CCFC acknowledges that our co-op grocery store, once it is built, will be situated on the unceded ancestral lands of the Karkin, Patwin, and Miwok people. We pay respect to their elders, past and present. During November’s Native American Heritage Month, we highlight the importance of this acknowledgement as we currently meet on these lands, and most of our owners live in the area. As stated in Honor Native Land: A Guide and Call to Acknowledgement, it’s “a simple, powerful way of showing respect and a step toward correcting the stories and practices that erase Indigenous people’s history and culture and toward inviting and honoring the truth.”
It will probably come as no surprise that the Native American cultures of North America have a societal foundation we can see echoed in the co-operative structure, with a focus on taking care of each other. This ensures resiliency, shared resources, and a democratic business model where every owner has a voice. Today, many Native Americans are transferring these values to their businesses.
For example, the Ancestral Rich Treasures of Zuni (ARTZ) is a cooperative of 32 artists who operate their own retail store where they ensure artists receive the full monetary value for their art. Another cooperative is Ohe·láku, or Among the Cornstalks, consisting of 15 families who grow traditional corn that is divided among members based on the number of hours they invest. Dream of Wild Health is a seed-keeping cooperative with youth food system programs for all ages.
What all these co-ops have in common is a strong sense of community, and working to protect their cultures, traditions, and foodways. They also serve as community hubs, providing space to train others, and establishing networks where community members care for each other. As we continue to expand our ownership and get closer to putting “doors on the store,” we hold these same values as part of the foundation of CCFC, and we acknowledge the lasting and valuable contributions of our indigenous neighbors.
Sources:
Honor Native Land: https://usdac.us/nativeland
Library of Congress dedicated page: https://nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov/about/
Center for Rural Affairs: https://www.cfra.org/blog/not-your-average-co-ops-native-americans-share-cooperative-insights
This October, CCFC is joining over 65,000 co-operatives and credit unions across the United States in celebrating Co-op Month, observed nationally since 1964. This year’s theme is “Co-ops Build Economic Power,” and highlights the cooperative business model as the best way to build an economy that empowers everyone. Co-ops and their members are working together to build stronger, more inclusive, and resilient communities.
As businesses face inflation and supply chain challenges, cooperatives provide stability and opportunity. As employees question their role in the economy, cooperatives are creating dignified, empowering jobs with paths to ownership and wealth-building. As communities tire of rhetoric, cooperatives are creating the meaningful diversity and equity at the heart of an inclusive economy.
Co-ops are all around us and in several business sectors: Agriculture, Housing, Finance, Utilities, and more. Across the country, people have used food co-ops to improve access to healthy, local, affordable food, and build stronger, more inclusive communities. Most of these grocery stores got their start during times of social and economic change, enabling people to access healthy food, support local producers, and provide good jobs. A new wave of startups has been growing, representing renewed interest in food security, and racial and economic justice.
Food co-ops are not alone in their contribution to more inclusive and resilient communities and empowered workers. From farmer co-ops to worker co-ops, credit unions to mutual insurance, and housing co-ops to energy co-ops, co-operative businesses thrive across the U.S. economy, where one in three people are co-op members. Around the world, around 1 billion people are members of about 3 million co-operatives, and 10% of the world’s population—or around 280 million people—are employed by co-ops. And because they are member-owned, co-operatives are rooted in their communities and governed by the people who use them to meet their needs.
Here in Vallejo and Benicia, we see clearly how our food co-op, CCFC, will fill a huge need in our community by providing healthy, fresh food choices, good local jobs, and by keeping the store profits here in our towns instead of going to a big corporate office somewhere else. We can work together to make our community stronger, more inclusive, and resilient.
“I’ll get by with a little help from my friends,” so the song goes. These words have taken on a greater and deeper significance since the pandemic. So many people had to rely on family, friends, and community as never before. In times of crisis, we all need a strong safety net, which is where a local, community-owned co-op can help.
Imagine a store owned by you, your family, your friends, and your neighbors. This is what the co-op model looks like. Not only are you one of the owners, you also get the opportunity to participate in the democratic process by electing a Board of Directors, and having input on the store itself. We will serve the community since we are owned by the community.
We are having more events for people who want to learn more about the co-op model and how this can work in south Solano County. You are invited to attend and explore the enormous, positive impact co-ops make on their communities.
Please forward our newsletter and website on to your family, friends, and neighbors whom you think would be interested. If you are on social media, please “like” and share our posts. This goes a long way to helping expand our reach. You can invite a Board member to speak at your next neighborhood gathering or organization meeting—we have a professional presentation all set.
