Demo Highlights Green City's 3x Link Match
Food access on the table, and this week's Chicago region market schedule
Triple Play: Food Access Keys Green City Demo
Green City Market on Saturday kicked off a series of culinary demonstrations highlighting its efforts to increase access to healthy, sustainably produced local food for food assistance recipients. The demo was presented by Kristina Navarro, a former Chicago Public Schools teacher who since 2019 has served as Green City’s Education Program Coordinator.
Saturday’s program emphasized that beneficiaries of Link — Illinois’ analog of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP — can receive up to $75 of product at Green City Market, which is triple the maximum weekly purchase allowed by the Link program alone. Here’s how this works:
Nearly all farmers markets in Illinois allow recipients of Link benefits to use up to the $25 maximum to buy fresh, local food. Many of those markets double that value to $50 by participating in the Link Up Illinois match program that is administered by Experimental Station, a nonprofit that also runs the 61st Street Farmers Market on Chicago’s South Side.
For several years, Green City Market had done its own thing, doubling Link value to $50 using its own financial resources, which also gave recipients more latitude to buy products such as meat and bread (Link Match restricts purchases to fresh vegetables and fruit). This year, though, Green City Market allied with Link Up Illinois to provide an extra $25 in benefits, thus raising the total benefit for Link users to $75.
The table display in the above photo was created by Green City staff to show how far $75 can go at the market. While the display showed a wide variety of products that can be purchased with the triple match, it is also true that $75 can buy a whole lot of salad fixings and everyday veggies and fruits for consumers with simpler needs.
Kristina amplified the message by preparing two easy dishes, each of which had just a few ingredients: a salsa made with corn (which has just started its summer market season) and a tofu-centered stir fry. Samples were shared with attendees at the end of the demo.
The next demo in the program, featuring David Schwartz of Formento’s restaurant in the West Loop, will take place this Wednesday (June 20) at 10:30 a.m. at the market’s flagship Lincoln Park location.