Amid rising costs, increased attacks on federal food assistance programs, and persistent barriers to fresh food, community-driven solutions are stepping in where traditional food systems fall short.
In Arizona, one in every seven people struggles with food insecurity, the occasional or constant lack of access to food, and one in eight residents rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps. Statewide, nearly 70% of SNAP recipients are among families with children.
There are 55 food deserts—areas that have limited or no access to healthy, nutritious, affordable and fresh food—in Maricopa County, the majority of those food deserts are in Phoenix.
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The Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” would slash $186 billion from SNAP, which is the largest anti-hunger program in the US, through 2035.
It will be the deepest SNAP cut in history, removing access to food assistance for Americans in need—roughly 4 million people, 1 million of them children, losing all or a substantial amount of the food assistance they currently receive.
Organizations like Activate Food Arizona, a nonprofit that focuses on ending food insecurity across the state and providing better access to healthy, affordable food, are among those finding innovative ways to meet people where they are to offer resources.
Activate Food Arizona operates Farm Express, a mobile food market that uses old buses converted into mini grocery stores to offer affordable and reliable access to healthy food. The mobile market serves between 16,000 to 20,000 people each year.
It’s been operating around the Phoenix and Tempe area for over 11 years, as well as in Mesa where they plan to expand.
“My initial reaction [to SNAP cuts] as the nonprofit professional was we’re not going to wake up without stomachs tomorrow, so now we just have to figure out how to keep feeding people,” Elyse Guidas, executive director of Activate Food Arizona told The Copper Courier.
The emergency food system doesn’t capture the entire population in need, and options like mobile markets fill in the gaps, Guidas said.
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Four days a week, Farm Express visits public libraries, senior centers, health centers, or low-income housing communities, among other stops.
“It’s a huge win for the community,” Guidas said. “We know that we’re getting into communities that need this food and need it on a regular basis.
The market accepts all forms of payment, from cash, to credit and debit, to SNAP benefits. SNAP users can also use Double Up Food Bucks, a program to get a dollar for every SNAP dollar used for fruits and vegetables, dried beans, and edible plants and seeds.
SNAP and Double Up Food Bucks make up about half of the Farm Express Mobile Market’s overall transactions.
The mobile market focuses on bringing food to communities that may experience barriers accessing fresh produce, such as financial or mobility barriers.
“Different populations experience barriers to healthy food for different reasons, and we wanted to create mobile solutions that really kind of met people where they were at,” Guidas said.
None of the produce for sale is considered “leftover” from a grocery store or other food market, or produce close to expiration or “on the way out,” everything is high quality, Guidas said.
Farm Express offers significantly lower prices than grocery stores, but with the same quality.
“We want to be a trusted resource in the community, and so we build a lot of regulars that way who routinely use their SNAP benefits,” Guidas said.
This year, Activate Food Arizona launched afternoon indoor markets at libraries and community centers for the months of August and September to give customers a break from standing outside in the heat.
The indoor markets are offered at the Palo Verde Library in Maryvale, Harmon Library in central Phoenix, Cesar Chavez Library in south Phoenix, and Burton Barr Central Library in downtown Phoenix, as well as the Tempe Public Library.
Patricia Shindler is a Phoenix resident who lives in an apartment near Harmon Library, one of Farm Express’ regular stops. Each time she shops at the mobile market, she can skip a trip to the grocery store.
Schindler doesn’t drive due to a medical condition, so instead of taking the time to get to a bus stop, wait for the bus, go all the way to a grocery store and back—she can ride her motorized scooter to Harmon Library and pick up her food.
“I think it’s convenient…it’s convenient for the neighborhood, I have a lot of tias and nanas that live over there, and it’s so convenient [for them],” Schindler told The Copper Courier.
Trudy A., a Phoenix resident, attended a cooking class at the Harmon Library, and picked up produce right at the mobile market after.
For Trudy, who uses SNAP, even if the market didn’t accept SNAP benefits she would still shop there because the prices are much cheaper to begin with, she told The Copper Courier.
“I’m only worrying about what’s happening right now, which is right now it’s available, If that happens [SNAP benefits get cut]. I would just, you know, deal with that when it comes,” she said.
