Pillsbury United Communities
Minneapolis, Minnesota | EST. 2018
Farmer
Micah Helle
Food Systems Manager
Ethan Neal
No. of Farms
One
Community served
The Northside neighborhood of Minneapolis
About Pillsbury United Communities
Pillsbury United Communities (PUC) is a non-profit organization built on the belief that systemic problems can’t be solved without systemic and holistic solutions. The organization helps various Minneapolis groups thrive with a united system of programs, community centers, and social enterprises. PUC believes in uplifting the community with creativity, justice, resilience, connection, and kindness.
At the center of many PUC programs, you will find food. PUC runs two ‘food shelves’ and two daily hot meals programs, which get their fresh foods from the organization’s four urban gardens and the Freight Farm. Along with the food shelves, the Freight Farms supplies fresh and healthy food to PUC’s one-of-a-kind community grocery store–North Market.
Photo Courtesy of Pillsbury United Communities on Facebook
“It’s not just about giving food, we need to give an opportunity, and a lot of that happens through policy work and dignity in our food shelves to really create a system that’s serving our community with community.”
- Ethan Neal, Food Systems Manager at Pillsbury United Communities
Photo courtesy of Pillsbury United Communities on Facebook
North Market
North Market is a Black-led grocery store that serves the Northside Minneapolis community. The store was created to address the neighborhood’s issues with food insecurity.
For a long time, the Northside community–which had one of the highest populations enrolled in SNAP and WIC benefits–had an unusually low usage rate. Upon closer examination, the reason for the discrepancy was clear: there was no grocery store in the area. From there, North Market was born. Today it is not only as a local grocery store, but a center for community health as well.
With a variety of initiatives, North Market and PUC help residents untangle the complicated web of food, nutrition, and health. In an effort to make sure shoppers have access to the most fresh and healthy foods, North Market is also the outlet for the PUC Freight Farm. With access to food from the on-site Freight Farm, local urban gardens, and several local businesses, North Market shoppers can use their SNAP and WIC benefits to buy healthy, nutritious, local, and fresh food at an affordable price.
“It’s more than a community center, it’s more than a grocery store: We’re creating the product right there, we’re selling directly into North Market, we’re cutting out the middleman...and passing the savings on to customers and clients.”
- Ethan Neal, Food Systems Manager at Pillsbury United Communities
Learn more about Pillsbury’s food program
Pillsbury United Communities Webinar
Hear from Freight Farmer Micah and Food Systems Manager Ethan Neal on how PUC uses food as the mechanism to address culture, education, health, policy, and justice. The two outline how the non-profit has built an ecosystem of food resiliency programs to lift up the Minneapolis community.
Get Inspired by Other Amazing Non-Profits
Pillsbury United is just one of the may wonderful non-profits that use a container farm to change the lives of their community members.
How Pillsbury United Uses Food in the Fight For Justice
Pillsbury United Communities’ food resiliency program lifts up the Minneapolis community and address topics of culture, education, health, policy, and justice. Explore how Pillsbury has built a holistic food ecosystem to tackle system issues affecting food access.
Craft An Impactful Farm Program
Whether it’s to create food equality, provide hands-on STEM education, or create jobs, the Greenery can help you achieve your program goals. Learn more about starting your project and get inspired by farmers currently growing for a good cause.
Helpful Guides
Farming for Good: A Complete Guide for Building a Farming Programs
Our comprehensive non-profit guide for using the Greenery™ to bring fresh food to communities worldwide, including resources to help find funding.
How Your Company Make a Difference with Farming
More and more, corporate companies around the world engage in Corporate Social Responsibility projects to give back to the community. See how global companies like Sodexo and Ford Motors use container farming in their outreach.
Get in touch!
We would love to hear from you about your farming project. Contact us for customized information tailored for your unique needs.