NorWest Community Health Centres, Roots Community Food Centre

In 2020, NorWest Community Health Centres (NWCHC), Roots Community Food Centre and Community Food Centres Canada collaborated to develop the Community Food Market, a year-round fresh produce market offering wholesale prices to food insecure households.

A key feature of the Community Food Market is the Greens Prescription, a 15-week subsidy program allowing food insecure households facing health challenges such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and depression to access the market at zero cost. The Greens Prescription program recognizes that household food insecurity, a problem stemming from insecure and inadequate income, restricts people’s access to health-promoting resources like fruits and vegetables, and that health issues are strongly associated with food insecurity. The staff at NWCHC and Roots Community Food Centre create food and nutrition-related resources such as recipes and food samples to encourage people to try new items and learn new cooking skills.