San Francisco's MLK Jr. Academic Middle School gets free grocery store

Students and parents at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Middle School won't have to go far to get their groceries thanks to a new free store inside the school.

Why it matters: MLK Middle School, located in the Portola neighborhood, is predominantly attended by students of color who come from socioeconomically disadvantaged families , according to last school year's data from the California Department of Education.

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Driving the news: Amazon, food startup Goodr and the YMCA of Greater San Francisco on Monday unveiled the free grocery store for students and parents.

• It's stocked with fresh fruits and vegetables, meat and dairy products and other goods.
• It's available to students and families in the YMCA-managed Beacon program, which provides academic and development programming and resources to kids at MLK Middle School.

YMCA Bayview Hunters Point executive director Tacing Parker with students at the new grocery store. Photo: Megan Rose Dickey/Axios

Context: The grocery store, funded by Amazon, will operate weekly throughout the school year for about 75 families in the program, Jibraan Lee, a program specialist and former director of the Beacon program, told Axios at the event.

• Family engagement, which is "necessary" for a program like this to be successful, has been strong at the school for years, Lee said.
• But a lack of food security can contribute to truancy issues, he said.
• The current plan is to host about 175 shopping trips per month at the store, but they're still determining exactly how much each family can get per trip, Lee said.

What they're saying: The San Francisco Unified School District already has meal programs, but this new grocery store gives the district the "opportunity to help families and students outside of school as well," district Superintendent Matt Wayne said at the ribbon-cutting event.

• "To be able to provide groceries like this and where our families are coming anyway to pick up their students means so much."

MLK Middle School principal Tyson Fetcher told Axios the grocery store is "something that our school needs," adding that access to healthy foods will improve educational outcomes for students.

• It's also something that can strengthen the relationship between families and the school, he said.
• "Not only are we going to get some fresh groceries to families but it builds trust," he added.

What we're watching: Sally Kay, Amazon's head of public policy for California, told Axios the company could potentially fund another year of the grocery store, as "we always are evaluating needs and our ability to expand, so hopefully we'll be able to continue this good work."

• But that likely also depends on whether the school survives the planned closures set to go into effect next academic year.

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