Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP)

271 Grant St. Buffalo, New York 14213 Phone (716) 882-5327 Fax (716) 882-5338

"Building the local community through food, urban farming and entrepreneurship"

 
   
Buffalo Grown Mobile Market | Healthy Eating By Design (HEbD)
:: Buffalo Grown Partners
Buffalo Grown is innovative in that it brings together partners from all sectors of the food systems including farmers, businesses, youth, elders, schools, the University at Buffalo and social service organizations.  MAP will work with the following initial partners on this project.  As public awareness of this project grows we anticipate attracting other partners.

Native Offerings Farm- (Little Valley, NY)- Farmers Deb and Stew Ritchie will provide fresh organic produce from their farm once a week.  This produce will supplement produce grown by youth at the Growing Green urban farm, and will be sold by Growing Green youth.

Tree of Life Cooperative- The Tree of Life Co-op is small food cooperative run by the Congregation of Israel.  Tree of Life will sell bulk staple food products from Buffalo Grown.

Veggies- Sri Lankan by birth, Genga Ponnampalam, owner of Veggies, has a passion for preparing healthy food alternatives.  Genga will sell Veggie Burgers, veggie rolls and veggie snacks from Buffalo Grown.

East Meets West Goodies- Owned and operated by Japanese-American entrepreneur Junko Kanamura, she brings a distinctive eastern flair to traditional western baked goods, offering delicious products like bean cakes and lemon tarts, which she will sell from Buffalo Grown.

Dr. Samina Raja, Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University at Buffalo- Dr. Raja will coordinate and oversee evaluation of this project.  Dr. Raja has worked with MAP programs for several years and oversaw the authorship of the national award-winning report Food For Growth, a Community Food System Plan for Buffalo's West Side.

Santa Maria Towners (SMT)- A senior housing development on Buffalo's West Side, residents cook all of their own meals but have limited access to grocery stores.  Growing Green youth piloted a successful on-site market during the summer of 2005.  SMT will be a market stop once a week.

Concerned Ecumenical Ministry (CEM)- Located on the West Side, CEM is a multi-service community center serving youth families and seniors, including a large immigrant population.  CEM will be a West Side stop site once a week.

Bennett Park Montessori- A public pre K-8th grade school on Buffalo's East Side, MAP already enjoys a strong partnership with the school through its Healthy Eating By Design (HEbD) project.  The school is committee to promoting healthy lifestyles and is a district leader in promoting healthier food choices within the school environment.  The school will be an East Side market site once a week.

 

Buffalo Grown Mobile Market

The Buffalo Grown Mobile Marketplace, a new economic development project of the Massachusetts Avenue Project, will bring organic, locally-grown, affordable produce, diverse locally-made food products, education and resources to Buffalo's low-income neighborhoods and beyond.  (Click HERE for Buffalo Grown Project proposal).

Urban youth from MAP's Growing Green program will partner with local farmers, Food Venture's entrepreneurs and the Tree of Life Food Cooperative to produce and market healthy food to the city of Buffalo's residents.  An vehicle will be converted to bio-diesel and retrofitted to be a mobile grocery.  This market will travel twice a week, to at least four partner sites (two on the East Side and two on the West Side), including a school, a community center, and a senior housing complex, all serving populations that lack access to quality, affordable, and culturally-appropriate foods.

Buffalo Grown will be an unique and accessible venue for providing information, education and resources about nutrition, home and community gardening and micro-enterprise training opportunities at community partner sites and city-wide cultural events and festivals.  Project outcomes include increasing access to markets for local entrepreneurs while improving quality food systems, promoting local entrepreneurs while improving quality food access to food insecure neighborhoods.  This project links Buffalo with a national movement creating community food systems, promoting local economic development, and increasing food access from the ground up.

The Massachusetts Avenue Project is excited to announce it will be starting this fall.  Contact Diane Picard, Growing Green Program Director, for more information.