By Charlotte Hale-O’Sullivan

Farm-fresh produce is steps away from the front doors of the residents of Wilmington’s Cool Springs neighborhood at a new farmers market.

Held Thursdays in Cool Springs Park at 10th and Jackson streets, the Cool Springs Farmers Market fulfills a goal set by state Agriculture Secretary Ed Kee to establish a successful market for farmers to sell their products in the state’s largest city.

The market — one of 15 across the state sponsored by a local community and promoted by the Delaware Department of Agriculture — is scheduled to run through Sept. 15. Some markets expect to remain open even later, as long as produce is available.

Although the offerings change weekly depending on what is in season, shoppers at Cool Springs are sure to find corn, tomatoes, squash, watermelon and berries filling tables under open-air tents around a shady park in sight of downtown’s high-rises.

Ed Weirauch, who lives three blocks from the market, regularly buys corn, peaches and cantaloupe there.

“I purposely don’t buy them at the supermarket because I know it’s going to be way better at the farmer’s market and I know it’s local and I want to support the farmers and their products,” he said.

Among the vendors is Fifer Orchards, a fourth-generation family farm on 2,400 acres in Camden-Wyoming, more than 50 miles away from Cool Springs. Peaches, nectarines and plums are just a few of the products at its stand.

Fifer co-owner Mary Fennemore says the Cool Springs market is still growing compared to established markets in Lewes and Rehoboth Beach, where she also sets up stands. But she is pleased with the new venue.

Fifer has its own retail locations at its farm and in Dewey Beach. But the market stands provide an opportunity to advertise the retail locations and upcoming activities at the farm, such as the fall corn maze.

“It’s just a good way to get out in the community and promote what we grow,” Fennemore said.

While Wilmington has other farmers markets, Kee said they either have not thrived or have not concentrated primarily on bringing in farmers to sell their own products. A third market at Wilmington Hospital is part a camp experience for young people, who raise produce in a community garden and then sell it to make fresh fruits and vegetables more widely available in sections of the city without access to a supermarket.

Because of its location at the crossroads of both affluent and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, the Cool Springs market helps fill that void, too. It also nods to Wilmington’s past and seems to preview a growing future for people eating more whole foods grown close to home.

Kee said markets that feature farmers selling their own produce date back to the early 1900s in Wilmington, though they haven’t been as big and active recently as people moved to the suburbs. He hopes the Cool Springs market will help revive the trend.

Across the state, the markets are growing in popularity. When the Agriculture Department got involved five years ago, annual sales were approximately $500,000. Last year, sales topped $1.2 million. Kee said he anticipates that sales this year will be about $1.5 million.

Helping build those numbers are established markets, such as the Carousel Park Farmers Market that opened four years ago in Pike Creek.

Carousel Market Manager Reynold Cierniak thinks the market is a good opportunity to build his Delaware Specialty Foods business, which sells salsas and other prepared foods made from Delaware produce.

He said nearby upper middle-class neighborhoods provide a good customer base. The location along Del. 7, which is a feeder to Del. 1, is a good spot to catch families stocking up on food as they head to the beach, he said.

Produce isn’t the only thing shoppers find at these markets. In Cool Springs, vendors sell locally made bread, cheese, ice cream and pastries and locally raised eggs, grass-fed meats and poultry. There are local flowers and prepared food from local restaurants. Live music also adds a festival feel.

Those who have attended say the market has helped bolster the community spirit among neighbors.

“I think it gives us an opportunity to see one another and talk that we otherwise would not have had,” Weirauch said.

The Cool Springs market also gives shoppers a chance to support community members who need a boost.

The market organizer is Bright Spot Ventures, a program created by the West End Neighborhood House community service group to help young adults who are currently or formerly in the foster-care system prepare to join the workforce.

The young adults involved in the market help set it up and break it down. They also run their own stand, selling fresh fruits and vegetables provided by SIW Veggies in Chadds Ford, Pa.

The goal is to teach them business concepts and give them practical work experiences to help them as they age out of the foster system, said Tasha Warren, who is deputy program director of the West End initiative that created Bright Spots.

Kee said this type of community involvement is what makes a market thrive.

“The neat thing about Cool Springs,” he said, “is it ties together the youth from the West End Neighborhood House, the community and brings in the farmer.”

“Business providing bright spot as teens transition out of foster care”

Tucked away in an industrial park office near New Castle, Jalisa Baines and her co-workers on Friday went about their tasks of readying used books for resale.

