City Fresh was created to support a just, equitable, and resilient local food system in Northeast Ohio by tunneling through systemic obstacles to bring fresh, high-quality, nutrient-dense local produce to low-access neighborhoods while paying farmers fair prices and connecting them to the communities they feed. City Fresh addresses environmental concerns by supporting our producers’ sustainable farming methods and helping them to maintain Ohio’s rich agricultural soils, a critical and irreplaceable resource, in the face of development pressure.

Inspired by the Civil Rights era roots of the American community-supported agriculture movement, City Fresh reconstructs the CSA model from the ground up and innovates for accessibility: instead of the risk of supporting a single farm, City Fresh is a multi-producer CSA; instead of the high cost of an up-front seasonal membership, shares are purchased weekly, and EBT and Produce Perks can be used to pay for reduced-price shares. A social-entrepreneurial model allows us to subsidize reduced-price shares with profits from full-priced shares, so that a $35 family share offering about 20 pounds of excellent produce can be purchased for $18 in SNAP dollars. We work with food security programs and a network of funders to provide free shares to the most vulnerable community members, and our weekly Fresh Stops are hosted by passionate community volunteers, supported by a lean staff deeply committed to our mission.

City Fresh is committed to provide what many surplus- and commodity-based food security resources cannot: a consistent seasonal source of very fresh, varied, locally grown, high-nutrient produce that is easy to prepare and highly appetizing, with 92% of our members reporting that participation has substantially increased their consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables - a critical contribution to health outcomes. Since 2005, City Fresh has prioritized slow, steady, sustainable growth of a network of 15 Fresh Stops throughout the NEO region. Two-thirds are located in USDA Food Desert Census Tracts, with one-third of all shares used by low-income households.