Partners and Supporters
Tabor Community Services is a non-profit 501c3 housing and budget counseling organization which provides housing counseling, supportive housing, and consumer credit counseling programs and services to moderate and low-income residents of Lancaster. Tabor is one of the collaborators that formed the EKID and administers EKID finances and staffing. Tabor’s role in this project will be to provide the farmers’ market facility adjacent to Tabor’s offices and to fund most of the market facility’s interior repairs.
www.tabornet.org
Philadelphia Food Trust has provided consultation and assistance with the fresh food market start-up, including feasibility studies and the development of a marketing plan and ongoing business plan.
www.thefoodtrust.org
Franklin and Marshall College’s Local Economy Center (LEC) has provided technical assistance throughout the development of this project. They authored the first study of Lancaster’s food system, in the spring of 2005, titled "Lancaster Central Market and our Community Food System". They continue to promote and develop community awareness of economic development matters.
www.fandm.edu/lec.xml
Threshold Foundation is a community-based organization developed in 1995 in response to the escalation of violence and rising gang and drug-related crime among Lancaster City’s youth. As then, Threshold Foundation’s programs still focus on prevention and community needs alongside its mission to develop a self-reliant and sustainable food system and local economy in Lancaster City through community-based and youth-focused enterprises, urban agricultural projects, and educational initiatives. The Foundation works to increase access to healthy and affordable food, reduce obesity and diet-related diseases, provide education about nutrition and health, create employment opportunities for residents, and develop entrepreneurial and leadership skills in young people. Its three program areas are food production, micro-enterprise, and community education. Threshold’s Dig it ! community gardens have a fresh-food stand at Eastern Market.
www.thresholdpa.org
EmPower Partners, LLC authored the Lancaster Food Study which found that $32 million grocery dollars leave Lancaster City every year as residents purchase their groceries in outlaying areas.
Kutztown Small Business Development Center and Community First Fund will provide business counseling services to local cottage industries. Community First Fund also offers micro loans to businesses.
www.kutztownsbdc.org
www.communityfirstfund.org
Assets Lancaster will provide business education and counseling services as well as an 11-week business program for youth.
www.assetslancaster.org
Lancaster Buy Fresh Buy Local Campaign’s mission is to build and strengthen our local food system by connecting Lancaster County families, farmers’ markets, restaurants, and other institutions with Lancaster County farmers.
www.buylocalpa.org
Lancaster County Community Foundation provided much-needed funding support to start and develop Eastern Market for over a three-years period.
www.lancastercountyfoundation.org
LIVE Lancaster Investment in a Vibrant Economy has provided additional funding support in fresh food marketing.
www.livelancaster.org
Community residents will continue to plan and lead this project through neighborhood groups and community meetings already in place through the East King Improvement District and grow fresh foods through their gardening and farming efforts.
