve as advocates, helping to foster innovation at the local level, raising awareness of farmers marketsï¾’ ability to address issues of food security, health and nutrition, and community development, and building new partnerships to expand the number of farmers markets within a state or region.  
 
"These grants provide much-needed financial support to allow market networks and associations to envision and forge new partnerships with health institutions, community development groups, schools, and land trusts,ï¾” said Steve Davies, Senior Vice President of Project for Public Spaces.  ﾓWe also hope these projects will in particular help bridge divides in so-called "shifting sands" communities, rural and urban places where there is a growing presence of new immigrant groups, refugees and minorities."

While spurring innovation at the local level, this initiative aims to help develop more supportive state and federal policies for markets and work to create ongoing sources of funding for farmers markets.  A current example of inter-agency collaboration aimed at improving support for markets is the newly formed Farmers Market Consortium, a public-private partnership between USDA, Project for Public Spaces, and the Ford and W.K. Kellogg Foundations, among others.   The Consortium recently published the Farmers Market Resource Guide to highlight funding opportunities available to markets.

Grantees were chosen with the help of PPS's 12 member Public Markets Advisory Board, which brings together individuals representing housing and transit agencies, policy groups, health institutions, and farmers, and with the collaboration of the Farmers' Market Coalition, which focuses entirely on policy issues related to farmers' markets.  The Grantees are as follows:

Market Network Grantees
With Support from The Ford Foundation

Southland/Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Farmers Market Program
Grantee: Southland Farmers Market Association
Los Angeles, CA
Grant Amount: $100,000
Grant Term: April 1, 2006 - April 1, 2008

Southland Farmers Market Association, in partnership with LAUSD, will develop eight farmers markets at public schools throughout the city, increasing access to affordable food and enhancing the role of schools as community places.  The association will document the strategic visioning and implementation phases of the project to create a model for school districts and farmers market groups around the county.

Bridging the Divide: Growing Self Sufficiency in West Louisville
Grantee: Community Farm Alliance
Louisville, KY
Grant Amount: $100,000
Grant Term: April 1, 2006 - September 30, 2007

Under the leadership of the Community Farm Alliance, the West Louisville Food Working Group will bring together the Champions of West Louisville, an organization composed of African American community development leaders, a farmer led co-op, and neighborhood farmers markets to strengthen urban-rural economic linkages and create a viable local food system.  The network will complete a community food assessment and provide economic opportunities for local residents and Kentucky farmers by expanding existing farmers markets as well as by developing a local food distribution center and a shared use commercial kitchen to foster regional entrepreneurship.

From Field to Table: Creating a Sustainable Model for Farmers Markets in Low-Income Toronto Neighborhoods
Grantee: FoodShare Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Grant Amount: $100,000
Grant Term: April 1, 2006 - April 1, 2008

Working with a network of existing markets in the city, FoodShare Toronto will work with community organizations to develop at least three new markets in low-income Toronto communities that improve access to fresh food and to create community gathering places. Through partnerships with community development groups and health and other social service agencies, they will develop a model collaborative approach for creating and sustaining farmers markets in low-income neighborhoods.

Rebuilding Farmers Market Networks on Post-Katrina Gulf Coast
Grantee: marketumbrella.org/Loyola University
New Orleans, Louisiana
Grant Amount: $100,000
Grant Term:  November 1, 2005 - October 30, 2006

Hurricane Katrina has largely devastated all aspects of some 15 markets on the Gulf Coast in both Louisiana and Mississippi:  commercial fishers, farmers, family enterprises (farmers, fishers, bakers, and more), market staff, and many market sites. The funds will be used to help resume operations of public markets in the region, in ways especially designed to meet post-Katrina needs, with the potential to engage new partners.  The Ford Foundation provided an additional $150,000 in funding from its Katrina relief efforts, for a total commitment of $250,000.

Community Health Market Alliance
Grantee: Camden Area Health Education Center (AHEC)
Camden, NJ
Grant Amount: $60,000
Grant Term: April 1, 2006 - September 30, 2007

This new network effort will allow Camden AHEC to expand their downtown community farmers market, strengthen a neighborhood market, and start a new market in the city. They will increase the markets' impacts on health and wellness by increasing access to nutritious, local food, providing preventative healthcare services, and establishing safe community gathering places.