Let’s all join in together and make Cultivate Community Food Co-op a reality soon!
As a country, we value independence as a right and as a desirable trait in people. Yet recently—especially as we navigate through the global COVID pandemic—we’ve seen time and time again how interdependent we all are. Did we ever imagine not being able to buy toilet paper or baby formula? Or how vital our sense of connection with each other is to our mental well-being? Or how our actions could so deeply affect others?
Interdependence recognizes that we are mutually dependent on others in many areas. We need each other and social interaction to thrive. We also need to be able to contribute to others for this system to be viable. This is not to be confused with codependence, which is an unhealthy need for others. One way to look at is that the dependent mindset looks to others to solve their issues, the independent mindset seeks to solve all their issues on their own, whereas the interdependent mindset asks, “How can we solve this issue?”
This really came out strongly during the pandemic. None of us had experienced anything like this before, and it impacted everyone differently. However, it feels like most of us rose to the occasion as best we could and those who were able reached out to help those most negatively affected, especially when it came to food insecurity. We saw food banks serving record numbers, neighborhood free food stands, delivery of food and necessities to the elderly and the impoverished—all kinds of assistance sprung up seemingly overnight to help those who were finding themselves in dire straits. While many of these issues are still affecting our residents, the outpouring of support from family, neighbors, and complete strangers was uplifting and showed what we can do when we work together to find solutions.
The cooperative model is another example of interdependence. CCFC is independent of the large, corporate grocery stores and we are interdependent with other co-ops who are helping us build the strong foundation for a viable business for years to come. Through the interdependence of our owners, we are creating Solano County’s first food co-op. Each time an owner buys a share, you are contributing to the entire community by sharing in this vision. When you volunteer to help promote CCFC—whether you are tabling at the Farmer’s Market, hosting a neighborhood gathering, displaying a lawn sign, or simply telling your family, friends, and neighbors about your co-op—you are helping to spread the word and get us that much closer to the day we open our doors to everyone.
In other words, we need each and every one of you (us!) to build our store so that our store can in turn support and uplift our community. We can all thrive together!
You probably know that Vallejo is ranked as one of the nation’s most diverse cities. And maybe you saw the wonderful First Annual Diversity Festival held in Benicia this past April. We have an astonishing selection of events in which to participate. As the Vallejo-Benicia community’s food co-op, we serve everyone! We would love to be all places at once and be a part of every celebration around town. How can we do this together?
Just in this month of June, we have Pride Month, Juneteenth, Pista Sa Nayon, the County Fair—and wouldn’t it be great to have a CCFC table at these events, as well as the Vallejo and Benicia farmers’ markets? It’s a powerful way to spread the word about our Co-op, meet and engage with our neighbors, and connect with every part of our diverse region.
Here is where you come in! We are growing our team of event volunteers. We’re looking for more Owners to join our team of Community Cultivators so we can expand our reach into the variety of neighborhoods, circles, and groups that make up our incredible region. We will provide complete training, and you can choose the events you’d like to volunteer at. By joining our Community Cultivators, you’ll be helping to bring our Co-op vision even closer to reality!
Please contact us at info@cultivatecommunityfood.coop with Community Cultivators in the subject line. We’ll get right back to you!
Links:
Pride Picnic: https://artvallejo.org/events/pride-picnic-for-solano-county/
Juneteenth: https://vallejojuneteenth.com/
Pista Sa Nayon Vallejo: https://www.facebook.com/VallejoPistaSaNayon/
All kinds of holidays in June: https://www.womansday.com/life/a38347394/june-holidays-and-observances/
Did you know that your CCFC Board Members get the opportunity to go to some tremendous (and fun!) educational events, all centered on the cooperative business model? Last month, Board Members, Paula Schnese and Christy Birkhead attended the California Center for Cooperative Development’s (CCCD) Ca Cooperative Conference in Sacramento. Ed Whitfield, the keynote speaker, shared his wisdom in promoting social change with cooperatives. JQ Hannah, assistant director of the Food Co-op Initiative, walked us through strategy to workplan and how to map out responses in tough situations. This month, these same board members are traveling to Madison, Wisconsin, to participate in the annual Up & Coming Food Co-op Conference. As we mentioned in the Board Update, this is the only national conference specifically for startup food co-ops. How does this help CCFC open our doors?
