EASTERN MARKET CORPORATIOIN
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Mission Statement
We shepherd the rich history of Eastern Market to nourish a healthier, wealthier, and happier Detroit. Mission Eastern Market Corporation (EMC) is a non-profit corporation that operates Detroit's historic Eastern Market by managing operations, developing programs, building facilities, and providing critical infrastructure to: ¥ Make Detroit happier by strengthening Eastern Market District as a great place. ¥ Make Detroit wealthier by fortifying the food sector as a pillar of regional economic growth. ¥ Make Detroit healthier by increasing the consumption of healthy, green, affordable, and fair food.
About This Cause
Since 2007, EMC has been creating the most inclusive, resilient, and robust regional food hub in the United States to serve as a catalyst for developing the regional food/ag cluster in southeast Michigan. Key sector-based programs include 1) food entrepreneurship programs to incubate and accelerate the growth of new food businesses, particularly those owned by traditionally marginalized groups; 2) retention and attraction programs to retain and attract established food companies and strengthen the district as an employment center, especially growing entry-level, living-wage jobs to help increase labor force participation rates in adjacent neighborhoods. EMC also conducts programs related to place-based development of the Eastern Market as a cutting-edge, food-focused template for equitable urban revitalization including both the repurposing of historic areas and compelling development of largely vacant land. Key place-based programs include façade improvement assistance, event management, marketing and promotion, attracting and retaining district merchants, and strategic planning efforts that have engaged hundreds of District stakeholders to develop a shared vision for the market district. Over the past year, EMC has increased its capacity and has begun to focus on expanding the market district to the east and north of the current market district. Most of the expansion area will be newly constructed on land that is currently vacant. The opportunity to integrate green storm water infrastructure projects to develop a job-rich district with a high quality built environment gives Eastern Market a chance to provide a model for repurposing urban land that can be replicated throughout Detroit and other Rust Belt cities. Current Programs Between FY 2006 and FY 2017 EMC’s budget has grown from $1.8 million to $5.4 million and its salaried staff has grown from 7 to 20 as operations and programs have expanded. Operations Market operations remain at the heart of Eastern Market as they have for the past 125 years. Eastern Market, like all public markets over the ages, provides low-cost entry to access customers. Through its long history, immigrants have used Eastern Market to gain a foothold to pursue their American dream. Markets Since 2006, EMC has steadily developed a stronger Saturday Market, maintained the Wholesale Market, and initiated two new markets. The Tuesday Health & Wellness Market debuted in 2011, while the Sunday Street Market started in 2014. More than 600 different vendors participate in EMC’s five markets. Facilities EMC has invested more than $17 million in the renovation of Sheds 2,3, and 5. Smaller repairs to the Welcome Center, Shed 4, and the Eastern Market Office and Annex have been completed with operating revenues and occasional CDBG support from the City of Detroit. Customer Service & Support (CSS) EMC has greatly expanded services provided by its CSS Staff. Perceptions and reality regarding Eastern Market District safety and cleanliness have improved greatly. Public Realm Management EMC has worked to encourage private use of public right-of-way to enhance the District’s urban character, to remove graffiti, leverage mural art as an engagement tool, and to deploy mobile place making equipment to encourage greater pedestrian activity throughout the Eastern Market District. Events As Shed improvements were completed, EMC has seen a rapid growth in the number and variety of community and private events held at Eastern Market. From trade shows to weddings, Eastern Market has become a preferred venue for those who want their events to benefit from the market’s distinctive spaces. Event rental income has become the fastest growing source of earned income. Food Innovation EMC has leveraged its 125-year hybrid tradition – a place with both wholesale and retail food sales - to help position Detroit as a nationally recognized hot spot in the local food movement. Interest in sourcing Michigan crops and Detroit prepared foods has skyrocketed giving Eastern Market its highest market relevance in decades. Retain & Attract Eastern Market is the home to more than 150 businesses of which roughly 100 are food processing and distribution companies. This concentration of food businesses provides nearly 2,000 food sector jobs with a high percentage of entry-level, living-wage jobs. Food processing and distribution companies have been displaced from local food districts