Brooklyn's Bounty: Growing Community Markets and Supporting Family Farms
Grantee: Just Food
Brooklyn, NY
Grant Amount: $55,000
Grant Term: April 1, 2006 - April 1, 2007

Just Food will bring together four existing operators of markets in low income neighborhoods in Brooklyn, each of which has a strong urban agriculture component.  They will bring a broad range of non-profit and local government partners together to identify community level opportunities, organize a borough-wide stakeholders meeting, and write a strategic plan creating a sustainable network involving new partners.

Wenatchee Valley Farmers Market Association: Food and Farm Center
Grantee: Wenatchee Valley Farmers Market Association
Wenatchee, WA
Grant Amount: $60,000
Grant Term: April 1, 2006 - September 30, 2007

The Wenatchee Valley Farmers Market Association will expand their existing markets by hiring a project coordinator to do outreach and management. The coordinator will continue work to develop a permanent regional farmers market, boosting opportunities for both farmers and consumers.  The network will support programs focused on nutrition education and healthy living, expand outreach to the Latino community, and collaborate with local partner organizations, such as the regional land trust. 

State and Regional Market Association Grantees
With Support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Developing a Michigan Farmers' Market Association
Grantee: Michigan Food and Farming Systems (MIFFS)
East Lansing, MI
Grant Amount: $87,000
Grant Term: April 1, 2006 - December 1, 2007

Michigan Food and Farming Systems (MIFFS) and their leadership team made up of all MI farmers' market stakeholders will create a new farmers market association for the state of Michigan.  They will facilitate communication between markets, improve marketing, document economic benefits, help markets diversify their customer bases, and support leadership development.  They will also collaborate with state and local agencies to help create a policy voice for farmers markets to state legislators and government administrators.  Throughout, they will partner with organizations focused on business and economic development to develop promotion, entrepreneurship, and consumer outreach and education programs.

New Mexico Tribal Extension Task Force - Native American Farmers' Market Association
Grantee:  Farm to Table
Santa Fe, NM
Grant Amount: $86,000
Grant Term: April 1, 2006 - April 1, 2008

The New Mexico Tribal Extension Task Force and New Mexico's Farm to Table will work together to develop the New Mexico Native American Farmers' Market Association and culturally appropriate models for farmers' markets that best serve and support the communities they are in.  They will assist in the implementation of at least four new farmers' markets and provide assistance to four recently formed Native American Farmers' Markets.

Building Community Partnerships
Grantee:  Farmers' Market Federation of New York
Syracuse NY
Grant Amount: $79,000
Grant Term: April 1, 2006 - December 1, 2007

The "Building Community Partnershipsï¾” project will target governmental and community leaders from across New York State to increase awareness about the value of farmers' markets. With the goal of developing lasting partnerships that strengthen support for farmers' market, the Federation will organize a statewide conference, "Farmers' Markets and Community Development" and will redesign and update their website, which will also serve as resource center for both farmers markets and the communities they serve.
 
A Community Based Food System & Farmersï¾’ Market Association in South Carolina
Grantee:  South Carolina Department of Agriculture
Columbia, SC
Grant Amount: $78,000
Grant Term: April 1, 2006 - October 1, 2007

The South Carolina Direct Marketing Association will help small farmers acquire skills to sell at farmers markets, offer opportunities for group purchases of supplies and insurance, and develop up to ten new farmers' markets with EBT/Food Stamp capacity.  Through the development of collaborative partnerships with community and faith-based organizations and governmental agencies, the Association will create a strategic plan focused on markets and improved access to food as tools for reducing obesity and improving the quality of life for low-income families in South Carolina.


###

Project for Public Spaces (PPS) is a non-profit organization founded in 1975 dedicated to creating and sustaining places that build community. We provide technical assistance, education, and research through programs in parks, plazas and central squares; buildings and civic architecture; transportation; and public markets. PPS has worked with communities in 48 states and in 20 countries around the world. PPS provides grants for public markets with funding from the Ford and Kellogg Foundations; the next round of funding will be announced this fall. Please visit www.pps.org for more information.

The Ford Foundation is dedicated to strengthening democratic values, reducing poverty and injustice, promoting international cooperation, and advancing human achievement. The foundation is a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide. This has been our purpose for more than half a century. Created with gifts and bequests by Henry and Edsel Ford, the Foundation is an independent organization, with its own board, and is entirely separate from the Ford Motor Company.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930 "to help people help themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources to improve their quality of life and that of future generations." Its programming activities center around the common vision of a world in which each person has a sense of worth; accepts responsibility for self, family, community, and societal well-being; and has the capacity to be productive, and to help create nurturing families, responsive institutions, and healthy communities.