U&C is an inspiring and informative event, with presentations from co-op professionals, participatory workshops, and case studies from other co-ops in the various stages of development. Your Board members learn from long-time experts in cooperative development as well as from other food co-ops in different stages of development. Then, they bring all that energy back to CCFC with lots of new ideas for making our co-op dream a reality.
In addition to U&C, your Board works with Columinate, a national co-operative of consultants who work with other co-ops to help their businesses succeed. CCFC Board members gain knowledge about cooperative governance, principles, and legal responsibilities through their workshops.
Finally, your Board has monthly peer Zoom calls with the Food Co-op Initiative (FCI) and other co-ops at our same stage of development. This organization sees co-ops through all stages of growth and offers incomparable education and support.
All these organizations exemplify Co-op Principles #5 and 6: Education and Co-operation among Co-operatives. Does this sound enticing to you? Then, perhaps you might want to consider joining our Board!
March is National Nutrition Month, an annual campaign by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. This year’s theme is “Celebrate a World of Flavors”, and they encourage finding nutritious, healthy versions of traditional and cultural foods. The Academy’s goal is to increase awareness of healthy food and lifestyle choices. But how can you make a choice when there are very few or no healthy options available? This is a major issue that we face here in our corner of Solano County.
The USDA has identified many parts of our county as food deserts, and Vallejo—particularly South Vallejo—was one of them. Even in the parts of Vallejo and Benicia with full-service grocery stores, the ability to find affordable, fresh produce, meat- and dairy-free options, and anything organic is practically non-existent. Anyone with further dietary restrictions is hard-pressed to find foods suitable for them without driving up to Napa or across a bridge, which means those without transportation must do without.
However, look for a convenience store or fast-food establishment, and it seems there’s one on every corner. Due to the lack of accessible grocers, people often end up buying a good amount of their food at these places. Additionally, the poor nutrition in these foods can create and exacerbate dire health conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease.
Add to this already bad situation the impact of COVID-19. A recent study shows that 13.3% of Solano County children live in food insecure households. Many residents are still relying on the food bank, meal distribution centers, and food donations.
This creates a type of food apartheid, where those with means and a car can still get the food they want—albeit by driving several miles—and those without a vehicle must make do with whatever food is available within walking distance, regardless of whether it meets their dietary needs or not. Typically, those who must shop at corner stores pay anywhere from 3 to 37% more than supermarket prices.
It’s a dire picture. Yet there are many people and organizations working on solutions. For example, Heather Pierini set up a small farm stand in front of her home, sharing the bounty of her garden with her neighbors. It was so popular, she set up stands throughout Benicia and Vallejo, where people could take what they needed, no questions asked. Her act of kindness grew into Food Is Free Solano, and still helps the food insecure in our area.
The Food Empowerment Project educates and advocates a vegan lifestyle and helps people on this path. Among other information on their website, they offer vegan versions of cultural and traditional foods. The Vallejo Project works with the community garden on Mare Island. And one of our owners, Chef Amen, is cooking and teaching people the benefits of a healthy diet and lifestyle.
We are thankful for these shining lights in our area. There’s only one thing missing—a beautiful, community-owned, full-service grocery store, full of healthy, nutritious foods and accessible to all. The time is now for Cultivate Community Food Co-op! Join us and let’s put doors on the store!
Sources:
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: eatright.org/food/resources/national-nutrition-month
The health and well-being of children: kidsdata.org/
Our national annual celebration of Black history began in 1926, and is currently celebrated in the US, Canada, and Germany. It takes place in February to honor the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. The event was founded by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH).
Each year has a theme, and this year’s is Black Health and Wellness. This means honoring not only Black health care professionals, but all aspects of health. From the time of their forced arrival, the Black community faced exclusion from hospitals, medical clinics, and medical schools across the United States. Not only that, there were horrific instances of medical experimentation. This led to African Americans establishing their own health care centers and schools, just as they supported each other with mutual aid agencies and food cooperatives.
From a food perspective, there is much that access to healthy, fresh food can do to improve overall health. We all have the freedom to choose what we want to eat, but when it’s not available to us, what can we do? A study published in the American Journal of Public Health several years ago showed the following:
A pattern of findings demonstrates significantly fewer advertisements for healthier food and beverage products (e.g., fruits, vegetables, and dairy products) in magazines and television shows that target African Americans specifically compared with those that target more general audiences. In addition, a significantly greater number of advertisements for unhealthy products (e.g., sodas, candy, and alcoholic beverages) appear in magazines and television shows that target African Americans. (Pratt CA, Pratt CB. Comparative content analysis of food and nutrition advertisements in Ebony, Essence, and Ladies’ Home Journal. J Nutr Educ. 1995;27:11–17.)
