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What does it take to make a farmers’ market viable in a low-income community?
The answer is complicated in a neighborhood like Watts, where some people still remember when 103rd Street, which now borders a lively Saturday Farmers Market, was nicknamed “Charcoal Alley” because of the fires that burned buildings to the ground during the Watts Riot of 1965, ReportingonHealth reports:
Many unhealthy conditions persist today that contributed to the powder keg atmosphere in South Los Angeles in the 1960s and again during the Rodney King Riot twenty years ago: high rates of unemployment, poverty and crime. Neighborhood schools continue to battle high dropout rates. Gang violence makes some people reluctant to visit unfamiliar territory — including the Farmers’ Market.
In a neighborhood park on the corner of 103rd and Central Aves., an effort is underway to take steps toward a healthier South L.A.— by providing an affordable and welcoming place to buy fresh produce and to get good advice on nutrition. We took our most recent group of California Endowment Health Journalism Fellows to the Watts Healthy Farmers’ Market to hear from market founders and vendors, who detailed the successes and challenges they’ve encountered since the market opened in July 2007.
Check out a video of the effort here.
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Maternal & Child HealthBy The Numbers
20.7
percent
of Latino kids have obesity (compared to 11.7% of white kids)