To achieve the greatest impact, the Foundation targets its grants toward specific areas. These include: health; food systems and rural development; youth and education; and philanthropy and volunteerism. Within these areas, attention is given to exploring learning opportunities in leadership; information and communication technology; capitalizing on diversity; and social and economic community development. Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the southern African countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe.


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Phil Myrick and David O'Neil returned to the Republic of Georgia to work on market projects in two small towns, Akhaltsikhe and Ninotsminda. 

Phil and David assisted community members in Ninotsminda with creating a new central market.  The site of the new market is now empty, but the market is planned to be up and running by this September.

Amazingly, PPS's former COO Aram Khachadurian is now living in Armenia, an hour's drive from Ninotsminda, making cheese and raising cattle!

"We want our market to be for everyone in the community," says Janet Bachman, a market vendor.

Who is Robert Pierce, manager of the South Side Farmers' Market, one of PPS's public markets grantees?

"I was impressed by the incredible amount of innovation, creativity and energy surrounding farmers' markets," writes Sonia DeMarta.

Davenport keeps on working towards the potential of its public market.

PPS to work on city-wide initiative that includes Riverbank Park and Flint Farmers' Market.

Project for Public Spaces invites you to its popular "How to Create Successful Public Markets" workshop on May 11-12, 2006 and "How to Turn a Place Around" workshop on May 4-5, 2006 in New York City.

HOW TO CREATE SUCCESSFUL MARKETS www.pps.org/info/ppsnews/markets_training_course

Is a two-day workshop led by our own public market experts Steve Davies and David O'Neil. Cities and towns across the US are rediscovering the benefits of public markets.

At this workshop, you will:

Learn how to start a market in your neighborhood or town; look at case studies and explore the market planning process, including goal-setting, concept development, economic feasibility, management, site selection and design; visit and analyze some of New York's most famous markets -- both indoor and outdoor; and meet other folks from around the country working on a variety of public market projects.

The registration fee covers two days of tuition, including tours, in-depth presentations and discussions, on-site evaluation, case studies, and training support materials. Light lunch and refreshments will be provided on both Thursday and Friday. There is a reception Thursday evening (included) and an optional dinner Friday night (please note, the dinner is not included in the fee.)

Sign up now and join a small, dynamic group of people which in past workshops has included mayors, planning officials, community development officials, neighborhood organizers and market sponsors.

About the instructors:

STEVE DAVIES, as senior vice president of PPS, has directed nearly 500 major projects in the U.S and abroad and is sought out as one of the foremost thought leaders in public markets. He oversees the activities of PPS's Public Market Program, where he currently works on a multi-million dollar grant-making and policy initiative for public markets and farmers markets with the Ford Foundation and W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

A specialist in all phases of market development, DAVID O'NEIL has worked on over 200 market projects around the world and has directed four international public market conferences, the most recent in October, 2005 in Washington DC. David recently published "Reading Terminal Market: An Illustrated History," a beautifully illustrated narrative about one of the country's largest public markets located in Philadelphia, PA.

For more information about the workshop, or to register online now, go to http://www.pps.org/info/ppsnews/markets_training_course

For additional inquiries, please contact Chris Heitmann at 212-620-5660.

HOW TO TURN A PLACE AROUND
http://www.pps.org/info/ppsnews/httapa_training_course

How to Turn a Place Around is a two-day workshop designed for professionals and non-professionals who help shape towns and cities -- from highway engineers and real estate developers to community garden advocates and housing specialists. Based on PPS's 30 years of experience in Placemaking, and inspired by our popular book, "How to Turn a Place Around," the course shows step-by-step our unique approach to revitalization.

During the course, participants will spend two days exploring the principles of making places through walking tours, presentations, case studies, PPS's Place Performance Evaluation Game, and the close examination of several contrasting neighborhoods. The sites will be used to illustrate complexities in making places, encourage a user's point of view, and to provide insight into how public spaces function.

