The City of Columbus, the Healthy Families Healthy Neighborhoods Reality Collaborative and Columbus Next Generation Corporation announced today the funding of a free food market with pharmacy access in Linden.
Construction on the Linden Fresh Market is slated to begin in September at 1464 Cleveland Ave., formerly the site of Eagle Market. The market will open in early spring 2021.
“Through a $1.5 million dollar investment by the City of Columbus, this property will be transformed,” said Mayor Andrew Ginther. “The Linden Fresh Market will fill a hole in the neighborhood for access to fresh food and prescriptions.”
Community Development for All People, the Charitable Pharmacy of Central Ohio and Nationwide Children’s Hospital will provide programming for the market. Community Development for All People opened a similar concept, All People’s Fresh Market, at 945 Parsons Ave. in 2018.
“The new market that will be launched by Community Development for All People is a testimony to the fact that so many people are eager to eat healthier, in order to live healthier,” said Rev. John Edgar, executive director of Community Development for All People. “During the COVID-19 pandemic that is unfolding amid the legacy of generations of racial inequities, access to quality food is a social determinant of health that matters more than ever before. Simply put: food is medicine.”
The market will offer groceries, health screenings and prescriptions and help support resident health as laid out in the One Linden Plan.
Announced in 2018, the One Linden Plan aims to jumpstart a new era of investment in the Linden neighborhood through preserving affordable housing, offering support to small businesses and other wrap-around services, like providing healthy food access.
For more information, visit columbus.gov.