The development of Lewiston Auburn Community Market evolved from a community vision for a permanent, affordable, accessible grocery in Lewiston’s downtown. Downtown Lewiston is designated a “Low Supermarket Access Area” and the likelihood of living near a fast-food restaurant or a store that sells only soda, alcohol, tobacco, and no fresh produce is much higher than having healthy and culturally appropriate options. Nearly 50% of downtown LA residents do not have a car and public transportation is limited. Walking to the nearest full grocery store with healthy fresh foods is additionally challenging given the local geography, which includes steep hills that need to be climbed (from a low elevation of 140 ft in downtown LA to 282 ft elevation at the grocery store) which is difficult for many on a fair weather day and even more challenging during Maine’s long winter. Moreover, roughly 15% of Lewiston’s population are New Americans with the near majority located in the downtown. It can be difficult, if not impossible, to find many culturally preferred foods in LA. Community members make regular trips to Portland or Boston in search of those foods. At the same time, there are New American farmers growing culturally preferred crops but have a limited local channel to market and sell these products. To market their products, farmers also drive to other larger neighboring cities or ship their product outside of their community. The Lewiston Auburn Community Market (LACM) emerged as an antidote to many of these challenges. A market for the community, by the community, the LACM is an fully incorporated Maine cooperative business since 2022 led by a 20 member board of directors, with over half of the membership from New American communities living in and around downtown Lewiston. Ownership is a top priority for the members and for the sustainability of the business. As of 2024, LACM is researching a permanent home in the Tree Streets neighborhood of Lewiston with an option to review a building and site at the opening corridor of the downtown. Significant financing has been secured to support the effort but it will take tremendous coordination and investement to develop a site. Once in operation, the LACM will be a unique combination of small-scale processing, dry and cold storage, and low-cost food retail. This hybrid business model ensures stability and maximizes impact through meeting explicit food, workforce development, and community needs in the downtown. LACM’s proforma is financially sound and once open, has the ability to support itself through internal subsidies. It offers rentable kitchen space to local food entrepreneurs and community members while offering area organizations, farms and food producers the opportunity to rent dry and cold storage. Its grocery operation will prioritize purchasing local as possible and will fill an unmet grocery need in the area and could be the vessel that redirects $12M in grocery leakage back into the community. Workforce development and school partners are committed to education, training and business start-up support in the food industry.