The registration fee covers two days of tuition, including a neighborhood tour, in-depth presentations and discussions, on-site evaluation, case studies, a copy of How to Turn a Place Around, and training support materials. Light lunch and refreshments will be provided on both Thursday and Friday. There is a reception Thursday evening (included) and we will make recommendations for dinner Friday night should you want to continue the discussion (not included in the fee).

To register and for more information, please visit the workshop webpage, www.pps.org/info/ppsnews/httapa_training_course or contact Kathleen Ziegenfuss at 212-620-5660.

The Farmers Market Resource Guide, created by the Farmers Market Consortium (FMC), represents the efforts of public and private funders to work together to promote markets natiowide. The FMC's creation was led by the USDA, and initial consortium conveners include the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Ford Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation, the Project for Public Spaces and several farmers market non-profit groups.

Grants totaling $211,000 will expand impact of markets on communities

NEW YORK, NY - Twelve farmers markets across the United States will grow and diversify their operations, while broadening the social, cultural, and economic impacts on the communities they serve. They are the recipients of 12 grants, totaling $211,000, which were awarded by Project for Public Spaces (PPS), a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating and sustaining public places that build communities worldwide. PPS received 262 proposals from 46 states in this new, highly competitive and sought-after grant initiative.

This grant program is being undertaken in partnership with the Farmers’ Market Coalition (FMC) component of the North American Farmers Direct Marketing Association (NAFDMA), with funding provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The grants are part of a three-year, $3 million grant-making program, which began in 2005 and is also funded by The Ford Foundation.

The number of farmers markets across the United States has doubled in the last decade to an estimated 3,700, selling products ranging from local produce to meat and dairy to crafts. Almost all farmers markets have started at the community level, initiated by grassroots, agricultural or faith-based organizations, downtown associations, chambers of commerce, or community food activists. Given this history, most markets have few resources from which to grow, yet they have enormous untapped potential – for farmers, customers, and communities.

"Over the past three years, Project for Public Spaces has deepened its understanding of the complex relationships between a market and the community it serve," said Steve Davies, Senior Vice President and Director of the Public Markets Program at Project for Public Spaces. "These grants provide much-needed financial support for farmers markets to reach their potential as central places in communities, as well as substantially contribute to their communities’ overall well-being. We hope these markets will inspire national adoption of innovative farmers market and community development programs."

These one year grants provide farmers markets with the resources to innovate to address broader community impacts, not only with funding but with peer networking opportunities and communications expertise to augment outreach efforts, while building their capacity to succeed as effectively run, financially sustainable organizations.

Market grantees receiving financial and technical support range from a small neighborhood youth market in Denver, CO to an historic market in Lynchburg, VA, to a new, ethnically diverse mercado in Portland, OR. This support provides the means for markets to forge new partnerships with health institutions, schools, transit agencies, urban agriculture groups, and even a children’s museum. Some markets intend to provide opportunities for youth, immigrants, and disadvantaged individuals to become market vendors. All the market grantees plan to expand their customer base to better serve low income shoppers and ethnically diversifying populations, and most plan to acquire the technology to accept food stamps.

"We were amazed by the huge response to the grant initiative. The response alone shows the need for more resources for farmers markets, and how communities across the country want to expand the impact of their markets and make them more economically viable. Even with their typically small budgets, we are seeing that small grants can have a powerful, sustainable impact," said Charlie Touchette, Executive Director of NAFDMA.

While spurring innovation at the local level, this initiative will also help develop more supportive state and federal policies for markets and work to create ongoing sources of funding for farmers markets. PPS will announce another $800,000 in grant awards in March 2006 to support networks of markets in metropolitan areas and state and regional farmers markets associations.

The grantees were chosen for their innovation, demonstrated capacity to effectively manage a challenging project, their ability to address the compelling needs of their communities, and their ability to sustain the program in the future. They are as follows:

Fayetteville, AR
Diversifying the Rural Mountain Producers Exchange, Fayetteville Farmers Market
Accommodate the shifting demographics illustrated by the 818% increase from 1990 to 2000 among Fayetteville residents identifying as Latino by enhancing opportunities for both Latino growers and community members to sell produce and shop at the 32 year old market.

Denver, CO
Growing for Health - Schools and Students at Fairview Youth Farmers’ Market
Expand the community-run market and garden in a low-income, ethnically diverse neighborhood by working with Fairview Elementary School, involving more students as “Nutrition Ambassadors,� and recruiting more farmers.

