Common Market is a regional food hub in Philadelphia, PA. Their mission is to strengthen regional farms by connecting farmers to over 150 public and private institutions. This profile includes project highlights and impacts.

Green City Growers Cooperative (GCGC) is a cooperative urban greenhouse in the heart of Cleveland, Ohio. GCGC provides an example of an innovative and employee-owned food production enterprise that is revitalizing Cleveland’s Central neighborhood while providing quality employment opportunities, building community wealth and assets, and promoting healthy food access both in the neighborhood and citywide.

CEI and Wholesome Wave collaborated on providing business development assistance and “patient capital” to Farm Fresh Rhode Island.  The financing deal allows Farm Fresh Rhode Island to nearly double its produce storage and significantly expand its Market Mobile and Veggie Box programs, which enable thousands of families to access local, fresh food from dozens of family farms across New England.

A profile on Liberty Heights ShopRite located in the West Baltimore neighborhood of Howard Park. The supermarket is a joint venture by two seasoned ShopRite operators, Jeff Brown and the Klein family. The partnership will combine the Klein family’s 90 year background of owning and operating stores in suburban Maryland and Jeff Brown’s experience in running urban-based stores in the Philadelphia region. The project also stands as an example of a successful partnership involving Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD), Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC), the Howard Park Civic Association, Calvin Rodwell Elementary School’s Child First Afterschool Program, Klein Family Markets, UpLift Solutions, Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), City First Bank, JPMorgan Chase and The Reinvestment Fund (TRF).

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Growing Power, a leading local urban agriculture organization, announced the launch of Farmer’s for Chicago, a new program that will make available up to five acres of City-owned vacant lots for urban farming activity, and help expand the supply chain for local neighborhood-level food production and wholesale. The city lots will be prepared for local nonprofits that will be able to install food growing equipment, and train up to 20 people in urban farming and skills

Michele and Erich March, part-owners of the March Funeral Homes in Baltimore, are taking a 180-degree turn to ready a new business venture in East Baltimore: a grocery store called Apples and Oranges.It will offer fresh fruits, veggies, meats and fish, and an array of freshly prepared, healthy foods made daily by a chef who said he knows what it is like to grow up in a community where sodas, French fries, lake trout sandwiches and fried chicken boxes have ruled for years.

In an area where fresh foods are not readily accessible, the opening of a new supermarket is music to the ears of residents in the East Baltimore community near Broadway and North Avenue.Six years in the planning, this weekend marks the grand opening of the new Apples and Oranges.Owners are positioning the market as one that will not only offer healthier foods but will serve as a resource on how to eat healthier as well. Community leaders hope this will attract other businesses to the city.

Report which provides a comprehensive look at the economic role, challenges and opportunities for food hubs in the nation's growing local food movement. 

This document serves as a resource that illustrates the value of past Farm Bill provisions and the potential that exists for the future in the Greater Philadelphia region.This Farm Bill can capitalize on the changing needs of the nation by supporting healthy diets, creating new jobs, and bringing us back to the roots of our food. The Philadelphia region stands to benefit greatly from a strong Farm Bill. As a source of inspiration, the model of this region is an asset to other communities with similar health and economic goals.