Three years ago, El Nido Family Centers began holding the first certified farmers market in Pacoima every Saturday – open to the public – offering fresh produce, local vendors, artisans and family-friendly activities. But what has always set this market apart from others is its focus on extending the work of their organization to offer a variety of community resources for disadvantaged families.
Customers of the market can purchase produce with CalFresh EBT or Women, Children and Infants (WIC) cards. Families also receive an additional $5 for the market every time they attend the free weekly cooking classes, and El Nido distributes free food from the market to 35 families each week.
Now, with a grant they’ve recently received from the Los Angeles Civil, Human Rights and Equity Department (LA Civil Rights), they plan to enhance the farmers market with more health and wellness programming and can expand their services to families in Arleta.
A ceremonial check for the grant, totaling just over $315,000, was presented on July 25 to El Nido at the Pacoima Community Center, where the farmers market is held each week.
Liz Herrera, CEO of El Nido, said they’ve had to fundraise to maintain their services and keep the market open, but now with this grant, they’ll be able to expand food distribution to families in Arleta with additional wellness components.
This includes more fitness classes and nutrition workshops, hiring more community members, hosting health fairs and nature field trips for families.
The funding, said Herrera, gives them stability so they won’t have to cut back on other programs and resources in order to keep their services running, including the market.
“The farmers’ market is a direct result of the concept of our community’s desire – our parents’ desire to give their children the best health outcomes possible. It’s been an absolute honor to be in this space and to have this opportunity to partner with our community to create this space,” said Herrera. “Not only is it addressing health needs, but it promotes financial health. Our vendors, who are all from the community, have an opportunity to come here. We don’t charge [a percentage of their sales] to be here like other places.
“The grant is helping us expand and enhance the work of the farmers market. We’re going to really work on providing more resources and opportunities to promote health and wellness for Arleta families,” Herrera continued.
The grant was presented by LA Reforms for Equity and Public Acknowledgement of Institutional Racism (LA REPAIR) – an LA Civil Rights program that’s also the city’s first participatory budgeting pilot program, which allowed community members to decide where the funding went.
Through this program, LA REPAIR is providing $8.5 million to 19 organizations in nine communities decided by local residents, including Cottonwood Urban Farms in Panorama City, the Downtown Women’s Center in Skid Row and New Economics for Women in Westlake. El Nido was selected after community members in the Arleta-Pacoima REPAIR Zone ranked the nonprofit as their top choice to receive this one-time grant.
Capri Maddox, the executive director of the LA Civil Rights, said they wanted to focus on those nine communities because not only were they most severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but they continue to face issues including rent burden, overcrowding and food deserts – areas with limited access to affordable, healthy food.
El Nido and other organizations received this grant, Maddox said, because they provide services to vulnerable families who are struggling with these inequities.
“Resources are needed in the most marginalized communities, and as city leaders, we need to step up and show up for our community-based organizations who are out here in the streets fighting for a better Los Angeles,” Maddox said. “The city and government cannot solve all of our problems. We need the community to stand and be with us, and we need community-based organizations as the hub to make a difference in people’s lives.
“I benefited from community-based organizations like this one that changed the trajectory of my life,” she continued. “And I’ll be sure that we are not going to walk through a door of success and close it behind us for our future leaders.”
Pierre Arriola, co-founder of the GR818ERS, gave credit to the Pacoima Community Center, saying, “Some of my first events were held here. … This $315,000 investment is coming directly to a community that has needed attention for a long time.
“Growing up in these streets and now raising my own child here in Pacoima, I recognize the great importance of investing not just time and money in our community, but community willpower, and really that’s what makes this farmers market a success,” said Arriola. “That’s what makes El Nido’s program a success. It’s our desire to want more and want better for future generations.”
Arriola noted the grant came to Pacoima not through City Hall, but through the votes of local residents who live, work, go to school and raise their families in the area.
“Everyone here is part of this community, and we all belong to it,” Arriola said. “Every family in this community, documented or not, English-speaking or not, homeowner or renter, every single one of you deserves access to the basic building blocks of a dignified life: nutrition, wellness, recreation, green spaces [and] health care.”
The weekly farmers market is held every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. It’s located at the Pacoima Community Center on 11243 Glenoaks Blvd.
For more information about El Nido Family Centers, visit https://www.elnidofamilycenters.org/.