According to the study, not only is healthy food hard to find in food deserts such as ours, communities of color are being specifically targeted with advertisements promoting unhealthy food. It is appalling.
All the more reason to open a community-owned food co-op to serve the residents of Solano County and beyond. CCFC has a vision of fresh, healthy food available to all, a classroom kitchen to teach cooking and nutrition, and engagement with our youth to promote life-long good eating habits. If you’re not already, please consider becoming a Founding Owner today!
Cultivate Community Food Co-op and “The Dream” Most of us are familiar with his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, but how many know of Dr. King’s work to effect economic change and that cooperatives were aligned with his vision?
After seeing the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965, Dr. King began to focus on economic change. He wanted to solve the issue of poverty for everyone. In fact, he supported the cooperative model, where people could actively change their socio-economic environment by coming together to own businesses as a community. This creates jobs and the profits stay in the local area.
Following the Civil War, as the Black community continued to gain more and more of the rights that were due to all citizens, there was still the specter of racism, violence, and economic inequity. As a result, African Americans continued to use the cooperative business model they had used for years in order to serve and uplift their communities from within so they could be self-reliant and free from an economic system that continued to shut them out.
Because co-ops are locally owned, we are focused on our local community. Our advocacy is not for some far-off big corporation or CEO, but for our families, friends, and neighbors right here in Vallejo and Benicia. Our profits will be distributed amongst our owners or reinvested in our store, depending on how our owners vote. We will bring good-paying jobs to the community. The products we sell—from produce to pasta—will be sourced with a focus on local producers.
Our goal in launching CCFC is much greater than opening a grocery store—it’s creating a space to connect and uplift everyone in our entire community. If you haven’t already, come join us now and be a part of this exciting, positive addition to our region!
Very brief highlights about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr:
Most often known for his work for civil rights, voting rights, and non-violent action.
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, the youngest recipient at the time.
Began speaking out about economic injustice in 1965 and continued to do so until his tragic assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.
Envisioned a “Poor People’s Campaign”, a multiracial coalition of the impoverished.
Photo credit: https://www.foodcoop.coop/; Wedge Community Food Co-op, Minneapolis.
Karkin, Patwin, Miwok, Wintun, Yocha Dehe, Cortina…do you recognize these names? These are some of the people who lived and still live on the lands we now know as Vallejo and Benicia. In fact, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, along with the Kletsel Dehe and Cachil Dehe, have a historic government-to-government agreement and California’s first ever “cultural easement” to protect burial sites at the 15-acre park on the Glen Cove waterfront in Vallejo, part of their traditional ceremonial lands.
However, with the continued decline in diversity of agriculture and traditional Native foods comes a decline in the nutritional quality of our Native community’s diets. Not only that, many of these food traditions are being lost. Sadly, this brings with it many diseases which are becoming far too common, such as obesity and diabetes. Not only that, many of these food and cultural traditions are being lost.
Fortunately, there is a growing awareness of the importance of biodiversity and preserving traditional food sources. Professional Native American chefs are leading the way. Chef Sean Sherman—also known as the Sioux Chef—has written a cookbook and has cooking videos on YouTube. He founded the Indigenous Food Lab educational kitchen to train tribal communities on re-integrating traditional foods into their diets.
At CCFC, we envision having our own educational kitchen with culinary teachers from throughout our incredibly diverse population. This intention is rooted in our co-operative principles, specifically Principle 5 (Education, Training, and Information) and Principle 7 (Concern for the Community). In this setting, our varied, individual communities can learn more about their own traditional foods, and we as a whole can learn more about each other through sharing this knowledge and delicious food. What a delicious way to Cultivate Community!
The wheel of the year continues to turn, and once again we find ourselves at harvest time. Pumpkins are everywhere. But why do we carve them, and where did the name “Jack-O-Lantern” come from?
In 17th century England, the term referred to a man with a lantern; if you didn’t know a man’s name, you might simply call him “Jack.” So, “Jack with the lantern” got condensed into “Jack-O-Lantern.” In turn, this name was given to a natural phenomenon, a flame-like phosphorescence that occurs when plants in marshy areas decay. The glow reminded people of a man with a lantern.
This still doesn’t explain why the name got applied to carved pumpkins. Besides, the original practice in Ireland was to carve creepy faces into hollowed-out turnips and light them with coals to frighten off evil spirits. When immigrants brought this custom to the US, they likely found pumpkins more plentiful, so began using them instead of turnips.
