WHO WE ARE
Heart of the City Farmers Market is a uniquely independent, farmer-operated, nonprofit farmers market located year round on Sundays and Wednesdays in San Francisco's Fulton Plaza (between the Main Library and the Asian Art Museum). An iconic and beloved community resource, the market opened in 1981 with a mission to support and sustain small farmers and make fresh food accessible for low-income customers who struggle to afford adequate nutrition in a city with the highest cost of living in the nation.
We operate the largest farmers’ market food assistance program in the nation. Our food access programs distribute over $4 million a year from our information tent, provide nutrition education and support, manage distribution and redemption for the largest farmers market EBT program in the nation, and make over $1.5 million per year in grant-funded incentives available to help low-income families purchase fruits and vegetables from local farms.
We are an independent non-profit 501(c)(4) organization that is operated by a governing board of member farmers. We are fondly known for our diversity and grassroots, family-like cooperative structure. Since the market's first day 1981, our farmers have been committed to helping to create a healthy Heart of the City.
Our farmers to bring produce from local farms to an urban food desert that doesn’t have a supermarket. Open year round, rain or shine, including holidays, our market is a popular shopping destination for customers who rely on our farmers to bring a diverse and culturally-appropriate selection of produce, growing their operations over decades to meet the needs of a low-income neighborhood. Known as the most affordable farmers’ market in San Francisco, HOCFM attracts low-income customers from all over the City who spend more than $4 million each year at HOCFM using CalFresh, voucher programs like EatSF, WIC, and Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program, Market Match incentives, and Healthy Food Purchasing Supplements funded by the San Francisco Public Health Foundation. Over 70% of CalFresh benefits spent at San Francisco’s more than 30 farmers markets are spent at HOCFM. Since 2015, HOCFM’s Market Match program has distributed over $8 million in incentives to CalFresh customers to drive produce purchases with an EBT card in order to support local agriculture.
Market Days
Heart of the City Farmers Market is now located in the heart of San Francisco on Fulton Plaza (between the Main Library and the Asian Art Museum). Click here for a map, directions to find us, and parking information. Our hours are:
Sundays 7am to 4pm
Wednesdays 7am to 4pm
Open year round, rain or shine.
Because of our long market hours, some farmers sell out before the close of market. Come before 2pm for the best selection but many find the best prices later in the day.
We will be closed on the following holidays:
Pride Parade Sunday in June
Christmas Day
New Years Day
Our market is run by its farmers and produce doesn’t ripen on a schedule, so you can generally count on us to be open every other day of the year including most holidays.
Interested in selling with us? Visit our Participate page for instructions.
No Cash? BUY VOUCHERS!
Credit Cards, debit cards, and EBT cards are accepted at our market information tent. Use your credit card to purchase market vouchers and tokens that you can use to shop with our vendors during any market day. Market Match vouchers expire quarterly. There are no purchase restrictions for our green credit card tokens and black $5 vouchers, they never expire, and you receive change when you use them.
We Accept EBT, WIC, & MORE
Heart of the City is a leader in serving vulnerable communities and operates one of the largest food access programs in the nation. We accept alternative forms of currency to facilitate food assistance programs that increase fruit and vegetable consumption, including EBT, EatSF, WIC, and VeggieRX coupons in partnership with Fresh Approach. We are proud to have been one of the first markets in California to accept food stamps electronically and we’ve helped train other market managers throughout the state to provide this critical service to communities in need. Over $4 million in food assistance is distributed at our information tent every year and we are the largest farmers market EBT program in the nation.
EBT Cards can be used at the market information tent during market hours to purchase tokens. Customers receive $5 yellow EBT vouchers or $1 yellow EBT tokens to buy produce and eligible packaged food items at vendors' stalls. No hot food or non-edible items like flowers may be purchased with EBT tokens or vouchers and no change will be given. The tokens and vouchers never expire and can be used at any future market day. Each EBT customer will receive up to $30 in free Market Match nutrition incentives every month.
EatSF (Vouchers 4 Veggies) Vouchers can now be used directly with farmers to purchase produce. Visit us at the info tent if you have any questions.
WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program Vouchers, Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program Vouchers, and VeggieRX Vouchers can be used directly with our farmers at their stalls.
MARKET MATCH DOUbLES PRODUCE PURCHASES
Our Market Match program in partnership with Ecology Center doubles the spending power of CalFresh customers by matching EBT purchases dollar-for-dollar up to $30 a month. Our Market Match program is made possible with funding from The SF Soda Tax (San Francisco Sugary Drinks Distributor Tax) and the SFDPH PHD Food Security Program through the Healthy Food Purchasing Supplements Program from the San Francisco Public Health Foundation, The Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Grant Program from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, The California Nutrition Incentive Program from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, with additional support from Kaiser Permanente and Bi-Rite Family of Businesses.
