West End corner store hosts first Do Right! farmers market

The Center for Closing the Health Gap recently partnered with 17 corner stores in the city to help increase the availability and sales of healthy, affordable foods in underserved communities. On Sept. 5, Jet-In Market, located at 1207 Linn St. in the West End, hosted a farmers market as part of the Do Right! Healthy Corner Stores campaign.
 
“There are farmers markets all over the county, but most are located in higher income areas,” says Renee Mahaffey Harris, executive director for The Center for Closing the Health Gap. “Not a lot of farmers markets are in vulnerable populations, which is why we decided to do a farmers market to add to what is already in the corner store.”
 
In order to increase the amount of produce offered at Jet-In Market, The Center for Closing the Health Gap worked with an African American farmer from Wilmington, Ohio, for the farmers market. His 25-acre farm provided fresh fruits and vegetables for sale, including okra, collard greens, tomatoes, corn, peppers, peaches, apples and pears, as well as a variety of homemade spices and seasoning blends.
 
“The farmers market is a great way to utilize a place that is in every neighborhood,” Mahaffey Harris says. “The store doesn’t have the healthiest produce now, but we’re working to teach the store owner and consumers how to sell and use produce. And hopefully, we’ll be able to make more shelf space for produce.”
 
The Center for Closing the Health Gap hopes to expand the Do Right! Healthy Corner Stores Farmers Market to at least three other neighborhoods in the near future. The next farmers market in the West End will be held Sept. 19 from 4 to 7 p.m.
 
At the next market, there will be a cooking demo, which will give people ideas of how to prepare produce they haven’t purchased before, Mahaffey Harris says.
 
The farmers market accepts WIC Fruit and Vegetable Vouchers, WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program Coupons and EBT.
 
Do Right! Healthy Corner Stores is modeled after the Food Trust in Philadelphia, and is funded in part by the Greater Cincinnati Foundation and Interact for Health.