According to Merriam-Webster, there is a theory that the illuminated pumpkins were often set out by young people to scare others. The name for the swampy, glowing phenomenon was probably known in the US, so these ghoulish gourds became known as “Jack-O-Lanterns.”
Whatever you’d like to call them, carved pumpkins are a ubiquitous sign of the season. In order to use your pumpkin for puree, be sure to use a battery-operated votive light instead of an actual candle. It’s much safer and will keep the inside of your pumpkin from getting charred.
Be sure to check out our recipe corner for lots of things to make with your pumpkin!
After our national celebration of workers this weekend, it’s a good time to think about which local organizations in our community are looking for some extra helping hands. Why should we volunteer? It’s not only for the good feeling of helping others.
Without volunteers, many programs that serve the community could not exist. In fact, start-up co-operatives like ours are volunteer-run in the beginning, and have a strong need for volunteers to help us grow our ownership so we can ultimately put “doors on the store”. We like the quote: “You don’t have to steer the ship, just help us paddle!”
There are so many benefits to volunteering. Here are just a few:
Builds Communityand Ends Loneliness and social isolation, which improves mental and physical health, brain function and lowers risk for depression and anxiety. You also improve your immune system.
Builds Bonds and Creates Friends, closer relationships, and better connections with people when you work together.
Reduces stress and improves well-being and self-esteem by giving you an increased sense of purpose.
Promotes Longevity and keeps us young
Provides Better Job Prospects as employers overwhelmingly look favorably on job applicants who have volunteered, and volunteering can often lead to a job, for those who are looking.
Adds Fun to Your Life and can create change on a global scale. It is incredible to think that one person’s efforts can change the life of someone else somewhere in the world. However, the best part, and often overlooked is that volunteering is just plain fun.
Now that you know all the benefits, perhaps you’re considering volunteering and are not sure where to go. Well, we have you covered! Join Community Cultivators, our team of Owner volunteers. Not only do we have our own volunteer opportunities with the co-op at events like the Farmers’ Markets and our upcoming Owners meeting, we also partner with various organizations within our community. This is directly in line with co-op Principle 7: Care for the Community. Please contact Marina at marina@cultivatecommunityfood.coop for more information and to sign up to be a Community Cultivator!
Source: adapted from https://www.thebalancesmb.com/unexpected-benefits-of-volunteering-4132453
You’ve heard the phrase, “the dog days of summer,” but what exactly does that mean? And how on earth does this have anything to do with Co-op Principle #7 (P7)?
The Dog Days of Summer are the 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11. They are considered the days of the worst summer heat and humidity, although we can have plenty of hot days into September and even October. We need to be especially aware of our own and our neighbors’ needs, to make sure everyone in our community is safely getting through this heat.
But why are they called the dog days? They coincide with the time of year when Sirius, the Dog Star, rises before the Sun. As the brightest star in the sky besides our Sun, it is easy to find. In fact, in ancient Rome, people believed that the luminescence of Sirius added to the Sun’s power to make the summer heat so uncomfortable (it doesn’t). This celestial activity also coincided with the ancient flooding of the Nile river, on which the ancient Egyptians relied to replenish their parched farmland.
This brings us to Co-operative Principle #7 (P7): Concern for Community. This means that as a co-operative, we work for the sustainable development of our co-op and our community through policies approved by our owners. For example, we don’t operate as a non-profit, so we can return our profits to our owners in the form of a distribution or reinvest them in our store, depending on what our owners vote to do.
We also have a commitment to working in the best interest of our local community, which is what directs our outreach efforts. This is why we created Community Cultivators, our owner volunteer team. Whether it’s tabling at our local Farmers’ Markets, participating in community events, or helping other organizations package food donations for families in need, we are there to support our community even before we have a brick-and-mortar store.
So while we all await the end of the dog days of summer, we can care for our community and look out for one another!
July 4th is our annual celebration of the birth of the USA and our independence from England. The Declaration of Independence sets forth the founding principles of our democracy, just as the seven co-operative principles form the foundation for our co-op. So how do the 4th of July and Principle #4 align?
As you may already know, co-ops operate following the seven cooperative principles:
Voluntary and Open Membership
Democratic Member Control
Member Economic Participation
Autonomy and Independence
Education, Training and Information
Cooperation among Cooperatives
Concern for Community
Principle #4 stresses that co-ops are autonomous, self-help organizations controlled and governed by their owners. By retaining owner control, we are not beholden to any government, ideology, or other potential influences. We maintain our independent, democratic governance (principle #2) and work to serve the needs of our owners.
