When a community’s access to fresh food is limited, a single investment can change the entire equation. That is precisely what is unfolding in Houston’s historic Third Ward, where a $250,000 federal grant—the only one of its kind awarded in Texas this year—is fueling a year-round, community-driven farmers market.
Ivy Lawrence Walls, CEO of Ivy Leaf Farms and founding anchor partner of the Third Ward Farmers Market, holds freshly harvested greens. The Houston market’s $250,000 USDA Farmers Market Promotion Program grant was the only awarded in Texas this year.
Judson W. Robinson III, president and CEO of the Houston Area Urban League, visits the Third Ward Farmers Market with his daughter and granddaughters. The Houston market won a $250,000 USDA Farmers Market Promotion Program grant, the only award in Texas.
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$250,000 USDA grant funds a year-round, community-led farmers market in Houston’s Third Ward, expanding fresh food access in Texas’ 18th Congressional District
This market directly addresses the fresh food shortage for people in the Third Ward by expanding access to healthy food, ensuring everybody eats in this ZIP code.”— Judson W. Robinson III, President and CEO, Houston Area Urban League
HOUSTON, TX, UNITED STATES, November 13, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — The Houston Area Urban League and Rooted Futures have been awarded $250,000 through the U.S. Department of Agriculture‘s Farmers Market Promotion Program to grow the Third Ward Farmers Market, a year-round, producer-to-consumer market in Houston’s historic Third Ward that Rooted Futures launched and leads. The project is the only one in Texas selected in this year’s funding round, which awarded 45 grants nationwide.
The award supports a $312,500 project rooted in the 18th Congressional District. The market is designed to expand fresh food access for Third Ward families, open a reliable sales channel for small and midsize Texas farms, and create economic opportunity for local vendors and small businesses.
The project will also build a replicable model for community-led farmers markets across the Houston area, giving other neighborhoods a blueprint to follow.
That investment is already paying off. The market opened Oct. 31 at 4435 Old Spanish Trail, generating $30,000 in sales for local vendors in a single day.
More than 20 founding vendors, anchored by Ivy Leaf Farms, set up alongside local food trucks, and five vendors sold out. DJ Ingrid kept the crowd moving with a live set.
Those dollars went directly to the farmers, makers and small business owners who earned them. Opening day showed that Third Ward has the demand, the talent and the buying power to sustain local business when investment meets the community where it is.
After opening day, the market will be open to the community on the first and third Saturdays of each month from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monthly cooking demonstrations hosted by Chef Ashley Gibson will bring hands-on health education to shoppers, showing families how to prepare the fresh, local food sold at the market. Neighbors and supporters can learn more and plan their visit at thirdwardfarmersmarket.com.
“Third Ward Farmers Market is a community-led answer to some of the toughest challenges facing Houston families, and we are proud to bring this investment home to the 18th Congressional District,” said Judson W. Robinson III, president and CEO of the Houston Area Urban League. “This market directly addresses the fresh food shortage for people in the Third Ward by expanding access to healthy food, ensuring everybody eats in this ZIP code. Beyond access, it is workforce development, it is agriculture and it is ownership. When we center the profitability of small and midsize farms in Texas, we create jobs, train the next generation of growers and vendors, and keep dollars circulating in the neighborhoods that need them most.”
“We combined our marketing, tech, business development and communications expertise to build a platform for ongoing investment in Third Ward. The brilliance, the buying power and the community were already here,” said Emaan England, who co-founded the Third Ward Farmers Market with Sierra Clark.
“Reinvestment means putting resources back into the hands of the people who call this community home,” said Cortney Robinson Jones, a board member of Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 7. “Third Ward has given so much to this city. The Third Ward Farmers Market turns investment into something neighbors can see, taste and build on twice a month: a gathering place, a marketplace and a foundation for the next generation of Third Ward businesses.”
“Texas farmers can grow just about anything, but too many small producers never find a steady place to sell,” said Ivy Lawrence Walls, CEO of Ivy Leaf Farms, agriculturalist and founding anchor partner of the market. “The Third Ward Farmers Market helps shore up the producer pipeline in Texas. It gives growers a dependable, quality outlet, a direct relationship with the families they feed, and the confidence to plant more, hire more and bring new farmers along with them.”
“When you buy from a local vendor, that dollar goes further,” said Kenzel Fallen, CEO of Three Keys Coffee. “It pays local wages, supports local suppliers and stays right here in Third Ward. Selling locally multiplies the impact for every small business at the table, and a market like this gives all of us a front door to the community we serve.”
Emaan Noelle England
Rooted Futures
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Why it matters: This grant demonstrates how targeted federal funding can address food deserts while simultaneously boosting local economies. By creating a replicable model, the Third Ward Farmers Market could inspire similar community-led initiatives across Houston and beyond, proving that investment in underserved neighborhoods yields tangible returns for families, farmers, and small businesses alike.