Baines typed at a computer, processing “The Gulag Archipelago” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, just sold at Amazon.com. “Going to California,” she said, smiling.

Nearby, Markisha Ford sorted tomes by topic for local offline sales as Shantee Handy scanned CD bar codes to check their value.

“This one’s $10,” Handy said of The Rolling Stones’ “Tattoo You.” “That’s pretty good.”

All work at Bright Spot Venture — a new business like no other in the state. “This is the first social enterprise managed by youth in — and aging out of — foster care in Delaware,” said its manager, Carolyn A. Gordon.

With 15 part-time workers, all ages 16-24, the business is part of nonprofit West End Neighborhood House in Wilmington, an outgrowth of its Lifelines program to help teens as they age out of state foster care, Gordon said.

West End Executive Director Paul F. Calistro Jr. said Barclays Bank, led by Jocelyn Stewart, is a key supporter of the venture, but more would be welcomed.

The program also runs the new Cool Spring Farmers Market at 10th and Van Buren streets, Wilmington, open 4-8 p.m. Thursdays. There, the young workers sell produce they help bring in from program supporter and farmer H.G. Haskell of Chadds Ford, Pa. Vendors at the market — opened two weeks ago with help from Gov. Jack Markell and Department of Agriculture Secretary Ed Kee — pay small fees to support the job training program.

“Shantee was rockin’ it last night on the cash register,” Gordon said, adding it’s going well.

Baines and Handy, both 19, say they’re learning job skills such as punctuality and proper behavior as well as computer work and customer service. “It’s a great opportunity for foster kids because it’s hard to find jobs,” Baines said.

Ford, 20, said, “It’s a challenge, but I can handle it.”

They work in space lent free by Wise Power Systems with support of site owner Harvey Hanna & Associates. Michael Haney, the green energy firm’s global operations director, said, “We love that we’re able to affect the community in a real positive way.”

Giving space, support, interaction and the chance of interviews or jobs is better than just writing a check, he said, adding, “It’s an amazing business model.”

And it got a boost Friday from Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who visited to lend support. The youths explained how it all works and he promised to have a book drive.

Carper praised the partnerships that created Bright Spot Venture, adding the program “helps these young people get where they need to go — and that’s the road to success.”

Contact robin brown at 324-2856 or rbrown@delawareonline.com.

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CLICK THE FIRST LETTER OF THE STATE to browse 51 — yes, we included the District of Columbia! — bold ideas and brilliant urbanites who are helping to build the cities of America’s future.

DELAWARE: WILMINGTON
West End Neighborhood House
An old settlement house turned full-scale social-services provider, West End offers low-interest payday loans as an alternative to the typical high-interest kind. It also lends money for security deposits and utility payments. All services come with financial counseling.

Marketplace’s Alisa Roth visits a new kind of payday lender that is part of an FDIC pilot program. The program gives payday loans — but it gives borrowers get personalized financial advice and more time to repay the loans.

TEXT OF STORY

Kai Ryssdal: Most of the financial sector has bounced back from the credit crisis just fine. The big Wall Street banks, as you know, are making billions again. Smaller regional and community lenders are doing alright as well.

But there is one part of the industry that got through the whole mess with barely a scratch. Payday lending has become a $42 billion-a-year business in this country. The profits happen largely on the back of interest rates that easily rise into the triple digits. Borrowers get stuck in a cycle of more borrowing, taking out loans to pay off loans. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has been looking into alternatives to see whether banks can make those small loans profitable without crazy interest rates.

Marketplace’s Alisa Roth visited one lower-cost lender in Wilmington, Del.

Alisa Roth: Downtown Wilmington is full of shiny glass buildings that house dozens of banks and credit card companies. But drive west into the city’s poorer neighborhoods, and there’s an entirely different kind of financial institution.

So you’ve got Easy Cash with the dollar sign in place of the “S.” You’ve got 123 Cash, again with the dollar sign in place of the S. So it’s two adjacent shopping centers. Easy Money AMG, I guess up the street we missed Deals on Wheels. Your job is your credit.

On this stretch, every strip mall has one, if not two, payday lenders.

Barbara Reed thinks desperate borrowers should have a new place to stop. She runs the financial management program at a nonprofit community organization called West End Neighborhood House. A couple years ago, she started noticing that a lot of people who came to her for help owed money to payday lenders. So she started looking for alternatives.

