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Some are referred to Youthmarket after complet-ing
and six-week-long summer internship at the
Learn it, Grow it, Eat it Youthmarket in the South
Bronx, where they are required to work in commu-nity
gardens and teach elementary school children.
Others are referred to Youthmarket through other
youth leadership organizations like Global Kids or
charities such as Bowery Mission.
The teens are also responsible for educating cus-tomers
and passersby alike about a new topic each
week. Agriculture and healthy eating are popular topics.
Where the food comes from and why it is important for
others to buy local are some of the many lessons they
themselves learn while working at the Youthmarket.
According to Kori Petrovic, Youthmaket program
coordinator, teens are taught business skills, inde-pendence,
agriculture and healthier eating habits.
“You might have a kid that is not eating any fresh
produce and at the end of the season they are tak-ing
bags of fresh produce with them,” Petrovic said.
Youthmarket Farm Stands start to pop up in
the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn on
the first Saturday after the fourth of July and stay
open until the Saturday before Thanksgiving. With
the end of each season usually means the end of
an experience for the young farm stand workers.
Petrovic said that since the work is only a seasonal
job the kids will usually find work somewhere else in No-vember.
But despite a low retention rate among the youth
workers, Youthmarket is growing and always looking for
new locations to set up one of their distinct green awnings.
When the stands close at 2:30 p.m. the staff makes a
note of their final inventory. All of the food that has not been
sold that day is donated to nearby charities like churches,
homeless shelters or soup kitchens, according to Petrovic.
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