Holyoke, MA
Promoting the Holyoke Farmers Market through Health and Senior Centers
Attract more Latino farmers to serve one of the largest Puerto Rican communities in the continental U.S.; provide discount coupons and van shuttles for seniors served by the Holyoke Council on Aging; and partner with the Holyoke Health Center to create incentives for their clients to increase consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables from the market.

Lynn, MA
Expanding the Lynn Farmers Market with a Connection to Transportation
Enhance the market as a key community gathering place; improve EBT/food stamp capabilities; work with local businesses, farmers, and youth growers to increase the availability of culturally appropriate produce; and position the market to relocate to a transportation hub in 2007.

Lansing, MI
Youth & Neighborhood Outreach to Expand the Allen Street Market
Partner with a new youth run greenhouse in a downtown park to expand the market’s product mix and growing season. Attract more customers by improving EBT/food stamp capability and promoting the market throughout the neighborhood.

Minneapolis, MN
2006 Outreach Collaborative at Midtown Public Market and Midtown Global Market
Expand the existing market with more immigrant, minority, and youth vendors, working with such programs as the Minnesota Food Association's "New Immigrant Agriculture Project." Open an additional market at Midtown Global Market, a new year-round market, and establish an EBT pilot program at both markets.

Cincinnati, OH
Tri-State EBT Project at Findlay Market Farmers Market
Implement a system to allow shoppers from Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky which neighbor the 153 year-old, six-day-a-week market to use EBT/food stamps to purchase fresh, healthy food and to improve direct marketing opportunities for farmers.

Portland, OR
Minority Enterprise Development at Mercado Mi Pueblo
Develop a new mercado in an ethnically-diverse neighborhood, provide job training and ongoing support to residents to become market vendors, and recruit minority farmers from Eastern Oregon and Washington.

Lynchburg, VA
Strengthening Lynchburg Community Market with Employment Opportunities
Partner with Lynchburg Grows, an organization providing workforce training for disadvantaged individuals, to grow produce in its 6.5 acre urban greenhouse and on five community garden sites and to create jobs selling produce on a year-round basis at the historic market hall, founded in 1783.

Mount Vernon, Skagit County, WA
Skagit Cooks! Improving the Availability of Fresh Food to Youth, Customers Using EBT, and Health Practitioners at the Mount Vernon Farmers Market
Increase availability of fresh food for school children and their families, implement EBT, open an additional market at a local hospital, sponsor kids’ activities with the children’s museum, and build visibility of the market as an integral part of the downtown’s redevelopment plan.

Prosser, WA
Nutrition Education Programs at the Prosser Farmers Market
Attract a more diverse customer base in a small town of 5,000 residents; enhance the market as an outlet for the area’s increasing number of small, minority, and new farmers; and expand outreach to schools and local food cooperatives.

Madison, WI
Working with the Community to Strengthen the South Madison Community Farmers Market
Add a third market day at The Villager, a strip mall being redeveloped as a community center with a library, health center, and technical college; expand a youth gardening program to grow produce and operate a stall at the market; and develop market-centered Community Supported Agriculture programs.

PPS will contribute $100,000 towards rebuilding markets as a means of invigorating economic activity in the Gulf Coast region of Louisiana and Mississippi. The funding, committed as part of a $900,000 re-granting program for public markets recently awarded to PPS from the Ford Foundation, will go to the Crescent City Farmers Market (CCFM) and its governing group, marketumbrella.org. The Ford Foundation has also committed an additional $150,000 in funding from its Katrina relief efforts, for a total commitment of $250,000.

Hurricane Katrina has largely devastated all aspects of some 15 markets on the Gulf Coast: commercial fishers, farmers, family enterprises (farmers, fishers, bakers, and more), market staff, and many market sites. “These markets provided a link between farmers and consumers,” said Steve Davies, Senior Vice President and Director of the Public Markets Program at Project for Public Spaces, “and many were also the site of social services for low-income communities through the United States Department of Agriculture Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program and electronic benefit program.”

The funds will be used to help resume operations of public markets in the region, in ways especially designed to meet post-Katrina needs, according to Richard McCarthy, executive director of marketumbrella.org and a founder of the Crescent City Farmers Market in New Orleans.

