Ten years after the devastation from the Hurricane Katrina,
and the Ninth Ward still has very limited access to fresh, whole produce. As a
resident of the Lower Ninth Ward, I founded Sankofa to focus on holistic
wellness in our community—starting with healthy food options for preventive
health.
Sankofa began in
2008 as the Sankofa Marketplace, a monthly cultural gathering that served as a community
hub to support revitalization of the Lower Ninth Ward after its devastation
from Hurricane Katrina. Building on seven years of community investment,
Sankofa Community Development Corporation is creating a healthy food hub in the
Lower Ninth Ward. On Saturday, August 29, we welcomed volunteers from the Louisiana
Office of Community Development- Disaster Recovery Unit, Girl Trek, Tulane
University School of Architecture, and University of South Alabama to join us
during the City of New Orleans K-10 Day of Service.
We began the
construction of our open air produce stand at 5029 St Claude Ave ( at corner of
Forstall and St Claude), site of the
Sankofa's Fresh Stop Market and Gardens. Volunteers also planted
vegetables at Sankofa's three other Sankofa Garden sites in the Ninth Ward
area.
At Sankofa, we
partner with community-based organizations throughout the Greater New Orleans
area to bring fresh produce to health clinics, faith-based spaces, schools, and
senior citizen centers. Utilizing our mobile markets, where we bring more than
1000 pounds of fresh produce monthly to the community. The new Sankofa Fresh Stop Market will
operate as a permanent open air green market to further our mission: to provide
the local neighborhood with access to healthy, fresh produce in the Lower Ninth
Ward. Our mobile market presently reaches customers weekly at its Lower Ninth
Ward Senior Center stop at the Sanchez Copelin Byrd Multipurpose Center.
The Sankofa Fresh
Stop Market will open to the public on October 24, 2015, in partnership with
National Food Day. Our plan is to offer seasonal fruits and vegetables grown in
the Sankofa Gardens and also healthy food options from local farmers and food
distributors.
The Sankofa Fresh
Stop Market project was awarded first place by the “Lots of Progress
Competition” by Propeller Innovation Center during October 2014 and is a
partner of New Orleans Redevelopment Authority.
The grand opening
of the Sankofa Fresh Stop Market will feature a variety of activities around
healthy food and sustainable land use, including cooking and shopping classes
by Second Harvest, youth-led cooking demonstrations by LSU Ag Center, rain
gardens and green infrastructure for homes by Global Green. Additionally, there
will be nutrition education presentations by the Xavier University College of
Pharmacy. The Sankofa permanent produce stand will be an expansion of our
Market and Garden programs, to the development of a healthy food hub in the
Lower Ninth Ward
- Rashida Ferdinand, Executive Director Sankofa