E. Flatbush Reaps

Fruit of Teen Enterprise

By Marie Elena Giossi

Eight East Flatbush youths are harvesting a hands-on education in entrepreneurialism this fall and their community is reaping the benefits.

Every Saturday since late August, teens have been hard at work operating The Stand at Newkirk and Nostrand avenues, East Flatbush’s first Farmers’ Market, which offers garden-fresh produce, fragrant herbs, free-range chicken and pork, and specialty items to hundreds of local shoppers.

On select weekends, the open-air market also has free healthy cooking demonstrations, nutrition workshops, health screenings and entertainment.

Marie Elena Giossi Photos 

Sister John Henry, D.M.M.M., right, shops for fresh corn with the assistance of Thabit Rene, one of eight young people operating The Stand Youth Market in East Flatbush.

Young people are not only responsible for the operation of the business, they also place orders with distributors, calculate profit margins, maintain accounts, manage finances and coordinate marketing and outreach.

State Senator Kevin Parker launched The Stand as an “opportunity to train young people as entrepreneurs and bring nutritious produce into the community.”

Sen. Parker, whose mother has diabetes, is committed to increasing community awareness about healthy eating and reducing rates of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer in his community. “Good nutrition is the cornerstone of battling these diseases,” he noted.

The Council on the Environment of New York City (CENYC)/Green Market and Building Blocks Local Development Corp. (BBLDC), an economic development initiative of Sen. Parker, has organized The Stand in collaboration with St. Jerome’s Church. The Stand is also supported by Citibank, Pinnacle Group and Affinity Health Plus.

The Stand currently employs four high school and four college students — Stephanie Jean, Naika Joseph, Tamika Daniel and Theressa Compere who were referred through St. Jerome’s, and Yotonda Edmund, Shakeel Alexander, Thabit Rene and Kenneth Cox, recommended by Sen. Parker’s office.

To complement the hands-on education youths receive at the market, Keith Carr, BBLDC director, runs an hour-long workshop on Monday evenings at Sen. Parker’s Ave. D district office.

Carr, who has previous experience in workforce and economic development programs, is particularly fond of this project, which reminds him of spending summers on his grandfather’s farm.

Under his tutelage, youths assess their previous Saturday’s performance and prepare for the week ahead. Carr also invites local business professionals to give seminars about finance, accounting, marketing and small business ownership as well as personal money management and financial literacy.

Carr calls the young entrepreneurs “really bright kids,” whose ethnic diversity — their backgrounds are Haitian, Trinidadian and Panamanian — and bilingual abilities enable them to “understand the community and what the people want.”

That cultural connection combined with the fresh produce and the relationship with St. Jerome’s draws around 200 shoppers to The Stand each week.
St. Jerome’s administrator, Father Jean-Miguel Auguste, completely supports this project and has only heard positive feedback from parishioners. He said they buy bagfuls of fruits and veggies but really go to the market “to see our children from the parish.”

Parish secretary Shu-Fy Pongnon, who helped coordinate this project on the parish level, added that the market also provides a great complement to, rather than competition for, what local grocers offer.

Young people arrive by 8 a.m. every Saturday to set up folding tables and tents, purchased by the BBLDC and stored at St. Jerome’s, while they await the food delivery from Phil Yacuk, a representative for Green Market, a CENYC program, which helps local farms stay viable and brings farm-grown products to city neighborhoods.

On a recent morning, Midwood H.S. student Theressa Compere, 16, who sings in St. Jerome’s Youth Choir, was the first to check out the shipment.

As she and other teens carried crates off the truck, Yacuk identified the produce, particularly specialty items, like calalou, Caribbean thyme and Japanese parsley, which teens then set out for shoppers, who started arriving just after 8 a.m. Mass. A second wave followed the 9 a.m. Mass.

About 30 customers stop in per hour, Carr noted, and while their largely Haitian clientele may not buy something every week, they do spread the word to neighbors.

“A lot of people support us and we appreciate it,” said Stephanie Jean, who keeps track of what items they’re selling, the prices and profits each week. A parishioner from St. Jerome’s who is pursuing a master’s in political science at Brooklyn College, Jean serves as market coordinator and acts as a liaison between the CENYC and BBLDC.

“If you want to live longer, you need to start eating right” — that’s the message Tamika Daniel, 16, a junior at the Brooklyn College Academy, gives customers.
Her motto: “Eat right. Take control of your life. Take a stand.” appears on promotional flyers sent to Sen. Parker’s constituents via postal and electronic mail about the new market. And when customers arrive, she encourages them to be adventurous, try new foods and herbs.

“In the Caribbean culture, we don’t buy it if we don’t know it,” she said, admitting that if she held onto that mindset, she wouldn’t have discovered the sweet taste of white eggplants.

“I’m helping to make a change so people in this community eat right and can be healthier. My mom thinks this is a good idea for me too. She feels that I’m getting a lot healthier,” said Daniel, who heard about this job from St. Jerome’s Burning Hearts Youth Group advisor, Tessa King-Shepherd.

Daniel says she’s been eating more veggies and losing weight since her mom started shopping at the market, and she’s proud that her dad, who has diabetes, is eating healthier as well.

Her little sister, Katana, 9, a budding businesswoman, has set up her own stand selling homemade cupcakes each week.

In keeping with the Christian spirit, no food goes to waste. Unsold produce is donated to St. Jerome’s rectory and another local church’s food pantry.

The desire to make a difference in the lives of others is what drew Naika Joseph, 18, a nursing student at City Tech College, to this job.

While the work isn’t easy, she does have fun and she appreciates being part of a team that “works together.”
She and Shakeel Alexander team up to sell what collectively looked like the ingredients for a hearty vegetable soup: carrots, leeks, potatoes, string beans, spinach, kale and squash.

Arranging the produce in a presentable way, remembering the prices, which are also posted, and having an agreeable attitude are key to successful salesmanship, according to Alexander, 16, a John Jay H.S. student and parishioner at St. Augustine, Park Slope.

The pair, joined by Yotonda Edmund, takes turns greeting shoppers. When one lady remarks that the prices are high, Joseph reminds her that the produce is pesticide-free, fresh and nutritious.

Shakeel Alexander shows off fresh carrots.

Across the lot, Medgar Evers College student Thabit Rene, 19, paused from arranging the hot Scotch bonnet and sweet red peppers to select fine ears of white corn for St. Jerome’s Sister John Henry, D.M.M.M.

Sister John then headed to checkout where cashiers Daniel and Compere were assisting several customers, including Irene Charles.

Charles delighted in the “beautiful potpourri” of items available.

“I love this and it’s good training for the youth. They learn business skills, public relations and the discipline of coming here every Saturday after a long week of school,” she said.

Charles tries to stop by each week because “they’re my parish youth, I feel a commitment to support them. I hope they’re back next year.”

The Stand will be open, rain or shine, for three more weeks — Nov. 3, 10 and 17. WIC, food stamps and Farmers’ Market checks are accepted. Sen. Parker plans to reopen the market in the spring and hopes to expand it to a second location.

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