The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) is celebrating its newly opened 12th Street Community Café at 3999 W. 12th St., as part of the grand opening of the city’s 12th Street Center.
Operated by employees of the UAMS Department of Nutrition Services, the café is located inside the center, which has been home to a Little Rock Police Department station since 2014.
The café’s operating hours are 7 a.m.-2 p.m., Monday-Friday. It is located on the west end of the first floor and is accessible through entrances on both 12th and Pine streets, as well as from the interior lobby.
Offering specialty coffee drinks made with Westrock coffee along with healthy breakfast, lunch, and snack items such as breakfast burritos, sandwiches, bagels, yogurt, fruit cups, salad, and thin-crust pizza, the café is part of UAMS’ mission to improve the health of all Arkansans, particularly those experiencing food insecurity.
Mariella Hernandez, senior project manager of strategic initiatives at UAMS, said meal preparation workshops will eventually be offered at the center by members of the UAMS Culinary Medicine Program, in collaboration with the Arkansas Minority Health Commission. Also, she said, “We are looking forward to collaborating with farmer’s markets to make fresh produce available.”