San Diego Food Hub Brings Fresh Produce to Underserved Areas

Every Wednesday, a solar-powered truck rolls into Southeast San Diego neighborhoods, transforming into a mobile farmers market filled with fresh greens, eggs, avocados, and even kumquats.

For Lucia Davis, that truck changed everything. She first visited the Mt. Hope Community Garden out of desperation during a period of food insecurity. Now she shops at the mobile market weekly and grows food in her own backyard to donate back to the community.

The People's Produce Mobile Farmers Market has been serving affordable fresh produce to local residents since 2022, helping families stretch their food assistance benefits across neighborhoods that have plenty of fast-food chains but almost no healthy food options. It's all thanks to Project New Village, a nonprofit that started with a simple community garden in 2011.

Back then, outdated zoning laws made urban gardening nearly impossible in Southeast San Diego, despite empty lots and eager residents. Project New Village secured approval for a third-acre garden with 40 beds, and the success sparked real change. Within a year, the city reformed its urban agriculture policies, making it easier for residents to start gardens, raise livestock, and sell homegrown produce.

Co-founder Diane Moss watched the garden become a catalyst for transformation. Today, Project New Village runs the mobile market, a grower's collective, and a CSA subscription program called Golden Groceries, creating multiple ways for neighbors to access and grow healthy food.

The Ripple Effect

What started as 40 garden beds has grown into a full food justice movement that's reshaping how an entire community thinks about food access and economic power. Residents who once struggled to find fresh vegetables are now growing food, selling at markets, and building skills that create lasting wealth.

The momentum keeps building. Construction is set to begin later this year on The Village, a $10 million food hub that will anchor the neighborhood with permanent infrastructure it's never had. The two-story development will house a fresh-food marketplace, vendor stalls for prepared foods, a commercial kitchen, and community gathering spaces, all integrated with the existing garden.

"This is real community ownership of a physical space and economic resource that contributes to long-term wealth and resilience at the neighborhood level," Moss says. The hub is expected to open in 2027, funded primarily through private donations.

Project New Village represents an emerging model called Equitable Food Oriented Development, which uses food as an engine to build community wealth rather than just addressing immediate hunger. By creating jobs, skills training, and locally owned food businesses, the approach tackles both food insecurity and economic inequality at once.

What began as a response to food insecurity has become a blueprint for communities everywhere looking to grow their own solutions from the ground up.