Common Ground Mobile Market alleviates food insecurity in New Haven
The market, running across 11 locations from July to November, offers affordable, Connecticut-grown produce to New Haven locals.
Reeti Malhotra, Contributing Reporter
Every Tuesday afternoon, the front lawn of the Fair Haven Branch Library welcomes dozens of New Haven residents into an oasis of fresh, affordable and vibrant produce.
At the Common Ground Mobile Market, shoppers can purchase tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplants, tomatillos and other unprocessed Connecticut-grown fruits, vegetables and farm products, from 3 to 5 p.m. weekly. The market is a collaboration between the New Haven Free Public Library and Common Ground — a local non-profit organization rooted in environmental learning, sustainability and urban agriculture.
“It’s convenient,” Raquel Ramírez Natalia, a frequent client of the market, said. “Everything is fresh. It’s good for the community.”
The market, which piloted in 2012 and arrived at the Fair Haven Library in 2019, aims to provide equitable access to nutrition in the New Haven area.
Produce is sold at a cost where it is possible to preserve affordability for the market’s clientele. The market accepts WIC, Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — SNAP — payments. Purchases made through food subsidy programs accounted for around 70 to 75 percent of transactions made at the market in the 2023 season, according to Fair Haven Library Branch Manager Kirk Morrison.
“We target areas where food apartheid is being structurally enforced or created,” Schandra Madha, the market’s coordinator, said. “We have customers of all demographics and socioeconomic statuses, but aim to bring fresh produce where access is limited or cost-prohibitive.”
Food apartheid refers to the constrained access to healthy food sources due to racist or discriminatory policies.
Morrison further underscored the impact of the Common Ground Mobile Market in alleviating food insecurity in the Fair Haven community.
“The biggest reason we wanted to help host [the market] here was our concerns about food insecurity in our service area,” Morrison said. “[Fair Haven] could be considered a food desert. We have a supermarket on the other side of our property, but crowds still come here every week because people trust the market, prices and the produce.”
In addition to the Fair Haven Branch Library’s support of the Common Ground initiative, the library houses gardens maintained by Gather New Haven, a non-profit urban agricultural organization, throughout the growing season to provide free produce to the surrounding community.
“Volunteers come in on Mondays during the season, harvest and bring in produce that folks can take [from the library] until usually September or October; when the weather permits,” Morrison explained.
The Fair Haven Branch Library is one of 11 locations where the Common Ground Mobile Market will be hosted until November.