City of Columbus and Partners Announce Linden Fresh Foods Market
Mayor Andrew J. Ginther and community leaders
announced a free food market with pharmacy access funded by the City, the
Healthy Families Healthy Neighborhoods Reality Collaborative and Columbus Next
Generation Corporation. The Linden Fresh Market will be built on the site of
the former Eagle Market, located at 1464 Cleveland Avenue.
“Through a $1.5 million dollar investment by the City of
Columbus, this property will be transformed,” said Mayor Ginther. “The
Linden Fresh Market will fill a hole in the neighborhood for access to fresh
food and prescriptions.”
This investment to renovate a former nuisance property will
allow Community Development for All People, the Charitable Pharmacy of Central
Ohio and Nationwide Children’s Hospital to provide programming that will help
to address health disparities and advance the One Linden Community Plan’s Support
Resident Health Big Idea.
“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.”
Community Development for All People launched a similar
concept on Parsons Avenue in 2018 that is now one of the highest volume
distribution sites in central Ohio.
Construction of the Linden Fresh Market is expected to begin
in September and will be serving the residents of Linden by early spring 2021.
Linden Fresh Market represents just one of the many
investments the city and community partners are making to advance the One
Linden Plan announced in 2018. Other commitments include a new Linden Community
Recreation Center currently under construction, a new fire station on Oakland
Park, housing by Homeport and Habitat for Humanity, and redesign of Hudson
Avenue.