Our NonProfit Organization and Mission
Heart of the City Farmers’ Market’s mission is the support and sustain small and medium sized growers and make fresh food accessible for low-income customers struggling to afford produce in a City with the highest cost of living in the nation. Our farmers bring fresh, high-quality food from local farms to the heart of San Francisco's most vulnerable low-income neighborhoods.
We are an independent, 501(c)(4) non-profit organization that operates a California Certified Farmers Market governed by a community board known as The Heart of the City Farmers Market Community Advisory Board. This board includes five farmers elected as representatives by our member farmers and two community representatives elected by our farmer board members to help the organization connect with and meet the needs of the neighborhoods we serve.
We work to create healthy neighborhoods including facilitating purchasing programs to infuse vulnerable communities with healthy food, nutrition education outreach with local social service providers, schools, and after-school programs, a gleaning program to donate produce to our most needy neighbors, and partnerships with local health organizations make resources available during market days. Our food access programs have grown to become the largest in the nation and over $3.5 million in food tokens and vouchers are distributed from our info tent each year.
Our busy HOCFM information tent promotes HOCFM’s food assistance programs in six languages and our established network of over 50 social service provider partners help us promote the program to San Francisco residents most at risk of food insecurity. Relationships created with social service providers, flier distribution, workshops in partnership with our network, and cross-cultural competency efforts have helped to grow EBT sales at HOCFM by 1000% since 2009.
OVER 50 Community Partners
Community partners include health organizations with large networks, supportive affordable housing communities serving among others formerly-homeless individuals and low-income seniors struggling to age in place, senior centers, cultural organizations, and nutrition education and cooking programs serving low-income participants. Our partners include San Francisco Department of Public Health Feeling Good Project, SFDPH HIV Program, San Francisco Public Library Biblio Bistro Program, Samuel Merritt University Nursing Program, San Francisco Human Services Agency, TNDC, Community Housing Partnership, Curry Senior Center, Leah’s Pantry, Saint Francis Foundation, San Francisco AIDS Foundation, La Cocina, Cooking Matters - 18 Reasons, The Healing WELL, and many others.
Market Match
Our partnership with Ecology Center’s California Market Match Consortium of over 300 farmers’ markets in California enables us to use USDA Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program funding to offer over $1.5 million a year in nutrition incentives to low-income households shopping with an EBT card. Our Market Match program is made possible with funding from The SF Soda Tax (San Francisco Sugary Drinks Distributor Tax) and the SFDPH PHD Food Security Program through the Healthy Food Purchasing Supplements Program from the San Francisco Public Health Foundation, The Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Grant Program from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, The California Nutrition Incentive Program from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, with additional support from Kaiser Permanente and Bi-Rite Family of Businesses.
MATTER OF TRUST FISCAL SPONSORSHIP
We are enormously grateful for our partnership with Matter of Trust, our 501(c)(3) fiscal intermediary which allows our 501(c)(4) non-profit organization to accept tax-deductible donations from sponsors of our Market Match program, including Kaiser Permanente, Bi-Rite Family of Businesses, Violet World Foundation, McNabb Foundation, and PES Environmental, Inc. Starting in 2020, Matter of Trust now accepts individual donations on behalf of Heart of the City Farmers’ Market. For more information visit hotcfarmersmarket.org/donate.
EatSF & Vouchers 4 Veggies
We also partner with EatSF to work with farmers to accept Vouchers 4 Veggies. Vouchers 4 Veggies is a transformative program to increase access and affordability of healthy foods for low-income individuals and families by providing free vouchers for fruit and vegetables. This partnership has generated over $300,000 in revenue for small farmers.
Civic Center Community Benefit District & URBAN ALCHEMY
We were also grateful to partner with the Civic Center Community Benefit District and the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development through the Civic Center Initiative to activate the United Nations Plaza with a new market day on Fridays, which opened in June 2019. Unfortunately the Friday market was permanently closed after March 2020 and our sponsorship ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Civic Center Community Benefit District now supports the market by providing community ambassadors through Urban Alchemy to help keep the market safe and “transform people and communities with love and respect.”
For more information on our generous donors and sponsors, visit our Donate page.
Market Tours and Education
We love teaching about how we do things here at Heart of the City and are proud that our unique market model makes it possible to support farm families while connecting low-income San Francisco residents to a supportive network of food assistance programs. To learn more about how we operate, contact Steve at steve@hotcfarmersmarket.org to arrange a tour for your organization or stop by the market information tent to chat with our small staff team.
Our “Healthy Heart of the City” nutrition education outreach program has been a driving force for promoting healthy eating in a low-income community with a high rate of preventable, diet-related disease. We provide nutrition education for residents in neighboring supportive housing buildings and clients of local social service providers through onsite cooking classes featuring seasonal tastings of fruits and vegetables. These workshops increase awareness that food assistance benefits may be used to purchase local produce and promote strategies to incorporate fresh produce into healthy diets on a limited budget. Contact Steve at steve@hotcfarmersmarket.org to receive nutrition education materials, a PowerPoint presentation Virtual Tour, or to schedule a workshop or market tour.