Nutrition Workshops

 

GrowNYC partners with NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) along with various other organizations to provide free, multilingual, nutrition education at our markets. 

While in previous years these programs have included cooking demonstrations featuring seasonal, regionally-grown produce, we suspended these programs in 2020 due to COVID-19.  

For the 2020 season, we worked closely with NYC DOHMH and other partners to provide educational programs that would abide by COVID-19 safety measures and educate customers on seasonal produce as well as benefit programs including SNAP/EBT/P-EBT, Health Buck incentives and WIC & Senior FMNP Checks.

 

Stellar Farmers Markets

The NYC DOHMH’s Stellar Farmers Markets program provides free, multilingual nutrition education and cooking demonstrations from July to November. This initiative promotes the benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and improves the capacity of New Yorkers to prepare healthy meals using locally grown, seasonal produce. Stellar Farmers Markets conducted virtual nutrition workshops in English and Spanish and provided Health Bucks directly to GrowNYC and other farmers market operators to distribute to customers. 

Learn more about the NYC Department of Health's Stellar Farmers Market program.

Cornell Cooperative Extension

Staff from Cornell Cooperative Extension's Farmers Market Nutrition Education program regularly visited eight Greenmarkets from September to November, showing recipe videos, giving out Health Bucks and sharing food safety and fruit and vegetable tips with customers who visited their table.

Learn more about Cornell Cooperative Extensions Farmers Market Nutrition Education Program.

Live Healthy!

Located in East Harlem, New York Common Pantry operates programming with the goal of reducing hunger and promoting self-sufficiency for food-insecure New York City residents. NYCP conducted multilingual virtual and distributed Greenmarket Bucks at the Mt. Sinai Greenmarket to pantry members from August to November. 

Learn more about New York Common Pantry programming.

Benefit Screenings

More than 20% of New York City residents are living at or below the poverty level, many of whom are not receiving the benefits to which they are entitled to purchase food. Often a significant hurdle is reaching individuals who may not realize that they qualify for supplemental assistance or would not know how to apply for it. GrowNYC partners with community-based organizations to provide SNAP screenings at Greenmarket locations between June and October.

During the 2020 season, GrowNYC partnered with Hunger Free America (HFA) to provide nutrition benefit screenings to farmers market customers in a safe outdoor setting.

If you are interested in applying for SNAP, visit an enrollment site near you.

Contact Hunger Free America's Benefits Access Team for assistance applying for SNAP or WIC (English, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese and Russian assistance available). 

Every year, GrowNYC holds our Annual Spring Plant Sale in order to provide community groups with affordable perennial and annual flowering plants, herbs, ground covers, and vegetables grown by Greenmarket farmers and sold in wholesale quantities.