MARKET BOX

is a mutual aid project that sources food from small farms and distributes it for free across the South Side of Chicago

Thousands of deliveries in, we're turning an emergency pandemic response into a year-round, sustainable ecosystem. Our network is a place to generate community power, take care of one another, and exchange critical information as neighbors.

We root this mutual aid initiative in a long tradition of collaboration in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago. Our list of recipients on the South Side of Chicago includes 400 households, self-identified as Black and low-income.

By maintaining a slow-growing rotation of recipients, we’re building long-term relationships of care. We rely on a broad, grassroots base of recurring donations to fuel our work, allowing us to commit to local farms and South Side families one growing season at a time: every donation acts twice, funding an ethical food system and putting food on our neighbor’s tables.

Market Box is based in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood and works across the South Side. We are a project of Ecosystems of Care, a 501(c)3 organization registered in the United States of America (EIN 87-1345182).

Photos by Davon Clark, Anwuli Anigbo, and Kristi Jan Hoover
Website by Bea Malsky