Stanley Marketplace has opened its doors to entrepreneurial Venezuelan migrants with a pop-up shop called Finding Their Way. The space allows the Denver newcomers to showcase their talents and homemade goods, available for purchase with a suggested donation. The fundraiser operates every Tuesday in January, with rotating vendors throughout the day.
“Stanley Marketplace is a busy place to visit, come hang out and shop. There’s high visibility here,” said Stanley Marketplace General Manager Ally Fredeen. “[Volunteers] thought, ‘What better [place] than Stanley to offer visibility to this group of people.’ So, that’s what we’ve done here. We’ve opened one of our units that happens to be vacant so that we can conduct this event series and offer our support to these individuals.”
On the second floor, toward the back of the marketplace, the vacant unit is set up with a few tables, where you can find a variety of items like homemade arepas, arroz con leche and eco-friendly dog leashes. Food vendor Yaile Peña offers up pasteles venezolanos, warm corn flour pockets filled with cheese, chicken or beef.
“We have sold a lot of food. My husband is the one who cooks the food, I simply help him sell and I am attentive to the orders and materials. He’s the one who really cooks and he’s been cooking a variety of foods to offer customers,” Peña said.
Peña migrated from Venezuela to Cali, Colombia with her husband and son three years ago. After facing financial challenges, they decided to make the journey to Denver with hopes for a better future. Peña and her family are currently living in a basement. The owner of which welcomed them in and is helping them move forward.
“So far it has been going very well for us. I never imagined that a citizen person from here would open the doors of their home to us and say, ‘Here is the kitchen, I will be back later,’ and leave you alone in their house. I mean, that’s a term of trust,” Peña said.
Over 37,000 Venezuelans have arrived in Denver as of Jan. 8, 2024. The city continues its efforts to temporarily house the population, keeping them off the streets and relocating them to emergency shelters or rooms in one of seven hotels throughout the city. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has called for more federal resources and believes work authorization upon arrival can help the humanitarian crisis.
“This is one of the only ways they’re going to be able to make money,” said one of the fundraiser organizers who would like to stay anonymous. “Right now, some of them have started the asylum process but even then, they must wait 150 days to apply for a work permit. Nobody that we’ve been working with has been eligible for any kind of a work permit as of now.”
Along with other community members, the organizer created a private Facebook group, Central Park & Park Hill-Venezuelan Migrant Support, which has gained the support of over 3,000 members. Current resource information, work opportunities for migrants and donation inquiries are a few of the topics that can be found on the group’s feed. The fundraiser came about after the volunteers learned the migrants possess a wide range of talents.
“One of our organizers has a professional boxer from Venezuela that she’s been working with and she said, ‘It would be great to set up at a park and teach classes.’ We thought, ‘How cool if we could have a barber come and cut hair, what if somebody came to make arepas?’ She got in contact with Stanley Marketplace to see if they had space for us,” the fundraiser organizer said.
Daniela Perez arrived in Colorado with her husband and two daughters two months ago. She is pushing through the language barrier and has offered her arepas over the last three weeks. Perez said the donations received from the event have helped her family cover their living costs. Perez learned how to make arepas from her mom at a young age and is motivated to continue sharing her food with the community.
“My mom loves to cook. At some point, she got to selling food and I helped her,” Perez said. “That comes from my family because my grandmother on my mom’s side also cooked so I gained that experience by helping them when they sold food.”
Many customers stop by inquisitively to see what the vendors have to offer, some without knowing what an arepa is, but willing to try the food and help with donations. Staying close by, volunteers are available to help the vendors translate and complete transactions. Organizers say this event has helped the migrants get in front of a crowd of people and make money to help feed their families, save for an apartment and acquire transportation. They believe this event is a great opportunity for these vendors to start networking and grow their small businesses for the future.
“That’s what America is about, you can come here, and you can create something. Right now, there are so many barriers to getting work and making a living, but you can create something for yourself. It’s not for everybody, not everybody has that mindset or drive. But I think if you have somebody in the community supporting you, it’s a way to make a life in this country,” the organizer said.
In the future, Peña and Perez hope to continue selling their food at farmers markets and community events when the weather gets warm, and eventually operate out of a restaurant or food truck. Although the women have faced challenges migrating to a new country with their families, they believe moving forward is achievable if one goes out and looks for opportunities.
“You need to get up early, get out, make yourself known, and look for these opportunities,” Peña said. “It’s incredible how far we’ve come. I started connecting with people at events, they had a list for Facebook accounts, I wrote down my name and that’s how I’ve made myself known by sharing my food there. People have really enjoyed it and continue to make orders.”
The Central Park & Park Hill-Venezuelan Migrant Support group continues to deliberately work gathering donations and offering meals to help the migrant community. They have set up an Amazon wish list and a meal train for anyone willing to donate items or meals to the cause. The pop up market is on Tuesdays through January.