Eastern Market began in the 1800s providing fresh and nutritious food throughout the Southeastern region in Michigan.  The core of its mission is based on four aspects: access, ensuring that connections with locally grown food keeps the market open all year long, with the inclusion of many community members; education, teaching people to understand the importance of homegrown and locally sourced foods, as opposed to processed products, and related health benefits of such practices; transportation, by developing the access to mobility through bike and walking paths to the market; and incubation, to include the countless entrepreneurs  by providing them the resources needed to flourish.  The overarching goal of its economic development strategy is to capitalize on the area’s attractions to create a vibrant and diverse urban district.

Eastern Market Corporation (EMC) is using HFFI financing to help establish a Green Grocer in the thriving Eastern Market food district in Detroit, MI. This destination produce venue will be devoted to providing fresh, healthy, and nutritious food from Michigan farmers and Detroit food entrepreneurs. Furthermore, it will feature products from a city-wide network of three Community Kitchens that help low-income food entrepreneurs transform their food ideas into food businesses. This project will integrate targeted workforce and entrepreneur development programs as well as multifaceted marketing, communications, education and outreach. This project will hire and train 15 low-income community residents for retail jobs and launch 18 new low-income food entrepreneurs, to create a total of 33 new jobs.

Source of money: HFFI CED Program; Fiscal year(s): 2014