A group of West Philly youths have decided: If the people can’t get to fresh fruits and vegetables, they’re going to get the fresh fruits and vegetables to the people.

Starting tomorrow the Youth Urban Mobile Market (YUMM) will begin delivering fresh produce from 52nd to 60th Streets in a bicycle-driven cart. The cart will launch on Friday at the first ever Youth Growers Market at Malcolm X. Park (51st and Pine Streets) from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.  The YUMM cart will pedal the neighborhoods four times weekly, helping relieve the dearth of fresh food in many parts of West Philly.

The cart and tomorrow’s market are staffed by young folks from the Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative, which is part of the University of Pennsylvania’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships. Students from a number of area schools are involved, including: Martin Luther King High School’s “Seeds for Learning;” Saul High School’s “Henry Got Crops;” the School of the Future; Pepper Middle School; the Philadelphia Urban Food and Fitness Alliance; Earth Keepers; and Walnut Hill Farm.

If things go as planned a lot more people in Philadelphia will see mobile fruit and vegetable carts around the city. The YUMM cart is the first of the City’s “Healthy Carts” program. Twenty carts are planned to begin operating in low-income neighborhoods in 2011-2012 as part of the “Food Fit Philly” program.

For more information on the YUMM cart or the youth growers program, write Lan Dinh at: landinh89 [at] gmail.com.