Emma Jackson at the NEW SupermarketEmma Jackson has been fighting for Harlem most of her life. Her recent battle is to keep supermarkets from leaving the community. This interview chronicles her most recent efforts to make sure that residents can get healthy, fresh food at grocery stores in Harlem.

Q: How did you get a supermarket to re-open in your neighborhood?

A: I live in the Taft Houses (Madison Avenue and 112th Street) in East Harlem. On the property there was a grocery store that had been closed for three years. When we realized another neighborhood supermarket was closing in February of 2024, a neighbor and I put together flyers letting people know. The flyer had the phone numbers of our elected officials so we were able to bombard their offices with calls letting them know how upset we were. 

Small stores have trouble staying open in this community, and there is a serious lack of access to healthy, fresh food. It is a long distance to walk to the next closest supermarket, especially for people like me with health problems. There are 1,400 families in our housing development--that's a small city. We need a grocery store!

We talked with members of our community and learned that people wanted to re-open the store in Taft Houses. It took a lot of work and discussions, but thanks to our efforts after only nine months of organizing, the grocery store on our property reopened in November 2024.

Q: Did you have any help in this effort?

A: We are very grateful for the help we received from the District Public Health Office, West Harlem Environmental Action (WE ACT) and our elected officials for supporting our efforts.Emma Jackson

Q: What else has happened as a result of your efforts?

A: After just nine months of activity last year, three supermarkets have re-opened in Harlem.

Q: What is your advice to other community members who want to make a change?

A: What we did wasn't elaborate. We were successful because we got our community involved. I think people are constantly saying what they don't want. We need to retrain the Harlem community to talk about and ask for what we do want--then we'll be more likely to get it.

I'm the kind of person who looks for solutions to problems. I tell people: Think about what your community wants and advocate for it. You may be pleasantly surpised by the outcome.

Q: How can people get involved?

A: There is still so much work to do. We need every one who is interested to get involved by either contacting me at EJCK1010@aol.com or James Subudhi at WE ACT at James@weact.org or call him at 347-465-8484. Our challenge now is to keep the store we now have at the Taft Houses in operation.

Profiles of Hope is a series of testimonials with community leaders and members, written by HHPC and reviewed by our Health Advisory Board.