About Us

Healthy, Local Food
Within Everyone’s Reach

Urban Oasis Project has been growing the local food movement in Miami-Dade since 2008. We believe healthy, local food should be accessible to all, regardless of income.

We plant gardens in urban food deserts, run farmers markets that double SNAP benefits, and teach our neighbors to grow, cook, and share. Let’s grow together.

Our Markets

Fresh local produce
every weekend

Our Markets

GIVE Gardens

Gardens inspiring
volunteerism

Explore Gardens
  • Open Bon Appetit magazine spread naming Miami Food City of the Year
  • Art Friedrich smiling in front of a colorful mural
  • Double Your SNAP Benefits flyer with Fresh Access Bucks and market hours
  • Urban Oasis Project card over a kale background reading eat good, do good
  • Ms. Shirley smiling at a market table with mangoes and dragon fruit
  • Jiyeong Jung smiling at a market tent with bunched onions and greens
  • Inside a hoop house with shade cloth, wooden benches, and irrigation lines over soil
  • Five volunteers standing behind a newly planted raised garden bed beside a chain-link fence

How we work

Programs Visit Our Markets

We Teach

Workshops on gardening, composting, food preservation, and cooking what you grow.

We Plant

Raised-bed gardens and edible landscaping so families can grow their own food.

We Match

Fresh produce to low-income neighborhoods, doubling SNAP purchases at our markets.

We Share

Gardening knowledge and experience so neighbors can grow their own food.

We Organize

With farmers, gardeners, and neighbors to increase access to fresh, local food.

Our mission

Making healthy, local food more accessible to all. We do this by teaching people to make and maintain food gardens in low-income neighborhoods, and by connecting local farmers’ produce to consumers through farmers markets that double EBT purchases and a Fruit and Veggie Prescription program run with partners.

Tending the soil

Our philosophy

Located in Miami, Florida, Urban Oasis Project was a volunteer-based group for two years and, in February 2010, incorporated as a Florida not-for-profit organization. At the Urban Oasis Project, we believe that good, clean, healthy food should be accessible to all, so we run farmers markets, we plant gardens with low-income families, and we support many local farms by bringing their produce to markets. We ran our own farms in past years, and today we focus on supporting local farms by buying their produce.

Urban Oasis Project prides itself on being an inclusive non-profit organization, embracing all people who support our mission regardless of religious preferences, sexual orientation, economic status, ethnicity, age, or disability. Urban Oasis experiments with all gardening and farming philosophies that keep the environment healthy.

Meet the crewOur partners

Let’s grow together

VolunteerDonate

Our history

  • 2008: Urban Oasis Project starts as a volunteer group teaching neighbors in Liberty City to grow food at home, planting eleven home gardens in its first two months.
  • 2010: Incorporated in Florida as a not-for-profit in February. Opened its first farmers market at Tacolcy Park in Liberty City in November.
  • 2011: Recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity in July.
  • Since then: Added the Legion Park and Vizcaya Village farmers markets, SNAP doubling at every market, the G.I.V.E. Garden program, the Virtual Farmers Market on Local Line with delivery across Miami-Dade, and the Pembroke Pines and Vizcaya Night markets, while growing to aggregate produce from more than 30 South Florida farms.
  • 2024 to today: Awarded a USDA grant to launch The Commons Network, a farmer land-access and apprenticeship program, with the first GROW Apprenticeship cohort starting in September 2026.

What we run today

  • Farmers markets at Legion Park (Saturdays), Vizcaya Village (Sundays), Beehive Natural Foods (Tuesdays) and Pembroke Pines (second and fourth Wednesdays), plus the monthly Vizcaya Night Market from October through June. Every market accepts SNAP/EBT and doubles purchases of Florida-grown produce. Market details
  • Virtual Farmers Market on Local Line: weekly online ordering from more than 30 local farms and Miami artisans, with pickup at any market or delivery across Miami-Dade. Shop online
  • G.I.V.E. Gardens (Gardens Inspiring Volunteerism and Education): raised-bed food gardens built with volunteers at homes, schools and community sites in low-income neighborhoods, with seasonal refreshes and training. Garden program
  • The Commons Network: a USDA-funded network connecting farmers with land, mentors and markets in South Florida, including the paid GROW Apprenticeship for new growers and $30-per-hour farm mentor positions. The Commons Network
  • Vendor incubation: booth space, permits and market access for small farms, homegrowers and food artisans. Vendor applications
  • $5 Food Boxes: a $20 produce bag for $5 with SNAP, currently paused while we raise new funding. Program status

Board of directors

Art Friedrich (President and Executive Director), Vivian Dorsey, Christina Bouza, Natacha Payen and Lisa Palley, as reported on our FY2024 Form 990. See Impact and Financials for our filings and program numbers.

Registration and financials

  • Legal name: Urban Oasis Project, Inc., a Florida not-for-profit corporation incorporated February 2010.
  • IRS status: 501(c)(3) public charity, tax-exempt since July 2011. EIN (Charity ID): 27-3335090.
  • Florida Solicitation of Contributions registration: CH41534.
  • Fiscal year 2024 (from our IRS Form 990): total revenue $803,715, total expenses $790,633, net assets $90,868. Read the FY2024 Form 990 (PDF) or view every filing on ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.
  • Email: art@urbanoasisproject.org. Phone: 786-427-4698.

A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.