ABOUT OUR MARKET
Heart of the City Farmers’ Market is a uniquely independent, farmer-operated, 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that operates a year-round farmers’ market on Sundays and Wednesdays from 7am-4pm in San Francisco's Civic Center. Originally located at the United Nations Plaza, we were relocated by the City & County of San Francisco in 2024 to Fulton Plaza between the Downtown Library and the Asian Art Museum.
Our historic market opened in 1981 with a mission to support and sustain small farmers and make fresh, nutritious produce more accessible for low-income customers. We are a uniquely independent nonprofit farmers’ market that is operated by a governing board of farmers and community representatives. Since the market's first day, our farmers have been committed to helping to support a healthy Heart of the City. Our nonprofit operates one of the largest farmers’ market food access programs in the nation, distributing over $4 million a year in food assistance from our information tent.
We are popular shopping destination for customers seeking a diverse selection of produce that is grown locally by farm families who have built their small businesses around the needs of the low-income neighborhood we serve. Known as the most affordable farmers’ market in San Francisco, we attract customers from all over the City to spend CalFresh benefits, access Market Match incentives to stretch limited budgets, and utilize food vouchers from EatSF, WIC, Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program, and VeggieRx from Fresh Approach. Over 70% of CalFresh benefits spent at San Francisco’s more than 30 farmers markets are spent here. Since 2015, we have distributed over $15 million in free fruits and vegetables to low-income customers.
The market is open year-round, rain or shine, including most holidays. We close for Pride Parade in June, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day.
No Cash? BUY TOKENS & VOUCHERS AT OUR INFO TENT
Credit Cards, debit cards, and EBT cards are accepted at our market information tent on Fulton Street at Larkin Street. Use your card to purchase $5 vouchers and $1 tokens that you can use to shop with our vendors. All vendors accept cash.
FOOD ACCESS PROGRAM
Heart of the City is a leader in serving vulnerable communities. We facilitate food assistance programs that increase fruit and vegetable consumption including CalFresh (EBT), WIC, EatSF, and VeggieRX 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 from our information tent every year and and we operate one of the largest farmers’ market food access programs 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.
Credit cards can be used at our information tent to purchase green $1 tokens and black $5 vouchers. There are no purchase restrictions, they never expire, and you receive change when you use them with our vendors.
MARKET MATCH
Our Market Match program in partnership with the Ecology Center and the California Market Match Coalition 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:
San Francisco’s Sugary Drinks Distributor Tax (SF Soda Tax) and San Francisco Department of Public Health PHD Food Security Program, administered 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
Additional support from Kaiser Permanente and Bi-Rite Family of Businesses
Our 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.
OUR Community Partners
We partner with over 50 social service providers in surrounding neighborhoods to help low-income San Francisco residents afford more healthy, locally-grown produce. Our provider network include The Healing WELL, San Francisco Department of Public Health Feeling Good Project, SFDPH HIV Program, San Francisco Public Library, 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, and many others.
‘Market Match’ WITH THE Ecology Center
Our partnership with Ecology Center and the California Market Match Consortium of over 300 California farmers’ markets allows us to utilize funding from the USDA’s Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program and the California Nutrition Incentive Partnership to provide over $1.5 million a year in nutrition incentives to low-income customers shopping with an EBT card. This program is also funded in part by Kaiser Permanente and the Bi-Rite Family of Businesses.
‘Healthy Food Purchasing Supplements PROGRAM’ WITH THE san francisco public health foundation
We distribute additional healthy food purchasing supplements to our EBT customers thanks to generous funding from San Francisco’s Sugary Drinks Distributor Tax (SF Soda Tax) and the SFDPH PHD Food Security Program, administered through the Healthy Food Purchasing Supplements Program from the San Francisco Public Health Foundation. This program provides over $500,000 in additional fruits and vegetables to low-income customers annually.
MATTER OF TRUST FISCAL SPONSORSHIP
We are so 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, PES Environmental, Inc., and more. 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 enable our farmers to accept EatSF Vouchers 4 Veggies, generating over $50,000 in additional revenue for small farmers each year. Vouchers 4 Veggies is a transformative program to increase access and affordability of healthy foods by providing free vouchers for fruit and vegetables. This partnership has generated over half a million dollars in additional revenue for Heart of the City Farmers’ Market’s small farmers.
Civic Center Community Benefit District
In 2019, we partnered 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. Unfortunately our Friday market was permanently closed after March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Civic Center Community Benefit District now supports the market by providing technical assistance during our relocation to Fulton Plaza and hires community ambassadors through Urban Alchemy to help keep Civic Center 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
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 Executive Director Steve Pulliam 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.