How do we maintain our independence and autonomy? Our policy is, one owner, one vote. This prevents anyone from taking undue advantage. When our store opens, we will work with several local suppliers rather than becoming overly dependent on just a few large suppliers. Our Board maintains ongoing participation in development and educational offerings (principle #5).
We also don’t raise capital through IPOs (initial public offerings) or venture capital investments. Those type of funds come from people who may not ever patronize the co-op and are just looking for a high return on their dollar. Worse, they may want to influence the direction of the co-op and insist on having a seat on the Board of Directors. In order to maintain our independence, we raise our funds through owner shares, owner loans, and capital campaigns, which keeps full control with our owners. In addition, we will pursue loan funds and grants which are available specifically for cooperatives.
So as you continue to celebrate during the month of July, you can also celebrate being part of the independent and autonomous Cultivate Community Food Co-op!
As shocking as it may be to those unfamiliar with this part of history, not all slaves were freed as a result of the Emancipation Proclamation. While most enslaved African Americans finally had their freedom when the Proclamation took effect on January 2, 1863, others were forced to wait even longer. The state of Texas was still under Confederate control. It wasn’t until two and a half years later—on June 19, 1865—when Union troops arrived in Texas to take control of the state. The military announced that the enslaved people there were free. The day was memorialized as Juneteenth and is our nation’s second Independence Day.
The next year, the freed people of Texas had the first of what would become an annual celebration and commemoration of Juneteenth. As Blacks moved to other states, the tradition spread across the country. Texas made Juneteenth an official holiday in 1979. Although Congress has still not made Juneteenth a national holiday, 47 out of 50 states recognize it as a state holiday.
Today, there is a significant trend to making Juneteenth a company holiday. It continues to grow in popularity, and celebrations sometimes take place all month long. People from across the country and all walks of life are joining in to acknowledge that time in history, which continues to profoundly impact the African American community today.
The second Sunday in May is a celebration of mothers in the US. It’s one of the busiest days for phone calls and florists. Its origins may surprise you. With the goal of teaching local women proper child care, Ann Reeves Jarvis of West Virginia helped form Mothers’ Day Work Clubs before the Civil War. During and after the war, these clubs unified a divided region. Jarvis went on to set up “Mothers’ Friendship Day” in 1868, where mothers gathered to promote reconciliation with former soldiers from both sides of the war.
Jarvis was not alone in focusing on mothers. Julia Ward Howe, suffragette and abolitionist, wrote the “Appeal to womanhood throughout the world,” now called the Mothers’ Day Proclamation. This was in reaction to the horrors of the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. In 1873, she called for June 2 to be an annual “Mother’s Peace Day,” but was unsuccessful.
The official holiday came about through the efforts of Anna Reeves Jarvis’ daughter, Anna. She wanted a day set aside to honor the sacrifices mothers make for their children. The first official day was in 1908, backed by a department store. After many years of lobbying, the second Sunday in May became the official date in 1914 with President Woodrow Wilson’s signature.
As the celebration grew more and more commercial, Anna Jarvis began to fight against it. This was not what she envisioned—she saw it as a day for families to have personal celebrations together, not the huge event it is today. She even tried to get it removed from the calendar!
What does this story have to do with co-operatives? As a community-owned, democratically-run entity, we all have a say in what our co-op will be like. Maybe we are more like the “Mothers’ Day Work Clubs,” working to give our community a healthy place to shop, meet, and learn. We will be profitable, of course—we must be to survive and flourish, yet not in a way that compromises our commitment to our co-operative values and our community.
The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970. It was organized by a bipartisan group of Congresspeople and activists working together. By the end of 1970, Congress had passed the EPA, the Clean Air Act, and several other environmentally minded bills.
The environmental movement had its first big wake-up call with the publication of Rachel Carson’s best-selling book Silent Spring, in 1962. Carson made clear the link between our own health and the health of the planet. With this growing awareness, more and more people became concerned about the environment. After the devastating oil spills in Santa Barbara in 1969, Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin felt it was time to act. He gathered a group of bipartisan politicians and student activists to organize the first Earth Day, including Republican Pete McCloskey and activist Denis Hayes. The event energized 20 million Americans to attend rallies across the country and helped unite the numerous environmental organizations around a single day. It was the catalyst that activated Congress to pass numerous environmental bills.
