- In food desert areas like here in a lower price hill neighborhood or even up north in the old Dayton neighborhood, food markets are like an oasis.

They provide much needed fruit and vegetables and show that having access to a variety of food options enhances the lifestyle of a community.

Myer's Fresh Grocery in Deli located in Lower Price Hill, gives out package free meals to local residents, as explained by site director Jasmine Taylor.

- Every Tuesday at 6:00 PM we create a meal, whether it be from the free products that we receive, or free produce that we receive.

We make sure every Tuesday everybody has a hot meal throughout this Lower Price Hill community - Run by the Cincinnati nonprofit called Your Store of the Queen.

City Meer offers 50 to 100 of these free community meals on Tuesdays to help residents in need.

- We also have husbands that come in and their wives might not be able to cook because they're experiencing some type of illness and sometimes these kids haven't ate all day.

So this is one of the biggest contributions to the community from Misers, in my opinion, - Also offering a big contribution to their community is Gem City Market.

In the old Dayton neighborhood, this market operates as a co-op, which is a grocery store owned by the folks in the area.

This allows Gem City to not only serve the community, but allows the community to be a major part of that service.

- To me, cooperation is a moral force for human development.

- The board president of the co-op am Maha ESI says, co-owning the market with the community is part of the effort to overcome systemic disparities - In in areas that's been underdeveloped.

One of the key things that you're fighting is like the trust issue.

We've had a lot of overpromising and underdelivered, you know what I mean?

There's like a, a trauma that we've experienced.

How do we shift to the community seeing themselves as developers?

There's a process behind the market, you know what I mean?

Even as is like meeting the, the direct need of, of increasing access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

- Maha even uses a term coined by food activist Karen Washington to describe the conditions these markets are fighting against.

- So oftentimes people use the word food desert, but that implies a natural phenomenon.

Karen Washington, she calls it food apartheid, if you wanna acknowledge that, like the conditions that that created.

Food deserts were not natural, but were policy.

We are trying to build a grocery store inside of an area that was intentionally the conditions were made not right for a grocery store.

- So how essential are these markets?

Jasmine described it as a lifeline.

- If they need medication, even if we don't have it on hand, we will order it for them because we understand in certain situations they're not able to get it.

- These areas experiencing food insecurity are often in low income communities.

So I wonder how do you guys sustain the business of the store?

- Yeah, I, I think that is the challenge, right?

Because of our lack of access to supply chains, you know what I mean?

It's hard to get the buying power to lower the cost of the goods - To help income stricken customers.

The Miser Store has a section that offers free produce and free packaged meals, which account for 40 to 50% of their inventory.

But the market themselves need help as well.

- We are currently looking for as many donations and grants as possible.

We are about roughly off 20 to 30,000 for what we're trying to obtain for our whole year.

- And Gem City currently services 2,400 patrons a week making about $50,000 a week in sales, but that doesn't meet their weekly goals.

- I think we're sustainable between like 65 and 70,000 a week.

And it's doable, like we've been there before, but we haven't like sustained it.

- And with the passing of the Trump administration's reconciliation bill, these markets may face more hurdles with potential custom programs like the supplemental nutrition assistance program, also known as snap, which account for 25% of transactions with Gem City and 35 to 45% of transactions with miser.

Any reduction to these federal benefits could greatly impact the market's sustainability and the most vulnerable patrons.

The workers at these markets see the need firsthand, including Gem City Community Coordinator, Issa Robinson, - This building right across the street.

There are a lot of seniors in that building who are able to easily get over here and get access to fresh foods.

There are a lot more healthy options here at Jim City Market versus like the corner stores of the gas station, and that's all that we have for a long time.

- And all Mirror Darden stored in a administrator advisor reminds us that anyone could become food insecure.

- This community is experiencing a, a major food desert, and it's, it's a great thing to be able to provide the resources to assist those individuals that need it most.

And I mean, we're all, you know, one step in, one step out from experiencing those same things - And the patrons from both stores say the proximity of these markets give them much needed convenience.

- When it came to the neighborhood, it changed a lot of things.

So I don't have to go worry about how I'm gonna get to the store.

I can walk here.

- I actually do have a car, but my car is broke down currently with it being so close by, you know, I just get walk down here.

- They don't use money as like a barrier.

They be like, oh, if you can't get this, we got free stuff for you.

So you can, you can still eat.

- It's a pill in the community.

And people in the community have steak in it.

There's no other grocery stores in the community that the people in the community has stake in.

These markets are proof that despite socioeconomic problems, a neighborhood may face the solution can be found in the community.

- There's power in hope, right?

Power I'm defining as like our ability to change the environment around us, right?

The more I believe I have the ability to change the conditions around me, the more I'm gonna act to actually change it.

- Both markets are looking to make investments into their store in order to create more food options for their patrons and increase their revenue.

Myer began selling hot meals this summer and they even opened up an international section that's still growing, but it adds some more options for their patrons.

Gem City, on the other hand, has a four year plan in order to get to sustainability.

They also have their annual meeting in September open to all 5,000 members of their co-op, where they'll be discussing different dynamics of the store and they'll be getting input from the community to see what changes they wanna make for Brick by Brick.

I'm Hearns Legger, Jr.