South End Grocery ribbon cutting to be held Tuesday

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- A ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place on Tuesday for the opening of the South End Grocery at 10 a.m. The South End Grocery is located at 106 South Pearl Street and is a partnership of over 75 organizations and stakeholders looking to provide equitable access and healthy produce to the store.

“The South End food desert is over," said Travon T. Jackson, President of BlueLight Development Group and Executive Director of The African American Cultural Center of the Capital Region. With the fortitude of our partners, BlueLight has successfully set forth the first charitable partnership of its type in Albany – a Black-owned, farmto-store affordable grocery subsidized by syndicated philanthropy. Thank you to our endowment partners and all our supporters for bringing us this far.”

The South End Grocery Coalition is led by the BlueLight Development Group and the African American Cultural Center of the Capital Region. BlueLight Development Group is a charity committed to endowing funds and professional services to implement neighborhood revitalization projects in the Capital Region of New York state.

"[The South End Grocery] is the solution to food deserts," said Natasha Pernicka, Executive Director of the Food Pantries for the Capital District. "This model works!"