Twenty years later, in 1990, Earth Day was celebrated globally, and led to the UN creating an Environmental Summit in 1992. In 2000, the focus was on global warming and advancing clean energy. Today, over fifty years after it was founded, Earth Day is now the largest non-religious celebration across the planet. It continues to be a day where we can unite to work on innovative solutions to the environmental challenges we face.
Visit Vallejo has organized The Big Clean on April 24—help make Vallejo so clean. They are giving away 100 tickets to Six Flags! http://visitvallejo.com/thebigclean
The topic of bringing a Trader Joe’s to Benicia has once again popped up on social media. In some ways, it is encouraging to see so many people who live here voice support for new grocery options in our area. But it is disheartening because there is already a growing grassroots effort under way to bring a food cooperative to town. It’s a more sustainable and equitable option. One that I am convinced if more people knew about, they would abandon their calls for another chain.
When I’m out talking to residents of Solano County they tell me, “I wish you would bring the food co-op to our town.” My response is simple, “Every town should have a food cooperative. But it’s a matter of having people in your town with a vision to get it started.”
I’d like to clarify a few things and share a few ideas because there seems to be some misinformation in these social media threads.
You do not need to be an owner to shop at the store. We need owners and non-owners to shop at our store. The owners will simply get more discounts, discounts that eventually pay for the ownership. So that’s a no-brainer. In addition, the owners have a say in to what goes on in the store. Owner shares are $300 with a $5 service fee per household. Payment plans available.
Big government and big business do not care about our little town. WE care about our little town! Time and time again, history has shown that when people unite and work hard for a purpose, things change!
Food cooperatives have grown up! No longer are they the hippie, granola, food buying clubs of the seventies. Today, food cooperatives are well-oiled machines that drive the cultural and economic centers of communities. They come in all shapes and sizes and are unique to the needs of each community. They have personality!
Given the choice, why on Earth would anybody choose to have a cookie cutter store that looks exactly like the store just down the highway which lines the pockets of a German billionaire than to get behind the idea (and a grassroots effort that is actually happening now! In our town!) of having a beautiful, unique, thriving, community owned store that puts millions of dollars back into our community. It’s because people don’t yet know the potential of a food cooperative. These people would rather stick with a broken system that is familiar to them, (broken because it’s intended to keep the rich getting richer and the rest of us working harder and harder), than to have the tenacity to created a new system!
Just ask Kim and Luke of Fairyella Pure Pops (formerly Ice Pops), our town jewel. For the past seven years, while we were out playing every weekend, they were tabling at farmers markets. When they finally made it into the Whole Food Market, they thought they had made it, but NO! They have been put through the ringer by Whole Foods Market. WFM bullied Fairyella into sales and promotions for their profit (FPP took the hit for these discounts) and didn’t honor the terms of their contract agreements, (keep the product stocked regularly) causing slow sales and lost opportunities to scale up and go national. Mind you, FPP loves food co-ops! They sell to food co-ops all over the Bay Area and have a more equitable relationship with them. They will sell their pops in our store! As a result, FPP plans to quit shipping to retail and restructure as a non-profit in hopes to deliver to hospitals, schools and continuer their relationships with local food co-ops, at a better price for all.
One of our core values is community. “CCFC is rooted in our community, owned by our community and we reinvest in our community” and that is why having a commercial kitchen in our store is so important to us. This commercial kitchen would be used for several things: education for school aged kids, cooking classes, and renting to food producers at a very reasonable price so they can actually make a profit on their product.
When our local food vendors order raw materials to make their products, we could join forces where we can order in volume so they can get a discount. These are just a couple of ways that cooperatives work together to: a. Help their suppliers create a successful business where they can live a higher quality of life and enjoy their families instead of being stressed to the max by big grocery and b. Bring the cost of food down while still making a profit. See, in a food cooperative nobody has to be exploited to bring the cost of food down. Instead, we work together to find solutions so that everybody benefits.
We know there are doubters in our community. Just know that we are not doing this alone, we are not reinventing the wheel. There is a proven model that has been used in communities all around the country. it will only be a matter of time until we get to the tipping point and then to our goal of 1200 founding owners.
Other towns have successfully brought on co-ops that are thriving and provide a framework for a business model that can and will work for Solano County.
We really are creating history here and there will come a day when people will use the phrase “before the co-op and after the co-op” when talking about the history of our town. The question I have for all of you is “What side of history do you want to be on?”
