About the Markets

The Fresh Food Markets are tenant run, not-for-profit initiatives that aim to increase access to fresh, in season and affordable produce for the tenants of the Fitzroy and Collingwood public housing estates and wider communities addressing issues of food insecurity and social isolation.

Food is central to all of our lives and plays a very significant role in the expression and sharing of cultures.

The project also aims to provide a vehicle for community information to be exchanged and a training ground for tenants to build skills in everything from practicing English to retail and business to community development.

Through its open door approach, the project also aims to break down some of the barriers between the wider community and public housing communities.

As the market has volunteers from several cultural groups including Vietnamese, Chinese, Pakistani, Greek and Sudanese, it is a great place for people of non-English speaking backgrounds to do their shopping as it is likely that there will be someone there who speaks their language who will be able to assist them.

Why a Market?

The idea for this project has emerged from food security being identified by local research as a major issue in the Collingwood and Fitzroy public housing communities. Many tenants on the estates fall into the most vulnerable food insecurity categories including people on low incomes, refugees, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders, alcohol or drug abusers, chronically ill and people with disabilities. When looking at the Collingwood and Fitzroy areas, there is only one local supermarket where produce is often expensive and of poor quality.

Project History

The project has been running since 2004 initially supported by the Brotherhood of St Laurence and the Fitzroy Office of Housing. This funding ran out in December 2005 and is currently being run solely by volunteers.

The project began with several public consultations and then an ongoing committee of local tenants who met fortnightly to design the implementation of the project. The committee was comprised of people from approximately 5 different cultural groups to ensure that the project would be of benefit to people across the community.

During public consultations people also expressed the importance of a project like the market to assist people with disabilities or frail older people to access fresh food.

How it Works…

The food for the markets is purchased at the Footscray Wholesale Market by the buyer who shops for the CERES Market in East Brunswick. This in-kind contribution is invaluable. Although the aim of the project is to supply the cheapest produce possible, an emphasis is also placed on quality and sustainability so the food is bought with an “in season” and “as local as possible” ethic.

The produce is then dropped off at the estate by a delivery driver and tenant volunteers gather to arrange the produce and set up the “shop”. Each volunteer takes home a $10 box of produce to reward their efforts. Some produce is now being sourced directly from a farmer in the Southern Grampians who heard about the project and wanted to be involved.

Some other produce is being grown for the markets at the Richmond Fellowship’s Sprout Supported Community Garden project in Thornbury. This project works with people affected by homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse and mental illness. The staff of this project have expressed their delight in the partnership between the market and the garden projects as the market has given their clients a “real” customer base for their produce that also reflects the community ethics of the program.

• Not-For-Profit
• Volunteer Run
• Affordable and Fresh
• Making good food accessible for all

Fitzroy
Mondays 1-3pm
Atherton Gardens Estate
90 Brunswick St.

Collingwood
Thursdays 1-3pm
Collingwood Estate
Harmsworth St Hall

Support the market by having us supply your event, restaurant, school, neighbourhood house, community program etc with fresh, wholesale priced produce. For more information or to place an order call Peta on 0411899618.