Flatbush Food Co-op Brooklyn, New York Year founded: 1976 Number of members: 3,500 Member investment: $200 Number of employees: 70 Retail square footage: 8,000 The Flatbush Food Co-op has been in business as a trusted institution in Brooklyn since the 1970s, yet given the increasing competition, and with expansion a possibility, the co-op’s leadership believed there was more they could do to enhance how [...]
By Ben Sandel Cooperative principle four: Autonomy and independence. What do you think about it? Or perhaps a better question is—do you ever think about it? In my consulting practice, I sometimes lead activities designed to get people thinking and talking about cooperative values and principles. I’d never accuse my clients of having forgotten a cooperative principle, but based on the lack of interest, perhaps principle [...]
By Thane Joyal, Dave Swanson Change in the market, change in the world, can mean stress in the relationships within a cooperative as the organization adapts to the changing circumstances. Both having the right organizational structure and choosing the right vehicles to capitalize your co-op are important in making your cooperative responsive and resilient in the face of change. But their technical and legal [...]
In a lot of ways our work speaks for itself. The data supports an assertion that cooperation produces stronger happier communities, local economies, food systems and shoppers. Bonnie Hudspeth, Neighboring Food Co-op Associations Manager of Member Programs, shares a ton of powerful data points about the impact that food co-ops have in the Northeast and points out opportunities that we can seize on to [...]
So much of the critical work of movement-building is getting the word out there to those who are looking for what we offer. As the Executive Director of Neighboring Food Co-ops Association, Erbin Crowell spend a lot of his time getting the message out about cooperatives. Here he shares with you some of his tips and offers up some regional co-op data for the [...]
Pam Mehnert, GM, Outpost Natural Foods
By Jade Barker and Patricia Cumbie We believe that now is a critical time to engage our cooperative community in important conversations about racism and oppression. Everyone Welcome? Personal Narratives about Race and Food Co-ops presents a variety of perspectives on what can be done to make food co-ops more racially inclusive. Fifteen co-operators from a variety of backgrounds — class, gender, race, ethnicity, [...]
There is nothing more fundamental to cooperative governance than the board-GM relationship. After all, the entire leadership of the co-op rests on how the board and the general manager work together in their respective roles, which are unique and non-redundant. The work that the board must do to lead and execute its board duties is not the same work that the general manager must [...]
Three years ago, we were participants in a workshop designed to raise awareness of racial bias, particularly in progressive organizations. As part of that Training for Change session in Minneapolis in 2014, everyone was asked what we would like to do as next steps. Part of our professional work as consultants is to bring a variety of people together in co-ops to better [...]
Seward Community Co-op Minneapolis, MN Year founded: 1972 Member investment: $75 Number of members: 16,000 Number of employees: 335 Business units: two retail grocery stores, restaurant, production facility In 2013, when Seward Community Co-op began the feasibility process for their second location in a historically African American neighborhood in South Minneapolis, it experienced a tremendous amount of community interest as well as sharp questions [...]
