Commún Grows Food Share into a Choice-Based Community Market
Since its launch in March 2020, Commún’s food share has been a cornerstone of the organization’s programming, serving as its earliest and most visible form of community-led support. For five years, the weekly drive-through distribution has offered fresh, local, and organic foods to hundreds of households. The program is carried out by dozens of Southwest Denver residents who are directly impacted by food insecurity and directly involved in shaping and delivering the program.
Now, Commún is taking the next step in evolving the Food Security program into a more interactive and empowering model that reflects its broader community-centered mission.
In response to community input, Commún is transitioning its food distribution from a drive-through format to a walk-up, market-style experience. This change marks the first phase of a multi-stage plan to ultimately establish a fully functioning community grocery market. In this new format, participants will be able to select their own food, offering a deeper sense of dignity, choice, and cultural responsiveness.
“Across all of the focus groups we’ve held with community members, the number one request was choice,” says Commún’s Food Security Program Manager, Laura Engelman. “People want to be able to pick what they need, rather than receive items they might not use or end up wasting.”
Over the past five years, Commún has held paid community meetings with long-time volunteers, recent participants, and community members who access food through the organization in different ways, in order to involve community members in decision-making. This year’s multilingual focus groups —including sessions in Arabic, Spanish, Turkish, and English— showed, for the first time, a desire for a change in format. The feedback consistently highlighted the importance of continuing to offer fresh, locally grown staples while introducing opportunities for more self-determination.
While the first phase of the transition will maintain a fully free model, future stages may incorporate subsidized sales, token-based purchasing, and participation from community vendors. Commún envisions a hybrid food system where donated and low-cost items are available side by side, and where local producers—including gardeners and food producers from Commún’s own programs—can sell their goods.