Barbara Reed: We wanted the same-day cash, we wanted the quick easy turnaround. But we wanted something that was affordable, something that was safe.

In other words, a payday loan. Just cheaper. Payday lenders typically charge at least $20 for every $100 borrowed. Annual interest rates can go as high 500 percent.

At West End, there’s no upfront fee. The interest rate is capped at 15 percent, and borrowers have three months to pay back the loan rather than the two weeks they get at most payday lenders.

To do it, West End partnered with Wilmington Trust, which is a big, traditional bank. The community group does all the paperwork and approves the loans. The bank is the actual lender.

Wilmington Trust is one of around 30 banks across the country that took part in a two-year FDIC pilot program for small, affordable loans.

Doreen Conti: O.K., they’ve gotta put in their first and last name, address.

Doreen Conti, one of the people who helps issue loans at West End, is showing the forms applicants have to fill out. Just like at a payday lender, all a borrower needs is an ID, a bank statement (to make sure they’re not overdrawn), a pay stub and a utility bill. But if payday lenders are strictly business — fast cash, no questions asked — West End wants to get personal.

Applicants have to sit down with a counselor to go over their family budget. Here’s Barbara Reed, the director of the program, again.

Reed: We want to look at your income, we want to look at your expenses. We want to help you see why you’re in this financial crisis. What are some things you could do differently to prevent this financial crisis?

Marilyn Roman: They sit down and they show it to you in black and white.

Marilyn Roman borrowed $500 from West End earlier this year. She says the budget counseling has helped her manage her money better.

Roman: Then you see where your money is going. That’s what a lot of us don’t do, if we don’t see it in black and white, it doesn’t make sense.

Like a lot of clients, Roman had used a payday lender before she came to West End. One time, it cost her $600 to pay back a $400 loan.

So far, West End has loaned out $300,000 to people like Roman. The default rate is less than 8 percent, which is high compared to regular banks, but which the FDIC says it is roughly in line with default rates for unsecured personal loans and credit cards.

Rae Ann Miller works for the FDIC. She’s convinced mainstream banks like Wilmington Trust can afford to offer alternatives to high-cost payday loans. They probably won’t be terribly profitable, but banks can use them to build new relationships in communities they serve.

Rae Ann Miller: We’ve been conducting meetings around the country to try and promote the product, so hopefully more institutions will see that it can be done in a reasonable manner and a profitable manner.

West End and Wilmington Trust are already replicating their program. Two other agencies now offer the loans and West End is negotiating with two more.

In Wilmington, Del., I’m Alisa Roth for Marketplace.

It’s called the Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program and will be coming to West End Neighborhood House through a $2.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The program is different from many teen pregnancy prevention initiatives because it is intensive and holistic, said Monica Alvarez, West End’s development director.

Participants 13 to 19 years old must commit to participate six days a week for at least one year. In addition to sex-education classes, the teens will get medical and mental health care, homework assistance and tutoring. They also will take college tours and arts classes, participate in sports and be part of a job club that includes financial literacy training.

The theory is that if teens get help in all areas of their lives, they will be in a position to choose to not get pregnant or impregnate someone, said Sheila Reich, director of national implementation of the Carrera program, which began in New York City and now helps 3,000 teens across the country.

“Young people on their own can eliminate teen pregnancy,” Reich said. “Our job is to illuminate the pathway.”
The statistics on teen pregnancy in Wilmington are not good. There were 221 births by mothers 19 years old or younger in the city in 2007, according to state statistics. Of those, 25, or 11.3 percent, were to mothers in the ninth grade or below. Only 54, or 24.4 percent, were high school graduates. Only one was married.

Of those 221 births, 43, or 19.4 percent, were the teen moms’ second child. Five were the third child and, in one case, a teen mom had her fourth child. Eighty percent of the teen moms were black, according to the report.

“If that isn’t a disaster, I don’t know what is,” Mayor James M. Baker said.

He said the federal money for programs such as Carrera’s is long overdue. “You cannot stop crime by just calling the police. You have to have early childhood education. This country had better wake up,” Baker said. “The earlier you start working with young people, the better. You’ve got to stay with young people for at least five years to make a difference.”

The grant will give West End nearly $600,000 a year for five years. Nearly 100 teens a year will be served. The clients will be encouraged to stay in the program for five years, Alvarez said.

One of the clients will be 12-year-old Di’Andra Woody, who is in the seventh grade. She said she’s enthusiastic about the program because she doesn’t want to be one of the statistics recited by the adults Thursday when officials announced the grant to West End.

