Providing Fresh Food, and a Sense of AccomplishmentNovember 18, 2005 By Mike Muller
Joanna Willins has sold produce along an East New York Street in 1999. At first she worked alone, but today many other vendors join her under an elevated subway line on the corner of Barbery St. and New Lots Ave, including three upstate farms and 25 East New York gardens who come once a week to the East New York Farms! Farmers’ market.
The number of customers has grown, as well, by about 50 percent a year on average since 2000. The number of customers vary – the market is closed during the winter – but on an average Saturday more than 600 customers shop at the farmers’ market.
Visible from the platform at the last stop on the 3 line, this once overgrown lot is now filled with local residents perusing the variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, which range from multi-colored bell peppers to mackintosh apples to collard greens. Once the customers choose what they need, they reach over the mounds of produce to pay the swamped farmers, and three-quarters pay with the help of a federal food subsidy.
The market serves a population where the rate of obesity is thirty percent and diabetes is fifteen percent - both almost double the city average. Almost half do not graduate high school, and over a third live below the poverty level. By selling food and educating its customers, the market’s organizers hope to improve the health of this struggling neighborhood. They also see themselves forging a sense of community accomplishment.
“Some people in this neighborhood are really struggling to make ends meet, and for families with little time, or who have never eaten well, it's really hard for them to understand the value of what we do." says Georgine Yorgey, the Urban Agriculture Coordinator for East New York Farms! “What we're trying to create for people is really intuitive - you don't have to be a nutritionist to know that eating lots of different kinds of foods, fresh foods, will make you feel better and live a healthier life.”
The market may never be able to provide everything one needs for a complete diet. But then, it offers more than just food. The East New York Farms! Farmers’ market offers its customers nutritional education onsite. Several nutrition educators from Cornell University have a stand at the market with general nutrition info, and a recipe for each week featuring produce from the farmers’ market. They prepare the recipe on a portable burner, and then offer samples to customers. Nutrition-focused nonprofit Just Food also has a stand, where community gardeners do food demos on canning and preserving produce, and making baby food.
“I see these workshops as having a real education role. They're very hands on and practical, not focused on what veggie is in the news today, but focused on the importance of eating lots of different kinds of fruits and vegetables, of eating minimally processed food, and of eating fresh food for your health," says Yorgey.
While some may be interested in the nutritional tutoring, others come because of the government vouchers they get specifically for use at farmers markets. Dess Eparis, an elderly woman, travels for about 20 minutes on the subway to shop at the market. "I come because of the government check I get,"she said when asked why she makes the trip.
These Farmers Market Nutritional Program checks come in addition to the weekly federal WIC checks, which do not allow for the purchase of fruits or vegetables. They are also provided for seniors. In order to receive the checks, recipients need to take a nutritional education class every three months when they go to pick them up. Although small, $20 to $25 a year, they do make a difference. "To some people $20 might not seem like much, but to many around here, $20 is significant," says Tawnya Mercado, one of the market managers.
The federal government is now considering a proposal that would allow the WIC program to address a more complete range of dietary needs by providing checks for fruits and vegetables redeemable at traditional markets
The market also accepts food stamps, but there are some challenges in disseminating the benefits. Food stamps now come in the form of a debit card, and since farmers’ markets are mobile, they need wireless stations. The East New York Farms! just purchased an electronic benefits transfer terminal this year, but there are still glitches in the technology and reception is spotty. Also, many neighborhood residents are simply unaware of the option, "Our challenge at this point is definitely letting all of our potential customers know that we accept" food stamps, says Yorgey.
Beyond benefiting its customers, the market is a boost to the area's anemic economy. The urban farms that provide for the farmers’ market, which are staffed by volunteers, turn a small profit ranging from $5 to $1,000 annually.
East New York Farms!, which runs the United Community Centers Youth Farm, offers paid jobs for a group of local interns. The farm – which stretches a third of a block and produces about 4,000 pounds of produce a season. The 21 interns, spanning in age from 11 to 16 years old, serve as aides to gardeners in the community, help at the farmers' market, and participate in learning activities and workshops. They are paid $5.00 an hour for about 10 hours a week during the school year, and they work more during the summer.
Reflecting on what the interns gain, Yorgey points out that, "One thing that youth often talk about is just the importance of seeing that they can improve the neighborhood through what they do - it's just so concrete to work hard to grow something and then to give it to someone who's going to go home and feed their family."
Many of the institutions and community members involved in the farmers’ market are also turning their attention towards a new cooperative grocery store where community members decide what to sell and what business model to use. The project is being funded by a $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, which will also be used to study the effects of the introduction of nutritious food into a previously undernourished neighborhood.
Salima Jones-Daley, a former market manager at the farmers’ market now involved in the coop plans, thinks the coop is a direct result of the farmers’ market. "The community has demonstrated that they want and need more nutritious food to be made available. This coop is the result of that," she says.
The decision of what the coop will carry is to be made at the December 1 meeting of the Food Policy Council - a group made up of local citizens concerned with the availability of nutritious food. The idea is to first choose locally grown, organic foods. Its organizers hope to step in to provide what the market has been unable to give so far – all the ingredients of a healthy diet, served all year round.
Groups -
United Community Centers
Local Development Corporation of East New York
Cornell University Cooperative Extension - NYC Programs
Just Food
Pratt Center for Community Development