in other cities when those districts became overrun with bars, boutiques, and lofts. A key part of our economic development strategy – Eastern Market 2025 – aims at keeping food companies in or near Eastern Market as Detroit’s resurgence gains steam. Nearly twenty Eastern Market food businesses are growing and need to expand into new facilities. Their growth models provide strong evidence that Detroit has locational advantages for food businesses that can lead to the successful attraction of established food companies to Detroit as a place to base their operations. Incubate & Accelerate EMC began allowing value-added food makers to sell at the Saturday Market soon after it took on market management functions in 2006. Today more than 170 companies have applied to become vendors at Eastern Market. Many food businesses have used the Saturday Market’s exposure to tens of thousands of customers to conduct product testing and ramp up sales. In 2015 in collaboration with FoodLab Detroit, EMC began developing Detroit Kitchen Connect a network of shared-use, commercially-licensed kitchens to provide low and moderate income households with the space they need to perfect recipes and expand production. Previous NEI support helped us build the Eastern Market Community Kitchen which has become the network hub since opening in 2015. Currently, there are three kitchens in the DKC network, and two more kitchens are expected to join the network in 2017. EMC’s staff along with staff from MSU Extension and Product Center, who are domiciled in leased EMC space, provide technical assistance (TA) to food entrepreneurs. In addition, EMC provides funding to food businesses that need to secure more specialized forms of TA. EMC has increasingly focused on acceleration of food businesses inspired by the success of companies like McClure’s Pickles that now employs 35 people at its Detroit headquarters. EMC’s first attempt at acceleration was initiated when funding was granted from the Michigan Department Agriculture and Rural Development to equip a co-packing facility in collaboration with Garden Fresh Gourmet (GFG) at its Ferndale headquarters. That project was moved to the Oak Park campus of Forgotten Harvest when GFG’s sale to Campbell Soup blocked the execution of the program in Ferndale. Food Hub Eastern Market has been a wholesale distribution point for regional farmers since 1891. The interest in local foods gives Eastern Market its first chance to grow its wholesale market since the early 1950’s when the rise of national grocers (and their regional distribution centers) reduced the need for independent regional wholesale produce terminals. EMC has embraced the pending enforcement of the Food Safety Modernization Act as an opportunity to build a new regional wholesale distribution facility. Every other area wholesale produce distributor faces similar challenges about whether to invest in old facilities or build new facilities as the best means of meeting tighter regulations. EMC also stepped up its work to train/prepare emerging growers to sell into wholesale channels with the eventual goal of increasing the number of wholesale growers at Eastern Market. EMC initiated a formal vendor recruitment program in 2017 and piloted Grow Eastern Market (GEM) that connects early stage growers with wholesale customers. Food Access EMC has operated the Eastern Market Farm Stand program since 2009. Currently the program sets up at 21 sites throughout Detroit and inner ring suburbs from June through September. Farm Stand enables 25 Eastern Market Fellows to immerse themselves in local food system work and has been critical in attracting talent to this emerging industry. EMC has led the development of Detroit Community Markets, a network of neighborhood farmers’ markets and food access programs that was successful in receiving a grant from USDA in 2016, which will allow the network to hire its own coordinator for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. At the present time, sixteen different fresh food outlets participate in the network. In late 2014, EMC used a grant for US Department of Health and Human Services to open a six-day per week fruit and vegetable outlet in the Gratiot Central Market where robust protein sales occur throughout the week. EMC is planning to hand off operations of Red Truck Fresh Produce to an experienced food retailer in March 2017, while focusing on the nutrition education, cooking demonstrations, and voucher distribution aspects of the operation. Food Education EMC has experimented with a variety of nutrition education and food demonstrations over the years but is dedicated to expanding its portfolio of food and cooking education efforts in 2017. In addition to focusing on those aspects at Red Truck, EMC has secured funding to expand both Saturday and Tuesday Market programming in this area. Food education is an inextricable part of food access programs that seek to improve diets in Detroit by removing the barriers faced by households who want to increase their consumption of fruits and vegetables. Knowledge about food selection, storage, and preparation is key.