Talk a walk through our evolution to get a taste of how change happens.
Our roots go back much farther than the name “Central Kinsman Wellness Collective” or even the moment our community lost its final grocery store in 2018. Scroll through our timeline to learn about all the little steps, successes, and setbacks that helped our movement become the force that it is today. It’s a story of partnership, resilience, and community - one that details not only how we became the force we are, but all of the little pieces along the way that define our journey.
2013
Environmental Health Watch, the organizing nonprofit of Central Kinsman Wellness Collective, offers a series of vegan and vegetarian cooking classes at the newly established Cornucopia Kitchen.
2014
Kim Foreman, Justine Lindeman, and Wyndi Moore first convene at EHW's Race, Food, and Justice Conference at Case Western Reserve University.
2015
The organizers that would become the CKWC receive the Freshlo Kresge Grant with a goal of bringing together neighborhood stakeholders in Garden Valley.
2016
Launch of Garden and Green Spaces pilot projects focused on local arts, music and food, highlighting the Central and Kinsman neighborhoods as hubs of cultural resilience.
2017
Activation of One Garden Valley: youth focused programming involving the arts, entrepreneurship, urban agriculture, performance, leadership development, and placemaking.
2018
Payne Avenue Dave's Market closes, creating a new area of Food Apartheid. Organizers receive Healthy Food Financing Initiative Grant centered around building community and establishing the need for a locally owned co-op.
2019
Formal feasibility and market analysis study of Central Kinsman's ability to sustain a community food-based co-op is conducted. At the same time, several notable food pantries in the area close, steepening the need for convenient access to fresh food. The inaugural Fresh Fest Cleveland music festival is held at Rid-All farms.
2020
COVID forces us inside, but we stay resilient and add digital capabilities, continuing to meet online. EHW began a partnership with a CKWC member to provide essential supplies and delivery services to seniors in Central Kinsman through the heights of the pandemic.
2021
With HFFI funding ending, and no follow-up grant awarded, we kept the work up as best we could, maintaining a meeting schedule and looking for new funding opportunities.
2022
Begin video interviews and resident testimonials about the need for a food co-op. Used the footage and interview transcripts to being an engagement series around the community.
2023
We are awarded BUILDHealth 4.0 funding, refreshing energy and focus around our movement. We officially become the Central Kinsman Wellness Collective. We re-organize our leadership structure to our current committee driven model, better allowing for resident leadership.
2024
Central Kinsman residents worked together to select a consultant and choose a new look for CKWC. We formally launch the new brand at Fresh Fest Cleveland in September. CKWC identifies Farm Stop, a cross between a small grocery store and a farmer’s market, as the specific business model we want to pursue.
2025
Later this year we plan to introduce our first Farm Stop Pilot Project to learn more about the best ways to serve the community. Follow our site for more updates!
Later
Through community engagement and learning from our pilots, it is our goal to introduce a full time farmstop in the near future. As our work continues, we hope to one day see a full, locally owned grocery store in the Central Kinsman area.