Food Access
Increasing access to nourishing food is at the core of our mission to build a healthier, wealthier, and happier Detroit. This goal of access isn’t only about our most popular markets but resonates in all of our additional resources, programs, and partnerships as well. Below is more information on the programs that bring the food, culture, and togetherness of Eastern Market to smaller communities throughout Detroit.
Connecting Communities to Fresh Food—One Program at a Time
Mobile Markets
Eastern Market operates twelve Mobile Markets each week from mid-May through mid-October, offering fresh produce at sites all around Metro Detroit. Through partnerships with Detroit Community Markets, community development organizations, Downtown Development Authorities and neighborhood farmers markets, the Mobile Markets seeks to promote a culture of wellness in the City of Detroit and Southeast Michigan.
Each Mobile Market is equipped to accept all currencies including cash, credit/debit, EBT, Double Up Food Bucks, WIC Project FRESH and Senior Market FRESH.
Well Wayne fresh trucks
In partnership with and funded by the Wayne County Department of Health, Human and Veteran Services, Well Wayne Fresh Trucks operate under Eastern Markets Mobile Markets program and service all 43 municipalities in Wayne County.
To improve access to nutrient dense food across the county and especially in those communities with limited grocery store options, Well Wayne Fresh Trucks serve as mobile grocery stores for Wayne County residents.
Check out the Well Wayne Fresh Truck schedule to see where it is in your neighborhood!
Ways to Pay
Detroit Community Markets
We work with Detroit Community Markets, a network of neighborhood farmers’ markets and alternative food distribution programs, to improve healthy food access in underserved areas in Detroit.
GROW Eastern Market
GROW Eastern Market (GEM) is Detroit’s locavore wholesale connection. The mission of GEM is to increase access to local produce by brokering farm-to-fork relationships with institutional buyers (chefs, restaurants, schools, grocery stores and other wholesale markets) to create and expand new market channels for Michigan’s small and emerging growers.
We like to think of GEM as: DIRT. DOCK. DOOR.
We start with locally grown and harvested fresh foods from Michigan farms, they are brought to our loading docks, and to your chef’s door.
Fresh Prescription
Fresh Prescription is a fruit and vegetable prescription program that brings together the healthcare system and the food system, fostering innovative relationships to build a healthy sustainable food system in Detroit. This promising approach to a healthier food system connects patients to fresh, locally-grown produce while providing direct economic benefits to small and midsize farmers.
Participants are referred to the Fresh Prescription program by their primary care physician. The clinician gives the participants a “prescription” to eat more fruits and vegetables and helps set goals for healthy eating. Patients fill their prescriptions at a partnering mobile market or with a food box delivery, where they also receive other educational support for making meaningful, healthy eating changes.
