Providence farm collective's (PFC) improving equitable access to fresh, culturally significant food forimmigrant, refugee and black families in western new york project will address the need…

The Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service awarded a $525,484.25 Project Grant to Providence Farm Collective Corp. under the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program. The grant will support Providence Farm Collective's efforts to improve equitable access to fresh, culturally significant foods for immigrant, refugee, and Black families in Western New York through 2024. Specifically, the organization will hire a Markets Manager to scale produce aggregation for food banks and non-profits serving low-income communities. The Manager will also expand direct-to-consumer sales opportunities for Providence Farm Collective farmers by establishing a retail market. The grant will assist farmers in marketing and selling niche traditional crops to enhance profitability and promote the foods in under-resourced local communities. Training and technical assistance will help farmers promote cultural foods like African maize and preserve important traditions.

Providence farm collective's (PFC) improving equitable access to fresh, culturally significant food forimmigrant, refugee and black families in western new york project will address the need ofmarginalized and low-resource farmers of color to access marketing opportunities and generateeconomically viable sales outlets that serve their food insecure communities via aggregation and directretail. Specifically, PFC will 1) build organizational capacity by hiring a markets manager to a) scale PFC'sproduce aggregation for food banks and non-profit organizations directly serving low-income, foodinsecure communities and B) expand direct-to-consumer sales opportunities for PFC farmers byestablishing a retail market for PFC's eight distinct communities in the city of buffalo with support fromthe westminster economic development initiative (WEDI); 2) support PFC farmers in marketing andselling their niche, traditional crops, including but not limited to african maize, amaranth, roselle, hotpeppers, african and asian eggplants, to enhance farmer profitability. Through the program, PFC's immigrant, refugee and black farmers will be assisted in promoting andconducting sales of their locally produced, culturally significant produce to historically under-resourcedcommunities in western new york through training and technical assistance. By utilizing a "learn, do, teach" approach, the soft and managerial skills needed to successfully marketproduce directly will become self-sustaining in the future as knowledge takes root and is propagatedfrom farmer to farmer. Through this program, farmers will be trained to be trainers in the marketingand selling of niche, local, culturally-relevant crops. This collaborative project will support a more robust, diverse food system that promotes health andequity by improving food and nutrition quality, increasing access to healthy and affordable foods, increasing access to culturally relevant foods, and supporting bipoc farmers in serving local "lowincome/low access" communities. Furthermore, important cultural traditions linked to farming andfood, such as kulimbula (the somali bantu african maize harvest festival) will be preserved.