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Two Cities, One Mission: Growing Solutions To Local Food Deserts

Market on the Hill / Facebook
The Market on the Hill co-op

Once a neighborhood or town becomes a food desert, it's difficult to restore a functional food system. Two central Illinois communities are trying to grow new food networks.

The small town of Mt. Pulaski is tucked into the southeastern corner of rural Logan County, roughly halfway between Decatur and Springfield. At the center of the town square sits one of just two remaining courthouses where a young Abraham Lincoln practiced law.

At first glance, Mt. Pulaski doesn't have much in common with Peoria's South Side, an urban neighborhood about an hour’s drive to the northwest. Census bureau records show the largely African-American community is one of America's poorest ZIP codes.

But both communities lack a grocery store.

South Peoria's Save-A-Lot grocery store closed in 2017. Two Kroger stores in nearby neighborhoods closed a year later.

Dr. Leslie McKnight, director of community health policy and planning for the Peoria City/County Health Department, said the South Side has a high poverty rate and a high incidence of health risk factors like obesity.

"In that one mile area of that neighborhood, their grocery options is dollar stores and convenience stores," McKnight said.

Tom Martin, a farmer and president of the Market on the Hill grocery co-op board in Mt. Pulaski, said that city's last grocery store closed up shop in 2016.

"Logan County has been labeled as the most obese county in the state of Illinois," Martin said.

Peoria and Mount Pulaski were the only two Illinois communities selected by the the U.S. EPA for its "Local Foods, Local Places" program last year. The city of Springfield was selected for this year's program.

The program tries to help communities restore local food systems - and boost economic opportunities and health outcomes.

In Peoria, Leslie McKnight said the local neighborhood organization Southside Community United for Change worked to set up a farmers market pilot project at an old Aldi grocery store on Western Avenue. Twelve vendors sold goods at the market.

"What that means is that the residents were on the front end of the planning, the marketing, and the outreach, and as institutional stakeholders, we were on the back-end, providing support and capacity," she said.

The Southside Farmers Market offered fresh produce on three weekends last fall. It was a learning experience. Some aspects, like a partnership with an organic farmer, proved too expensive to be sustainable.

Credit Tim Shelley / WCBU

But the concept evolved into something the neighborhood thinks is doable: a Food Equity Hub. It would include not only the purchasing, packaging, and selling of locally-produced foods - but also cooking classes, nutritional education, and workforce development efforts. It also became a focal point to organize the area’s "informal economy" of vendors.

In March, the Community Foundation of Central Illinois gave the Southside Farmers Market a $30,000 grant to expand to a 10-week season this year.

Martha Ross is president of Southside Community United for Change. She said this feels different than the top-down approaches tried before.

"This isn't just another plan. Because I've participated with the city of Peoria on many, many plans, and they just go on the shelf," Ross said. "But this is a plan - this is our plan."

That sense of community ownership is also pivotal for Mount Pulaski. Market on the Hill Board President Tom Martin said co-ownership by residents is key to co-op success.

"It's all about grassroots-driven. And you've got to have the community behind you before you ever step into this," he said.

Martin said he has been blessed to have that community support, though the pandemic has delayed the store opening.

The Market on the Hill will be in an old storefront on the city square. The grocery will partner with Kyle Reed's 5-acre Hilltop Community Gardens on the northwest edge of Mount Pulaski for locally-grown veggies and fruit. Food processing may eventually happen.

Martin said he'll be happy when the open sign finally goes up, but says the ultimate challenge is to turn a profit. He believes community backing will make it possible to capture 15 to 20 percent of southern Logan County's grocery market.

Martin advocates a wait-and-see approach for other communities who might want to emulate the Mt. Pulaski model.

"My best advice is, sit back and let us make the mistakes, but then hopefully we can show you the way to succeed, so it makes it a little bit easier for you to do something like this," Martin said.

But in Peoria, McKnight said it's also important to make the initial effort.

"You gotta just go out there, and innovation, just try it, test it, model, pilot it, and just see what happens," she said.

To grow into a food equity hub, the volunteer-driven farmers market needs to partner with a community development corporation to begin hiring employees. Neighborhood association president Martha Ross, says the pilot is evidence to convince doubters.

"We're constantly getting people who say this is not going to work. They never did anything before," she said. "Well, we're not talking about 'they' now. We're talking about 'us.' If it is to be, it's up to me."

Since the pandemic began, Market On the Hill has hired two people to explore joining a food hub and processing center in Mount Pulaski. The southside project in Peoria continues early planning with the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council.

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Tim is the News Director at WCBU Peoria Public Radio.