A new
farmers
market to
open in
downtown
Erie.
BY ANGELA MAGEE
The
Oasis
Project
H 914 State Street
T
he Oasis Project was born from a simple conversation
between two inspired and community-minded
individuals at an event last year hosted by the Innovation
Collaborative, an organization dedicated to developing and
encouraging entrepreneurship in Erie. Separately, project co-
founders Faith Kindig and Jonathan D’Silva had been moving
toward the idea for some time before their initial conversation
sparked a collaboration that resulted in a downtown Erie farmers
market opening soon.
The mission of The Oasis Project is to feature locally grown
and regionally sourced food and products to alleviate a food
desert in downtown Erie.
D’Silva lives in Fairview with his wife, Melanie, and their
14-year-old son and three daughters ages 12, 10 and 6. He is an
intellectual property lawyer as well as the main organizer and
host behind TEDxErie. Melanie lamented the lack of a fresh
food market like the Ithaca Farmers Market she and D’Silva
enjoyed as students at Cornell. The Ithaca Farmers Market has
been a vibrant part of that community since 1973 and includes
150 local vendors. Her comments planted the seed for the idea
in D’Silva.
Kindig, an Erie native and recent Penn State Behrend
graduate, is the founder of Erie Sproutz. Erie Sproutz is an urban
farming and education program that she developed as a class
project at Behrend. At the urging of her professor, Kindig turned
the assignment into reality and received a micro grant to start
planting gardens in the city of Erie.
A year into The Oasis Project, D’Silva and Kindig have secured
a commercial space at 914 State Street that is large enough to
house the various vendors they hope to attract. Vendors can rent
booth space on a daily to monthly basis. Vendors are not limited
to just farmers or produce. Anything that is local to the region
will be considered.
“We are recruiting vendors now. We are looking for products
that are produced, grown or manufactured locally or regionally,”
says D’Silva.
8
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There are 10 defined food desert areas in Erie County. A food
desert is defined as a low-income urban area that lacks access
to affordable and healthy food. The United States Department
of Agriculture defines a food desert more specifically as an area
where 33 percent or more of the population is more than one mile
from a food source. Anything over a mile is considered hard to
access for individuals or families with limited resources, including
no mode of transportation. Having to use public transportation or
walk farther than a mile to reach a food source makes the already
onerous task of grocery shopping even more of a hardship.
Newly elected Erie Mayor Joe Schember says the need for a
supermarket in the downtown area was one of the biggest issues
residents brought up to him while campaigning last year. The
Oasis Project Farmers Market will be the first
fresh food resource, outside of Rite Aid and
Dollar General, for city residents near lower State
Street.
“We see The Oasis Project having a cascading
positive effect on the community around us.
We hope it to be a catalyst to spark a movement
in the Erie community, whether it’s fixing up
blighted properties or sparking innovation,” says
Kindig.
Over the past year of planning, fundraising
and searching for a location to host the market,
D’Silva and Kindig realized that there is a wealth of independent,
small business entrepreneurs in Erie County. This led them
to expand the mission of the project to include business
development resources for their vendors, to help them eventually
move to sustainable and valuable brick and mortar businesses.
“One of the things that really struck me is that there are a
lot of resources that exist in the region that the general public
doesn’t really know about,” notes D’Silva. “We hope to be a hub
where organizations can showcase what they are doing, provide
additional services or just connect people.” n