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Posted by Tamma Carleton | March 8th, 2010

The future Columbia Heights Community Marketplace is developing fast! Farmers are lining up with local, healthful food, arts and entertainment schedules are getting laid out for the season, and residents are continuing to step up and offer ideas to make the market a diverse event. (For previous posts about the market, see here and here). As the June 5th grand opening approaches, we now are turning our attention to advertising and making sure that all of DC knows about this exciting addition to the NW community.

That’s where our local artists come in! We need a logo for the market that will be printed on sandwich boards, lamp post signs, canvas bags, t-shirts, and market stall banners. If you’re an artist, know an artist, or just want to give it a shot, please submit a logo design! The logo should have the text “Columbia Heights Community Marketplace,” but the rest is up to you. Keep in mind that the market will be a diverse community event that will incorporate not only fresh, local food, but also music, dance, youth outreach programs, and community services.

Please send your logo design to CHCommunityMarketplace@gmail.com as soon as possible. Submissions will be accepted through Tuesday, March 16th. HOWEVER, we are on a tight time schedule, so please send them in as soon as you can! We look forward to seeing all your ideas.

Posted by Tamma Carleton | February 24th, 2010

About a month ago, the Columbia Heights Community Marketplace reached out to neighborhood residents (see this post) to learn what people would like to see at the Market. More than 250 people responded in person and online.

Survey respondents chose weekends as their ideal time to attend the market; Saturday edged out Sunday as the preferred day for people taking the survey, and it got the nod from many farmers who might end up selling food at the Market. Thanks to all of you who put in your two cents to achieve a better understanding of what residents would like to see in their Columbia Heights Community Marketplace.

The excitement begins on Saturday, June 5, 2010, the first day of the Columbia Heights Community Marketplace – to be located at the Civic Plaza at the intersection of 14th and Kenyon streets and Park Road, NW. It will run every Saturday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., from June 5 through October 30, 2010.

As the Market takes shape, creating a well rounded and diverse weekly event is important. This includes having all of the Market’s produce growers being WIC certified and finding ways to subsidize WIC stamps 2:1 so that all Columbia Heights residents can afford to buy fresh, local food. Our market manager, Robert Schubert, will also be trained to administer Food Stamps and there will be a Food Stamp machine at the market.

Posted by Tamma Carleton | February 18th, 2010

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By geographically mapping indicators like “pounds of fruit/vegetables per capita” and “average monthly WIC participants,” the project enables policymakers and the general public to visualize the food environment, thereby helping to develop policy strategies that can improve food security and health in distressed areas across the country.

With such a tool, we can ask: where are the big gaps in service and access to healthy food, and how are those gaps affecting health? How are prices inhibiting the consumption of healthy food in many communities? Much of the map’s data focus on low-income communities, as does the First Lady’s entire childhood obesity project.

The Atlas summarizes a vast amount of data at the county, regional, and state levels. But in many ways, food security is a truly local issue – and at the moment, this tool is significantly limited in application at the local level. The smallest unit of measurement is the county – and this is especially problematic in DC, for example, where there is no distinction between sub-regions of the city. Therefore, if we’re looking at, say, the number of grocery stores per 1,000 people, we will get the same data point for all of DC – despite the fact that food environments vary widely throughout the District.

Posted by Tamma Carleton | February 3rd, 2010

[Esta entrada en español!]

Come, be a part of connecting community, culture and food in Columbia Heights this summer.

The Columbia Heights Community Marketplace kicks off its inaugural season the first weekend of June 2010 at one of the neighborhood’s key commercial, cultural and social hubs: the plaza and fountain at the intersection of 14th Street, Kenyon Street and Park Road in Northwest D.C., one block from the Columbia Heights Metro, and across the street from a major shopping center, eateries and the Tivoli Theater.

The various aspects and components of the Columbia Heights Community Marketplace, including the farmers market, arts, entertainment and services, will show the key role that locally and sustainably grown food has in connecting, celebrating and strengthening community and culture.

But your help is needed to make the Columbia Heights Community Marketplace experience the best possible. Please take a few moments to complete a survey that seeks your help and ideas about a number of issues related to the market schedule and which activities, foods and services you would like to see available. For example, your input will help decide which day and hours the market should operate.

Click here to take the survey.

Thank you for taking the time to help make the Columbia Heights Community Marketplace a world class affair.

Esta entrada en español a continuación.