A Cleaner East New York Still Needs ImprovementAugust 13, 2004 By Lisa Spinelli
Maklani Maresoor has owned his Red Mountain II Deli on
the corner of Sutter and Pennsylvania Avenue for more
than 13 years. In the past, he said, the neighborhood
was dangerous and the streets, dirty. But things have
gotten a bit cleaner and a lot safer in this section
of Brooklyn. "In the last three to four years the
streets have gotten better," said Maresoor.
A rise in home ownership, more police, and community
involvement have all helped the streets glow a little
brighter in the community. With new housing and stores
under construction, and an Empire Zone to encourage
development, many residents and business owners are
noticing that the area is becoming cleaner. But they
still think more could be done.
In just one year Community Board 5 in East New York
saw its cleanliness rating from the mayor's office
increase by 9 percentage points. In 2003, the office
rated 80.5 percent of its streets "acceptably clean." Now
the number is 89.1 percent, about average for the city
as a whole.
Illegal dumping, rats, and general littering have been
a large problem here since 1970s. And that garbage led
to more garbage. A study on why people litter
conducted by UBC Waste Management, a Canadian company,
found that people litter either because they have
little attachment to an area or because the area is
already dirty.
To address this, the Business Improvement District in
East New York, part of the Local Development
Corporation since 1983, is making some changes to
improve the streets and the neighborhood.
"We have a vendor that remains on call all day to pick
up illegal dumping," said Gene Moore, district manager
for the Business Improvement District. The company,
DJ?s Rubbish Removal, has picked up more than 200 tons
of illegally dumped garbage in the last two years,
said Moore. "We also have them remove brush and other
things that grow in desperate or abandoned areas to
make it look nicer."
The city is trying to do its part as well. East New
York gets more trash collection and street sweeping
than some more gentrified areas of Brooklyn. In much
of Park Slope, for example, alternate side parking to
allow for street sweeping is in effect only twice a
week on a single block. The city sweeps streets four
times a week on an average block in East New York.
At the same time, increased home ownership and
community involvement have led to a greater sense of
pride in the neighborhood. In the last 10 years, East
New York has seen a 25 percent of home ownership,
helping create an attachment that stops many people
from littering.
Groups like the East New York Urban Youth Corps also
help develop this pride. The Youth Corps has
rehabilitated or built, and now manages, over 600
affordable homes and apartments in the area. It also
provide counseling, case management and referrals for
its tenants.
But many residents of East New York think much more
needs to be done.
?It?s a little better, but it's really about the same
as it has always been," said Amonte Joaquin, who
opened JA Grocery store on Pitkin Avenue at Sheffield
Street 20 years ago. "It's still dirty."
Beyond what is already being done to clean up the
area, East New York needs more job opportunities,
especially for reformed criminals, if it is to
continue to become a better place to live, said the
area's City Council member, Charles Barron. The area
is "still not as safe or as clean as it could and
should be," said Barron.
Related Story:
Clean Streets
Issue of The Week (August 16, 2004)

Strip Mall And Economic DevelopmentOctober 21, 2003 The Gateway Retail Center, the largest strip mall in the city, was built in 2002, and has been providing jobs and boosting the economy of East Brooklyn. But too many of the jobs, local officials believe, are “cash register jobs,” and there is now a push on developing businesses and entrepreneurship.

Affordable HousingOctober 21, 2003 The good news: Private developers are raising two and three-family homes on empty lots, providing affordable homes for families with an annual income of $45,000. The bad news: The median income among East New York residents is only $25,000, so current residents will be unable to afford the new housing.

Homepage of the Community Gazette for District 42
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ALL DISTRICT 42 MAJOR ISSUES Providing Fresh Food, and a Sense of Accomplishment
(Nov 18, 2005)
A Cleaner East New York Still Needs Improvement
(Aug 13, 2004)
Strip Mall And Economic Development
(Oct 21, 2003)
Affordable Housing
(Oct 21, 2003)
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