Emanuel tries again to start produce bus in food deserts
City rolls out produce bus once again for Chicago food deserts
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday took another crack at launching a produce bus project that aims to bring fresh fruits and vegetables to parts of Chicago that lack them after a similar city-backed initiative failed two years ago.
Standing on the grounds of an old Bridgeport trucking depot that has been converted into an urban agriculture farm, Emanuel re-upped one of the aspects of his effort to decrease the city's so-called food deserts.
"That used to be a book mobile," said Emanuel, pointing his thumb toward the bus as an artist spray-painted trees on the bright vehicle. "Now that bus has been rehabbed to serve and make sure communities that do not presently have access to fresh fruits and vegetables at a store, doesn't mean they don't have access to fresh fruits and vegetables in their neighborhood, in their community."
It's not the first time Emanuel has held a news conference on the issue.
In June 2012, the mayor stood with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in front of a shiny red bus to announce a federal grant for two produce buses operating under the "Fresh Moves" moniker while promising to secure funds for four more of the vehicles.
Instead, a year and a half later the two Fresh Moves buses were permanently parked with the foundation that ran them, Food Desert Action, reporting a loss of $51,502 on produce sales in 2011 and a loss of $185,520 in 2012.
This time, the mayor predicted, the new Fresh Moves venture will be more successful.
The program now is being run by Erika Allen, an Emanuel appointee to the Chicago Park District board and the director of Growing Power Chicago, an urban farming nonprofit that grows fruits and vegetables year round on 12 acres in the city. Allen will run Fresh Moves, with its first bus debuting July 18 and plans for a second bus to start up this fall.
In 2012, the U.S. Department of Agriculture provided a one-year grant of $45,000 to help Fresh Moves to begin operating a second bus. This year, Emanuel said Vilsack agreed to a one-year grant to serve as the seed money for the latest produce bus model. Allen said the grant is for $100,000, but she believes ultimately the bus program will largely fund itself through sales.
Asked what's different about the program this time around, Allen didn't hesitate: "We grow our own food."
Under Food Desert Action's previous business model, the foundation purchased produce and turned around and sold it on the buses, operating on thin price margins. Allen argued she has far less overhead than that previous setup since her nonprofit Growing Power, which started and still operates farms in Milwaukee, provides much of the food the bus will sell.
Allen said 90 percent of what is sold on the buses will be grown in Chicago or within 200 miles of the city, with the exception being more tropical fruits such as bananas and oranges. She said the bus also will sell salads and healthy drinks and snacks that will help generate revenue.
"The other model didn't work. I think this partnership, which is locally grown, gives you a cost advantage that I think will be significant," Emanuel said. "It doesn't mean that because one thing didn't work that you give up on the idea of making sure all neighborhoods have access to fresh fruits and vegetables."
As with the previous Fresh Moves model, Emanuel contributed an old city bus to the initiative. Previously, he sold retired CTA buses to Food Desert Action for a dollar. This time, he contributed a bus from the Chicago Public Library, but the city also is chipping in up to $110,000 in fuel and maintenance costs for the program in its first year.
"I'm betting on Erika. I'm serious about that," Emanuel said. "At a certain point, you bet on the entrepreneur, and the other model was run by a foundation and was done different. I think Erika's business model, her determination and her leadership is a significant difference that will go from what didn't work to what will be a success that will be copied."
The Fresh Moves Mobile Market will operate year-round, Tuesday through Sunday. The first bus will start out by stopping at 13 locations on the South and West Sides with a goal of expanding to 22 stops per week. The schedule can be found at http://www.growingpower.org under "News."
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