CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A permanent, youth-led fresh market has officially opened in the city’s West Side Austin neighborhood.
The idea for Austin Harvest started four years ago. Rodney Williams, with the nonprofit By the Hand Club for Kids, said local youth had gathered in healing circles to process unrest amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“One of the kids started to think about how fresh produce could help, especially, the African American community that struggles with so many underlying health issues,” Williams said.
Then, Austin Harvest opened as a temporary market at the site of a former liquor store near Laramie Avenue and Kinzie Street in Austin — in an area that’s been widely recognized as a food desert.
“Only a few places to get fresh, quality food,” said 17-year-old Laquintion Wooten. “Even those places where you can get fresh, quality food, it's out of budget for people. So it's either out of distance, out of budget, or both. Austin Harvest takes that narrative and flips it.”
Wooten, from Austin, is one of the dozens of youth entrepreneurs that run the store.
“To see somewhere that you grew up in change and prosper, it feels good, especially to be a part of it,” he said.
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