Driving Food Access With Mobile Markets

Health care access

Central LA South LA County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit) City of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a citywide benefit)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

During the pandemic, 41% of black-owned businesses were forced to close. We saw a push to support these businesses but understood the need for longterm infrastructure for sustainable impact. Even pre-pandemic, it’s said that a dollar stays in black communities for just 6 hours, meaning money leaves the community as quickly as it comes. We believe that to circulate the dollar longer, we need more ownership of essential businesses, specifically grocery stores. Only 1.3% of farmers in the U.S. are black and merely 0.7% in CA. 1 in 4 LA residents experience food insecurity, including 41% of low income households. Our communities are at greater risk of diet related illnesses which can be attributed to the lack of access to healthy foods. A primary obstacle to food access is lack of distribution. With food assistance programs under threat, the need for affordable solutions is urgent. Prosperity Market is uniquely positioned to address these issues disproportionately affecting our community.

Prosperity Market is a mobile farmers market & online marketplace featuring black farmers, producers, & chefs. We travel through LA making it easy to support black-owned businesses while creating food access in underserved communities. Our 48ft, solar-powered & electric trailer is a literal farmers market on wheels! The back is the farmers market, designed to shop like an aisle in a grocery store. The front is a kitchen that we’ll rent to chefs & food entrepreneurs, making it a pop-up food truck. Currently, we support 30+ local businesses in our market with plans to increase to 60 businesses over the next 2 years. We will feature 24 chefs annually. With our mobile market we can drive healthy, affordable foods directly into communities. As a retail outlet, we help businesses scale & expand their reach. This grant will support the official launch of our mobile trailer in Feb 2026 & weekly trailer stops in a designated neighborhood for 3 months. Additionally, It will support Prosperity Bucks for 240 people, strengthening the purchasing power of healthy foods in vulnerable communities. PM Bucks are subsidized funds that residents can use to shop the market with dignity and autonomy. This grant will cover HR & payroll costs for 1 year, supporting job creation at Prosperity Market. In addition to supporting our community with access to healthy foods & education, we will provide business support and resources (marketing, press, certifications, etc) to our network of entrepreneurs.

Imagine LA with no food deserts. When we can drive a grocery store directly into communities, then we have the power to eliminate food deserts. As a mobile farmers market, we play a vital role in building food security for our communities. Our success will decrease food insecurity, increase small, black businesses, create jobs, strengthen the local economy & food ecosystem, and circulate dollars longer through our communities, all contributing to a thriving LA. This grant term, we’ll launch our trailer route with 2 weekly stops in a designated area and expand our Prosperity Bucks program, distributing $12k PM Bucks to 240 residents. Our short term goal is to onboard 15+ new businesses & gradually increase daily operations to 6 days/week, 2 areas/day. Our long term goal is to scale our online marketplace, expand our local wholesale distribution services, and launch multiple Prosperity trailers to serve more residents & businesses across Los Angeles County and beyond.