As California faces a looming budget deficit and looks to tighten its belt, thousands of low-income San Franciscans and several farmers markets could lose a state benefit that increases access to fresh produce for food-insecure families and provides extra funds to small farms throughout the state.
Market Match operates at nearly 300 sites throughout California and in seven farmers markets in San Francisco, with the largest in the Heart of the City Farmers’ Market in Civic Center, said Minni Forman, the food and farming program director at Ecology Center, the lead organization for Market Match.
Some of that funding has gone to support the Heart of the City Farmers’ Market, which serves many low-income or unhoused residents in and around Civic Center who otherwise lack easily accessible, healthy grocery options. Unionized Muni workers say contract negotiations at a 'standstill' Transport Workers Union Local 250A’s previous agreement with The City expires at the end of the month