The Common Market

Emerson Collective's Demo Day is back! Watch The Common Market's Co-Founder, Haile Johnston, take the stage to share about how our food system is failing to meet the needs of the most vulnerable people in our communities and The Common Market’s strategy to fix that. “In about a 2-hour drive from Philadelphia, you can still find a family farm that provides almost everything on your holiday menus - from collards and kale, sweet potatoes, green beans, even heirlom apples and turkeys. Yet many of these growers struggle to compete with cheap, often processed food, brought in from far away and produced with no regard to labor or environmental impact.” While you are planning your meal this holiday season, consider the potential impact of your food choices. When you align your values with your actions, you really can make a difference. Watch the full video below. #ECDemoDay

The Georgia ACRE Collective is thrilled to expand the local foods incentive pilot into a third school district, Atlanta Public Schools ?? This pilot program allows metro Atlanta school districts to discover ways to incorporate more local foods into their menus while removing cost barriers. The participating schools receive Georgia products from The Common Market Southeast, with support from a The Rockefeller Foundation grant, technical assistance to develop recipes, and help testing the items with students.? Students and staff at two APS elementary schools, Burgess Peterson Academy and Garden Hills Elementary School, are exploring new recipes featuring products from local growers, including a rainbow collard salad with collards from Love is Love Cooperative Farm. During a taste test of cooked and raw collards, the majority of students who voted said they "loved" both recipes! Soon they will be added to the menu rotation and served on their plates. For more information about the ACRE Collective's local food pilot, check out our recent case study in the link below. #GAACRECollective #GAFarmtoSchool #georgiagrown Emily Hennessee | Tegan Hagy, MPH | Dory Cooper | Georgia Organics | Jenna Mobley | Bill Green |

Bertrand Weber, Culinary and Nutrition Services Director at Minneapolis Public Schools, on why incorporating values-based procurement and local products is key to building a strong school food program. The Common Market Great Lakes team was inspired by Weber, and other conversations around the benefits of using fresh, locally grown products in school meals at this November’s School Nutrition Association of Michigan Annual Conference. A farm tour at Lakeview Hill Farm invited school nutrition professionals to connect more deeply with a local Michigan farm, creating a full-circle moment. The Common Market delivers local foods to schools in the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and Texas. Comment below to learn more about values-based procurement practices. #themagicofschoolnutrition #SNAM2024 #SNAM #schoolnutrition Minneapolis Public Schools | Bertrand Weber | Eliana Pinilla-Ryhal

Texas students at McDade ISD, Manor Independent School District, and Lake Travis ISD enjoyed a true farm-to-fork experience with the help of our trusted partners at Greener Pastures Chicken of Elgin, TX. Two schools received a special visit from Greener Pastures Chicken who highlighted the importance of knowing where your food comes from and the life cycle of a chicken. Students even got to meet a chicken from the farm! It was a tasty and educational lunch highlighting the importance of knowing where our food comes from. This farm's practices go well beyond the minimum required by the USDA National Organic Program, which prohibits synthetic pesticides and herbicides, fertilizers, antibiotics, hormones, and genetically modified organisms. This farm also builds up the soil, exceeds welfare standards, is devoted to climate resilience, and more. The Common Market Texas is proud to supply its high-quality chicken to your schools and communities. Comment below if your school is interested in a Bring a Chicken to School event, and we will get you more information! #FarmtoSchool #TXfarmtoschool #knowyourfarmer? Texas Association for School Nutrition | Hallie Casey | Jeremy Logan

Our Southeast food hub, based in Atlanta, is looking for a Co-Executive Director to oversee daily operations and support effective procurement and distribution of local food products. ?? You will play a first-hand role in connecting local farmers with institutional buyers, enhancing community access to fresh, healthy food while supporting local economies. This is a significant opportunity to influence food equity and sustainability in the Southeast region. ?? ?If you're operations-minded, believe in the mission of uplifting our local food systems, and are excited to co-lead the Southeast hub’s operations, apply through the link below.

