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Georgia’s Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) enables us to buy and distribute healthy, Georgia-grown foods harvested by farmers like our friends at EKC Pecans and create new markets for their products within food banks throughout the state. This program sees nutritious, high-quality, diverse items reaching communities facing food insecurity and drives deeply meaningful revenue for BIPOC farms. This episode of A Fork in the Road features EKC Pecans and how The Common Market Southeast plays a role in creating opportunities for the family-run operation.

The Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation has invested more than $11.3 million in and around Metro Atlanta across its Equity & Economic Opportunity and Food programs since 2019. Recent collaborations include:

Expanding access to healthier foods while building local capacity and creating more market opportunities for Black farmers and other underserved farm businesses through The Common Market, nonprofit regional food aggregator and distributor that also supports local, sustainable small farmers.

Milken Institute

With food system and supply chain shocks increasing in frequency and severity due to climate change, public health emergencies, and conflict, the need for a resilient multi-level food system has become ever more apparent. Over the course of the pandemic, the public, private, and nonprofit sectors of food supply and distribution have responded with unprecedented speed and creativity to the challenges created by the lockdown and its aftermath. In this session, food system stakeholders from academia, industry, and policy will discuss the lessons and strategies for responding to disasters while simultaneously building a more nutritious, equitable, and sustainable food system that is equipped for the future.

City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH)

"Recognizing base line, for us to advance racial equity as part of public procurement—and any other value as well—it is a deviation from the system and the way that it is today. It is a shift from a low-cost procurement model to one where we are embedding values and reconsidering the way that our procurement processes occur."

WHYY Radio Times

"The White House held a conference on fighting hunger and diet-related diseases for the first time in 50 years to address President Biden’s goal to end hunger by 2030. The plan released this week relies on expanding SNAP benefits, increasing the supply of free school lunches and improving access to grocery stores and healthy food.

This hour, we discuss food insecurity in our region and look at who is most affected. We’ll also talk about the connection to chronic disease and the domestic policies that make it harder for families to eat well. Among our guests are Haile Johnston, co-founder of The Common Market."

Open Hand

Several preschools have recently banded together to form a “farm to preschool” co-op, led by a partnership between Open Hand Atlanta and The Common Market Southeast. Twice a month, Open Hand delivers fresh produce from The Common Market to participating preschools, along with educational materials.

NBC10 Boston

"Tatiana Garcia-Granados and her husband launched The Common Market after recognizing the impact of diet-related disease on their communities. 'There really was a big distribution mismatch; there were family farms right outside of Philadelphia that didn’t have access to fair markets for their product, and at the same time communities like ours weren't able to access healthy food.'

With the support of DRK, the food distributor extended to six other cities including New York, Houston, and Atlanta."

The Rockefeller Foundation

"The Common Market is creating a multi-year food procurement initiative to direct food purchasing dollars locally and equitably. The initiative will provide opportunities for Black farmers and other underserved growers, while increasing access to healthy food in schools and hospitals."

SNJ Today

"The Local Foods Incentive Pilot is taking off in Bridgeton Public Schools, with farm to school meals providing better nutrition, benefiting area farmers, and boosting the local economy."

NJ Spotlight News

"New Jersey may be known as the Garden State but in low- and middle-income towns, getting nutritious food from farm to table is harder than you think, especially for schools. One South Jersey school district is partnering with The Common Market, a nonprofit food distributor that connects farmers with communities, to bring Jersey-fresh fruits, vegetables and meats directly to the lunch table."

The Common Market in the News

A Fork in the Road: Pecan & Pine

The Rockefeller Foundation Celebrates Continued Investment and Philanthropic Impact in Atlanta

Building Resilient Food Systems: Applying Lessons from Disaster Response

Webinar: Using Public Food Procurement to Advance Racial Equity

Hunger and the politics of food

Chef pilots a produce program for underserved preschools

Hispanic Heritage Month: Foundation Advocating for Latino Community

Rethinking School Lunches to Boost Health, Environment and Economic Equity

Keep it Local

Thousands of South Jersey students get access to farm-fresh meals

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