Village Marketplace

Through the Village Market Place we sell and distribute fresh "beyond organic" produce from CSU's urban mini-farms and local farmers. We also sell CSU's own variety of packaged dried culinary and medicinal herbs. We currently sell through two Community Farm Stands and the Farm Fresh Produce Bag subscription program. We are also able to serve local restaurants and caterers with fresh seasonal beyond organic produce at a competative price, and in the next year hope to start working with corner stores in our community to help them offer fresh and healthy food to their customers.

The Village Marketplace increases access to healthy foods in our community while creating meaningful jobs for youth and adults. The project is also an income generating source for CSU, helping to reduce our dependence on foundation grants. Youth who participate in the Growing Healthy and From the Ground UP! Programs participate in all aspects of the Village Marketplace.


Farm Fresh Produce Bag Subscription Program

Each week subscribers to the Farm Fresh Produce Bag program receive a bag filled with seasonal fruits, vegetables & herbs sourced from CSU’s urban mini-farms and local farmers. Bags are picked up weekly at the Thursday Farm Stand at EXPO.

Subscriptions must be for a minimum of four weeks. Bags come in two sizes: Small (serves 1-2 people) and Large (serves 3-4 people). There are two subscription rates:

  • Neighborhood Resident Rate: $10 a week/$40 a month for a small bag - or - $20 a week/$80 a month for a large.

  • Supporter Rate: $12 a week/$48 a month for a small bag - or - $24 a week/$96 a month for a large bag.

The supporter rate is closer to the true value of the beyond organic produce in the bags and is for those who live outside our community and locals who can afford a higher price. We encourage those who can afford to pay this amount -or more- to do so.

Each week recieve a newsletter listing what's in the bag, recipes and other seasonal tips. View past newsletters here and more here

By pre-paying you help CSU plan ahead knowing how much produce we will sell. Best of all your dollars support building a local, sustainable food system and a cleaner and safer environment in our neighborhood. Sign Up Now

The produce bag program is the lastest effort in CSU's long history of providing safe, healthy, fresh food to our community.

Get your produce bag delivered If you have more than 10 individuals sign up for a produce bag at your location (such as a school, office, church, etc) we will consider making your location a drop off site. Availability of delivery is dependant on your location and could require an additional delivery fee. Contact Neelam at neelam(at)csuinc.org or 323-299-7075 to see if delivery might be possible for you!

CSU Produce and Produce Bags - FAQ’s
Click Here or Download The PDF



CSU's Village Market Place wins 1st Prize at Making Good Food Work, Local and Regional Food Distribution Conference!Weekly Produce Stand

Organized by The Wallace Center this conference in Detroit recently brought together folks from around the country who are engaged in, interested in, or experts in various aspects of creative food distribution. Before the conference and after an application process CSU was selected along with 6 other organizations to present their food related social enterprise on the first day of the conference for 2 minutes and thus attract folks to work with us for the duration of the event to help refine and develop our project. Each of the seven teams then had to present again on the last day and demonstrate our progress and the potential effectiveness of our projects. A panel of expert judges then voted and The Village Market Place received first prize! The cash reward of $3,000.00 that went along with this was of course wonderful to receive, but far more valuable was the input of our self selected team members who worked with diligence and commitment to help us move along on our path of making The Village Market Place a social enterprise that supplies good food to local families, provides a market for local and regional farmers and brings in an income to support CSU¹s youth programs. We are deeply grateful to The Wallace Center and our Detroit Village Market Place Team Members!

Weekly Produce Stand

CSU operates a weekly farm stand in front of the EXPO Pool Stadium on Thursday afternoons from 3-6 pm. The affordable produce comes from CSU’s urban mini-farms and local Farmers and is beyond organic. In addition to fresh raw produce the stand regularly features fruit and vegetable salads priced at $.50 to $1.00 that can be purchased and enjoyed right from the stand.

Youth Run the CSU's Weekly Farm Stands at Exposition Park and Normandie Ave. Elementary where we Sell produce from CSU Mini-urban Farms and local Farmers


Start Over


We like to give a special shout out to the West LA Trojans for hooking us up with a branding workshop as we work to make what we do more visible!