Kerri Waldron
For years, Mimi Market in Sylmar was known as a liquor store, but it has rebranded itself as a family-friendly retailer by offering more produce, uniformed staff and insulated bags for customers. The change was made possible through a Los Angeles-based program that has expanded into the San Fernando Valley in the past couple of years.
The Los Angeles Food Policy Council (LAFPC) offers small market store owners looking to revitalize their business with healthy foods the opportunity to do just that through the Healthy Neighborhood Market Network program (HNMN) – all at no cost.
HNMN, which has been around for about 10 years, empowers local neighborhood markets to become healthy food retailers. Although it was just for LA businesses for most of its existence, it expanded between 2022-23 to include the valley with the support of Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez.
The LAFPC targets areas with little to no access to healthy food or affordable grocery stores – commonly referred to as food deserts. It does so by helping these businesses with marketing, community engagement, logo design services and providing a budget to purchase new equipment.
“What our program strives to do is to increase the availability of fresh items, of healthy alternatives to what you might consider like an everyday staple,” said Michelle Fausto, senior program associate with LAFPC. “We try to work with the store owner in all different aspects … there’s really no set way of doing it with each store. It depends on the store owner’s goals and what the community wants.”
HNMN gets its funding through a grant from the city of Los Angeles. To be eligible, business owners must have fewer than five W-2 employees, have all their permits up to date and have a valid ID. When applicants meet with a business counselor, they receive a budget based on what they’re looking to do. There are three main areas the program focuses on: contract and professional services, business development and supplies.
The contract services are when the council brings outside help to renovate the business, such as hiring artists to paint a mural on the storefront. Business development includes help with marketing, which may include creating tote bags with the business’ logo to hand out to customers or sending out flyers to inform the community about upcoming promotions. Lastly, supplies include equipment, such as baskets for customers to carry their items, signage for different aisles and refrigerators for these retailers to store their produce.
“Our major goal is to provide healthy food to the neighborhood,” said Kelly Chavez, a business counselor with HNMN. “I will say that the majority of these store owners are minorities and they have a legacy business; that means they’ve had their business through generations.”
HNMN partners with USC and its research department to learn how many people within the area of each participating business use EBT, have diabetes, high blood pressure or any disease that can be impacted by healthy eating.
“We try to take all of that into consideration for making decisions on how we’re going to help the store,” Chavez said. “It’s not like we come here with our experience and that’s it. No, we use different things to understand the demographics of the neighborhood and how we can impact the store in a positive way.”
How long each applicant stays within the program can vary, but it’s typically between four to eight months. Each “program year” stretches from July to May, and owners can submit a new application when the new year rolls around if they need more assistance.
During the last program year, all participating market stores increased their fresh produce selection and 75% increased their selection up to six varieties of produce. Through community assessments, 75% of respondents said a store’s appearance influenced their decision to shop there, 90% said they live in the same neighborhood as the business and 63% said they walk to the store.
Fausto added that 95% of the time, the businesses they help are managed by families, usually one or two people, who don’t have the time to search for grants or contractors to make improvements.
Although all these services are being provided free of charge, there have been some difficulties when doing outreach because some people are skeptical of the program’s legitimacy, thinking it sounds too good to be true. Fausto said they’re trying to increase the number of businesses in HNMN after the COVID-19 pandemic caused a drop in the number of participating stores; last year, only nine stores signed up – a sharp decrease from the record high of 25.
“These small business owners, the reason they have this skepticism is because they’re already constantly bombarded by all of these different people trying to sell them insurance, software and hardware,” Fausto explained. “They grow tired of having to deal with … being sought out for these predatory services.
“When we come in, [the] number one [thing we do] is to try to be as genuine as possible and try to spark a connection with the store owners,” she continued, “being very intentional with them … but also making sure that we’re invested in what they’re saying, listening actively and making sure that we’re learning about their community and their business.”
While they do go out to businesses to try and enroll them in the program, Fausto said that referrals from the community are much more effective in boosting their numbers. She encourages residents in the valley who know of a market store that could benefit from the program to nominate them through the LAFPC’s website.
For more information about the program and to nominate a store, go to www.goodfoodla.org/hnmn.
Source: sanfernandosun.com
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