Buffalo Rising Online

Apr 28th 2008, 11:31am By Eli George

People on the West Side and the Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP) are keeping their fingers crossed as Tuesday, April 29th approaches. That night will be when the 21st Century Fund picks among four finalists the recipient of $100,000 grant at the Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts. Though MAP is hoping to get the biannual award to jumpstart a program initiative, according to Erin Sharkey, the Growing Green outreach Coordinator for MAP, “We think we have a good shot, but there’s great projects in the final four.”

MAP would use the award to fund a project that Sharkey says is “kind of a culmination of the hands on work we’ve been doing in the community.” They want to create a Community Food Resource Center (CFRC) in the Grant/Ferry Business District. The center’s main features would be to boost local food sourcing and food access for the neighborhood. The CFRC would also house and serve as central storage for MAP’s Mobile Market, which will take food to the East and West Sides. Even if MAP does not receive the grant, their project will continue, just at a much, much slower pace.

Though the food shortage happening all over the world right now is acute, Sharkey says, “We’ve been seeing the effect on local farmers…for a long time.” Local farmers would be able to use the CFRC as a drop off for community supported agriculture. The way the program works is people pay upfront to take part of the farmer’s bounty throughout the growing season. “You share in the risk with them,” says Sharkey.

The CFRC would help provide fresh food to area in need. Sharkey says, “Even with Guercio’s right on Grant Street, we still see a lot of obesity.” Sharkey also cites other issues such as family’s using corner stores to buy their groceries. A lot of the work MAP does is centered around the work of Dr. Samina Raja of the University of Buffalo. Dr. Raja is an expert in “Food Deserts” or areas that lack access to quality food.

With the high poverty, low ownership, high rental, and low access to fresh and affordable food rates on the West Side, the CFRC would help to alleviate the lack of access as well as supporting the local farmers who are struggling to stay in business. Sharkey says it is a good way to get “great, really yummy, seasonal produce” adding that MAP wants to be “an anchor to the development on Grant Street.”

For more information about MAP, check out their website: www.mass-ave.org