Prior to Hurricane Katrina, CCFM had four open-air locations each week, serving over 3,000 shoppers and nearly 100 vendors. Shoppers came from all over the New Orleans metropolitan area, and vendors from three states – Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. Annual sales of the Saturday market alone are $1.2 million; projected gross annual economic impact of the four markets was more than $11 million.

“We also provided mentoring to dozens of markets throughout the region, and had piloted the first electronic benefit transfer (food stamps) program for open-air markets in the Deep South,” McCarthy said.

In the post-Katrina world, “the ability of people to get the goods and services they need for re-building is imperative,” Davies said. “The low start-up cost of a market provides the place for that transaction to happen, and enables the rapid construction of economic infrastructure lost to the disaster. Families and businesses not only have a place to purchase and sell goods they need to get back on their feet but communities will have a place to host critical services that have been displaced by the storm.”

Among marketumbrella.org’s plans, are:

• Relaunching regional markets. The Tuesday Crescent City Farmers Market opened just before Thanksgiving in uptown New Orleans with an estimated 2,000 shoppers. Festivus, a “Holiday Market for the Rest of Us” drew crowds to the Warehouse/Arts District in early December. “Working with French Market, Ocean Springs, Mississippi Association of Cooperatives, and other regional markets is central to our mission of initiating and promoting the ecology of the local economy,” McCarthy said.
• Expanding on CCFM’s wireless/wooden currency network to keep local money in the local market and help create security in the regional food system.
• Cultivating alternative philanthropy and mutual aid (the “circles of giving” which CCFM has termed “crop circles”) for vendors and shoppers at markets to invest into funds with a direct impact on vendors and host communities.
• Providing workshops and other training/model programs to the community of more than 4,000 farmers markets nationwide.
• Seeking out new partners for public markets: schools, for instance, can serve as appropriate host institutions as local infrastructure is redesigned or “useful markets” can include small business owners who provide services essential in individual rebuilding efforts as well as serve as a central point of contact for social service efforts.

Both Project for Public Spaces and marketumbrella.org are committed to the principle that our markets are points of rebirth in the face of devastation.

“The silver lining of this disaster can be that, with the right team of market partners, we can demonstrate the intrinsic value of markets to communities,” said Ford Foundation Program Officer Miguel Garcia.

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Project for Public Spaces (PPS) is a non-profit organization founded in 1975 dedicated to creating and sustaining places that build community. We provide technical assistance, education, and research through programs in parks, plazas and central squares; buildings and civic architecture; transportation; and public markets. PPS has worked with communities in 48 states and in 20 countries around the world. With support from the Ford Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, PPS has initiated a $2.5 million regranting program to enhance public markets as focal points for community development.

The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has been a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide, guided by its goals of strengthening democratic values, reducing poverty and injustice, promoting international cooperation and advancing human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Russia.

Marketumbrella.org’s mission is to initiate and promote the ecology of local economies: markets, meeting place, mentor and model. A department of Loyola University New Orleans at its Twomey Center for Peace through Justice, it embodies the Jesuit institution’s core social justice values and its role as a center for innovation. Among its other roles, it sponsors the Crescent City Farmers Market, which celebrated its 10th birthday this fall.

PPS will be regranting approximately $1 million in collaborative funding from the Ford Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to support public markets and farmers markets.

Chris Heitmann recommends that as farmers markets grow in popularity around the country, communities direct efforts towards developing partnerships and strategic planning, in order to thrive and reap the economic and social benefits that markets bring to neighborhoods.

PPS sponsored a briefing and reception with the support of the Ford Foundation and WK Kellogg Foundation on Monday, July 18, 2005 in Washington DC. (view event invitation and details.)

Steve Davies discusses how public markets are not only important as great places and destinations, but are also vital to city - and family - economies.

A team from Lindsay, CA, discuss how they will use what they learned from attending PPS's workshops, 'How to Turn a Place Around' and 'How to Create Successful Markets,' to improve their city.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has awarded PPS a $1,655,000 grant to support a three-year initiative to expand the impact that farmers markets have on their communities.

Eastern Market, Detroit, Michigan: On the heels of our 1999 report Eastern Market Action Plan, PPS with Gensler and Smith Group JJR, came up with a $30 million reinvestment strategy for the nation's largest wholesale/retail produce market. A review of those recommendations and implementation plans are reported here.

Ann Arbor, Michigan: A strong community based planning process will lead to a series of improvements in the market and the surrounding district.