As an incentive to attract new founding owners to CCFC, Fairyella Pure Pops has gifted our latest Owners from February with a free case of Watermelon Pure Pops (18 pops ea.). Eighteen households will be receiving this special Thank You gift. Now that is the kind of cooperative spirit I’m talking about. More of this please! Thank you so much Kim and Luke!!
In honor of Black History Month, we take this opportunity to highlight the deep roots and vital importance of Black collective economics in the development of the modern co-op. This history has been brought to light by Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard in her book, Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice.
In her book, Dr. Nembhard writes about W.E.B.Du Bois and his 1907 scholarly study of African American cooperatives, which emphasized forming a group economy to protect Blacks from the ongoing onslaughts of marginalization, segregation, racism, and outright sabotage. His Negro Cooperative Guild (1918) advanced his philosophy of using economic cooperation—not just for goods, but for land, services, and anything necessary—to benefit the entire community. The following year, a co-op began operating meat markets in Memphis and were very successful, selling double the number of original shares offered. They grew to five stores and served about 75,000 people.
From the arrival of the first slaves, both free and enslaved Blacks relied on cooperation for survival and formed mutual aid societies to help each other with burials, health issues, and buying freedom for each other whenever possible. A famous example of a cooperative entity was the Underground Railroad. Ingeniously, during the Civil War, African American women found opportunity in South Carolina, growing cotton on abandoned farms; their organization remained independent and grew to include several hundred women.
After the Civil War, Black farmers formed their own co-operative when they were refused entry into the white organization and had over a million members by 1891. They were politically active and created numerous other co-ops. As these began to take business away from white establishments, they were often met with retaliation which ranged from slander to violent attacks and death.
Following Du Bois’ philosophy, numerous Black-owned co-ops were established throughout the US from 1920–1940, in cities and rural areas, in the North and South, in all kinds of industries. They covered a wide range of community and consumer needs: gas stations, grocers, schools, credit unions, insurance, and housing. Another important period of African American cooperative growth was during the 1960s and 70s, with support from the Federation of Southern Cooperatives and the Black Panther Party. As Dr. Nembhard writes, nearly all African American leaders, whether radical or conservative, have promoted cooperative economics as a way for Black communities to survive discrimination and racism, and to thrive.
The African American cooperative economic movement helped keep money and profits invested within the Black community, thereby creating prosperity for everyone. However, it was often a dangerous and courageous undertaking, which may be why this history is not widely known.
For further reading: Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice, by Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard.
If readers would like to order the book, Collective Courage, they can do so online using the links below and our local bookshops will get credit!
New food co-ops are showing up in communities all around the country. Once mostly popular in college towns and urban areas, they are now opening their doors in marginalized areas and rural communities as well.
Exciting news from our friends and fellow food co-ops in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Virginia—they are all planning to open early next year! Even in the midst of the pandemic, their membership and capital campaigns grew along with their new buildings. Soon, they will be serving their member/owners and their communities with fresh, healthy food in their brand-new stores. Read on to see how these co-ops are transforming each community from food desert to food oasis…
Oshkosh Food Co-op: Located in downtown Oshkosh, Wisconsin, OFC has over 1400 owners and will be opening their doors in the summer of 2021. They will be Northeastern Wisconsin’s first food co-op and have been incorporated since 2013. They plan to focus on locally grown, organic produce. The store will be part of a development that includes 53 apartments above the store, and is easily accessible by car, bike, and public transportation.
Gem City Market: West Dayton, Ohio will soon be home to a brand new 8,000 square foot co-op with over 3,000 members. Gem City Market plans to open in early 2021 to bring healthy food to their neighborhood. Not only are they bringing food options, they are also providing needed jobs to the community. Residents are excited, as this area has been long overlooked by city planners. What started with inspiration from another co-op in Cincinnati led to community meetings in 2015, incorporation, membership and capital funding drives, and soon their doors will be open.
Fredericksburg Food Cooperative: Slated to open in early 2021, FXBG Co-op has over 1600 owner-members. The store will feature local produce to help support local growers and keep a focus on environmental sustainability in all aspects of their operation. It will be a full-service grocery store, as well as a community gathering place. It’s located less than a mile from a university, so students will certainly benefit from the new store. Owner-members will be participating in annual surveys to make sure the store meets everyone’s needs.
Please click on the links below for more information about these three food co-ops. Gem City has a newscast video and Fredericksburg shares a brief background of what a food co-op is. Seeing is believing. Please help us reach our goal of 1200 Owners soon so that we, too, can open our doors.
