First Farmers Market in Inglewood

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Downtown Inglewood buzzed with activity as residents gathered for the city’s first certified farmers’ market. Organized by the Social Justice Learning Institute, the event featured fresh produce, prepared foods from local artisans and live music. 

Myca Tran, who manages the market for the Social Justice Learning Institute, said residents expressed strong interest in the project. “We wanted to debunk the idea that our community doesn’t deserve something like this,” Tran said. “Our community has been advocating for it for years.”  

Low-income shoppers can buy fruits and vegetables using Electronic Benefit Transfer cash. A state-funded program called Market Match then converts the amount they spent into coupons for additional produce. 

Tran said these alternative payment options helped attract farmers to sell their goods at the market. 

“This shows how you don’t need to be in Beverly Hills or Santa Monica or West Hollywood to have fresh fruits and vegetables,” Tran said.

In addition to fresh produce, the market showcases prepared foods from local artisans. D’Artagnan Scorza, executive director of the Social Justice Learning Institute, said his organization reached out to cottage food vendors early on in the process of planning the market. 

“We knew that if we wanted to have a successful community event, we had to involve the community,” Scorza said.