Our investment in communities is about more than just food distribution. It’s about fostering a #resilient local food system that works for everyone. By purchasing local produce, The Common Market empowers family farmers and ranchers by supporting their livelihoods, all while ensuring that institutions like school districts, hospitals, and communities have consistent and reliable access to fresh, local, wholesome food.?? We do all that we can to ensure the movement of this nourishing food.? ? After Hurricane Beryl caused extensive damage to Moonflower Farms in Houston earlier this year, The Common Market stepped in to offer a $49,000 interest-free loan from our Farmer Loan Fund to help kickstart recovery efforts to keep farmers farming, and food moving. Read the full story of recovery and resilience on our blog! See link below. Jose Monterrosa | Jeremy Logan | Hallie Casey

The Common Market Southeast is a proud grantee of the Link Logistics Community Grants Program, which aids nonprofits through infrastructure grants that focus on optimizing and expanding operations and functionality. The Common Market Southeast is investing its $125,000 grant to expand and sophisticate its cooler space within its East Point cold storage warehouse. "Link Logistics and this grant enables us to establish greater resilience, modernize and extend our facility space, and as a result, better serve both our rural farms and institutions across the Southeast. We are very grateful and honored to invest this money into our infrastructure, and in turn, our communities." - Bill Green, The Common Market Southeast Executive Director Link Logistics is a leading operator of last-mile logistics real estate. Dedicated to supporting communities where the firm operates, the Link Logistics Community Grants Program provides infrastructure grants supporting hunger relief, education and hyperlocal needs. Since launching the program in 2022, Link Logistics has donated $6 million to 59 nonprofits in 26 states. The Common Market community thanks you.

Congratulations to our Board Member Erica Littlejohn Burnette! This weekend's gala, Mysterious Worlds: Unveiling the Wonders of Healthy Living, celebrating the people and institutions that have played a part in creating a healthier planet and people was a success! Jeremy Logan + Harold Dutton III from team Common Market were proud to represent. https://lnkd.in/gscmfeXa

One year ago, #TheCommonMarketGreatLakes acquired Chicago Local Foods. Today, we're celebrating this milestone and feeling grateful for you. Thank you for helping us lift up our regional farmers, and for your commitment to fresh, local food this past year! The acquisition of Chicago Local Foods was a crucial step in enhancing community health, reducing environmental impact, and creating a vibrant, resilient food system in the Great Lakes region. In our first year, The Common Markets Great Lakes team: ? ?? Served high-quality (and delicious!) Countryview Dairy yogurt to thousands of kids throughout Chicago’s public school system, and opened doors for new public school and institutional partnerships across Chicagoland, helping them become more involved in local procurement. ?? Invested in farmers and ranchers by supporting food safety protocols, providing technical assistance, and cost-sharing where needed to expand and strengthen our network of local food producers. ? Secured a Safe Quality Food (SQF) certification showing that fresh, local, sustainably produced food can reach the pinnacle of safety and quality, and has opened doors for more institutional partnerships. Keep reading “Investing in the Midwest: The Common Market’s Newest Hub Is Serving Great Food to the Great Lakes” on our blog. See below for the link! Eliana Pinilla-Ryhal I Jamie Phelps Proctor I #eatlocalchicago #chicagofarming #ILfarm2school #nonprofit #fooddistribution

It's not too late to sign up for this FREE workshop presented by SupplyChange CEO Heather "H" Nieto-Friga, tomorrow at 8:15am PT / 10:15am CT / 11:15am ET: Cracking the Wholesale Code: Market Insights for Farmers + Advocates - see the Zoom registration link for a description of the workshop. Huge thanks to the Chicago Food Policy Action Council for hosting this amazing multi-day event for producers and allies! Our friends at Midwest Foods and The Common Market are holding a panel right afterward that will build on the strategies we cover in our session - don't miss it!