“It will help me know about the dangers out there in the world and how having sex at an early age will ruin my life,” she said. “If I’m planning on going to college and then getting a job, it would ruin my chances of doing that early, because I will have to stay home and take care of the baby.”

Westside Family Healthcare will perform medical exams for the teens. Jewish Family Services of Delaware will provide mental health services. Junior Achievement of Delaware also is a partner.

Alvarez told West End’s Director, Paul Calistro, the organization needed to apply for the grant because the agency was doing good work in improving the neighborhood’s housing stock and helping young adults, but needed to reach people when they are young.

“This program will show them they have a future,” Alvarez said. “They can open a bank account. They can go to college. For a lot of these kids, those things are fantasies, things that other kids do.”

Reich said the program in Wilmington will give the teens in Wilmington the care they deserve.

The program at West End will serve Wilmington youth between the ages of 13 – 19 and will focus on seven areas of youth development. Chosen for replication by West End because of its comprehensive and holistic approach of engaging the whole child, the CAS-Carrera program takes an “above the waist” approach to teen pregnancy prevention and youth development.

The model is comprised of five activities and two services, which include: a weekly work-related intervention called Job Club, offering stipends, individual bank account development, graduated employment experiences and career awareness; a daily educational component, including individual academic assessment, tutoring, homework help, PSAT and SAT preparation, and assistance with college entrance; weekly Family Life/Sex Education (FLSE) classes and individual discussions as needed; weekly self-expression through the arts; weekly life time individual sports activities; no cost, comprehensive medical and dental care, including reproductive health and contraception counseling, and vision screening; and weekly mental health classes and individual counseling by licensed social workers as needed.

“West End is well positioned to implement such a large-scale initiative. Our Youth Development Department is equipped with the experience, facilities, and the motivation to target the intended population”, said Tanny Collins, Director of West End’s youth services. “This population, though the most vulnerable to environmental risk-factors and acquiring negative social behaviors, is the least funded. We tend to lose our kids after the age of 12, when after-school subsidies cease. Even affordable after-school programs throughout Wilmington remain out of reach to our low-income families”

Governor Jack Markell, Attorney General Beau Biden, County Executive Chris Coons, and Mayor James Baker were some of the dignitaries who addressed the audience gathered in West End’s youth service’s recreation room.

Chris Coons remarked, “This is a tried-and-true program that will complement the excellent work already being done by West End Neighborhood House to help folks in our community,” Coons said. “We are grateful to see this federal grant coming into Delaware, and I know in the hands of West End it will be money well spent.”

Congressman Mike Castle, who supported West End’s application to the US DHHS, stated, “the community is proud of the work being done by West End Neighborhood House, and its partners, to help prepare our young people to make good decisions today and in the future.” West End is partnering with Westside Family Healthcare, Junior Achievement of Delaware, and Jewish Family Services of Delaware to implement this model. Selected for collaboration because of their histories of excellence, each organization will serve CAS-Carrera participants in areas they do best, namely comprehensive health care, entrepreneurial training, and mental health counseling and treatment.

The program is slated to begin in June of 2011 and will be initiated as part of West End’s Summer Camp programming. West End will serve a minimum of 60 youths, from the ages of 13 – 19. Participation in the pilot year will not exceed 80 youths. There will be no cost or fees to families of program participants. It is anticipated that the large majority of those served will be residents of Wilmington’s West Side, where the rates of teen pregnancy, school drop-out, and juvenile crime are historically high. A twelve-month commitment will be mandatory for participation, and families will sign contracts outlining their own monthly, mandatory participation in programming.

The CAS-Carrera model is one of only two models out of the 28 approved to be replicated by the Office of Adolescent Health that was found to be an evidence-based and proven-effective teen pregnancy prevention program by the Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy whose mission “seeks to increase government effectiveness through the use of rigorous evidence.” The CAS-Carrera model has been identified as having “top-tier” evidence of effectiveness.

About West End Neighborhood House:

West End Neighborhood House, which recently celebrated its 125th anniversary, helps over 9,000 low- to moderate-income individuals achieve self-sufficiency and economic independence annually. The variety of services offered at West End include before and after school child care, tutoring, adult employment training and educational services, transitional housing for former foster-care youth, affordable housing and community revitalization efforts.

For more information about West End or the new CAS-Carrera program implementation, call (302) 888.5305 or visit www.westendnh.org/.

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