Miami Children’s Initiative hosts food Co-Op | The Miami Times | Serving South Florida’s African American Community since 1923

Liberty City resident, Izegebe Onyango was used to shopping through Co-Ops. So when she couldn’t find one, she asked Miami Children’s Initiative CEO Cecilia Gutierrez-Abety where were the food Co-Ops in the area. “One thing we did in Baltimore often to offset the food cost was a food Co-Op,” said Onyango, who moved to Miami in 2007. “Everything grows in Florida, why don’t we have this?” Gutierrez-Abety told her ironically she had just received an email from the Key Biscayne Community Foundation asking to partner to produce a fresh food Co-Op. That was March of 2014. Three weeks later, Onyango was helping to lead the charge to combat what the organization calls a “food desert” in the area. A food cooperative or food Co-Op is a food distribution outlet organized by members of the community. In the Liberty City Co-Op Local vendor, Mac Edwards, provides the produce. Among the options for residents to buy is kale, collard greens, lettuce, strawberries, peaches, potatoes, bananas and cloves of garlic.