Board Blog

The sunlight today was not to be missed. While on the way back from walking my daughter to school, I was dazzled by it. The street where we have walked to and from school for years now is a quintessential Urbana street, lined with tall trees that provided dappled glimpses of the sun. As I walked I closed my eyes and tried to soak up the warmth that bled through treetops in patches. It was the first cold morning of the year. Sweaters and mittens were dug out of their summer hibernation, and I clung to the sunny spots on the street a little longer than I did last week, when the summer seemed endless and my head was filled with things to do.

I am a creature of habit and ritual. Luckily my life is filled with forces that swirl me around and force me to re-examine my assumptions, people and events that challenge my patterned ways of thinking. Knowing what is good in life, appreciating and nurturing it, this keeps one centered and well, but without something to bump us out of our ruts, we can't grow, and we can't appreciate where we are. Until this first cold morning, I had forgotten how good the sun feels.

These same things hold true for organizations. The co-op is getting ready, after decades in a warm fuzzy nest, to take flight. We're going to be raising a lot of money, and we're going to be moving. There are going to be hundreds of decisions to be made. There are going to be compromises. There will be expectations, both fulfilled and missed. It know in my heart that the co-op will make it through splendidly; we have the will, the energy, and the vision for it. I also know that some people will be dissatisfied with how things turn out, or will resist moving and the changes this will entail. As someone who is supposed to help represent hundreds of members through this process, I have to let go of the ideal of pleasing everyone, and let go of the fear of failure.

The co-op has always been about concentrating on the good. We don't complain about chemical-laced food; we seek out the alternative and make it available. We don't lament the loss of the family farm; we find the ones that are left and give them a place to sell their goods. We don't wring our hands over a fading democracy; we create democracy by changing the way we buy and sell food. And so it is with this relocation.

As a board member, I started working from the assumption that the co-op has a bright future and that its members are full of good ideas about how to create that future. Then I opened my ears and started listening for those ideas. They come via email, through comments on the blog (even this one!), by phone, or in person in the store or at meetings. The round-table discussions that Jacqueline will be having starting this Saturday are a great place to listen and give feedback, as is the General Membership Meeting on the 30th.

Above all, we have to believe. The network of trust that exists in our co-op, from membership, through workers, staff, management, the board, and back again is an amazing thing. That trust helps dissolve the fear that is inherent in change, because no one of us is in this alone, and we can depend upon each other. I hope to see you all at the meeting on the 30th to begin this process.

Enjoy the sunlight!
-Clint Popetz
CGFC Board Chair

There are so many ways to be involved at Common Ground, be it shopping in the store, reading the weekly Bytes, helping out at the Urbana farmer’s market, attending a roundtable discussion, responding to a blog entry, or bringing in reusable plastic bags. Here’s a new one: have you ever thought about running for the board of directors at your co-op? I joined the board this past May, and when I was thinking of running, I was reminded of a children’s chanting game from when I was little: Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar? KATRINA stole the cookies from the cookie jar. Who, me? Yes, you! Couldn’t be! Then who? Change the wording just slightly, and you get the refrain that was running through my head: Who wants to run for CGFC board? KATRINA wants to run for CGFC board! Who, me? Yes, you! Couldn’t be! Then who? Good question. Who would run for the board? Could it be me? Why me? I wanted to join the board because I wanted to be more involved with my co-op. I experienced positive changes happening every week, and I wanted to know more about them, to be a bigger part of them. I felt a kind of responsibility to Common Ground; after all, I do own a little piece of it. On the other hand, I worried about time commitment and lack of expertise. While I liked to shop local and organic, I had never tried to direct local and organic. Like any leadership role, however, being on the board involves both sharing what you know and learning what you don’t. To me, being on the board epitomizes the kind of cooperation that fuels our mission at Common Ground. So back to the question. There is one seat open on the board of directors. Then who? Could it be you? Why you? Here are some more reasons why you might want to join the board: B: Broaden—chances are, you already know something about working collaboratively, engaging in sustainable practices, or what’s new at the co-op. Join the board to learn more about how co-ops are run or to get a leg up on the newest issues in food production. O: Orchestrate—one of the main tasks of the board is to craft policy that directs where the co-op is headed in the long run. Join the board to create ends policies that encompass the diverse interests, concerns, desires, and passions of our membership and guide our co-op. A: Advocacy—as a board member, you can be an advocate on multiple levels. Join the co-op to advocate for us in the community, to promote member needs and wants within the co-op, or to propose your own long-range visions for Common Ground. R: Relationships—the board is the key link between membership and the way the store evolves. Join the co-op to get to know the people who share Common Ground. D: Diversion—to dip into an old cliché, the board is not all work and no play! Join the board to have fun: go bowling, enjoy potluck meetings, and make up acrostics in blog entries. Maybe you really like taking charge. Maybe you love crafting policy. Maybe you rock at member relations. Maybe you dig taking minutes. Really, the reasons that you want to join the board are yours. But the end result—our fabulous co-op—is just that: ours. Pick up a board application in the store today! In cooperation, Katrina A. Bromann

When I started working for the co-op as an Outreach Coordinator back in early 2005, I was a new member as well as a new employee and oh! did I love the place. I had discovered a tiny little natural foods store that was endearingly old-fashioned and thus was a welcome respite from the larger grocery stores in town; it was My Little (Sort Of) Secret. The displays didn’t talk to us members – people did. The signage was handmade and slapdash and funky, winking down at us from the bins and shelves. We communed with the people who made some of the food found in the store and others who supplied the store with produce and other items; we networked while waiting in line; we educated ourselves and each other every minute we were in there. We still do those things, and I believe we always will. Co-op members are always talking proudly about their growing gardens, or their growing kids, or their growing awareness about food and food justice issues, but we can be a reluctant lot when it comes to discussing the physical and philosophical growth of the co-op’s membership and of the store. Perhaps we equate “growth” with “sprawl”. Maybe we think that a bigger location and another cash register will equal selling out somehow. Maybe we’re afraid that everything we hold dear about the co-op will go away and in its place we’ll have the same flat experience that we can get while shopping anywhere else in town. Ain’t gonna happen. Growth is essential for the co-op’s fiscal survival, which then ensures its survival as a storefront – buying clubs are cool, but Common Ground’s physical space is a gathering place that’s open from noon-8 PM every day! Here’s how our co-op will benefit from current and future change/growth:

1. Growth and expansion means being able to welcome more new members, who will bring with them different perspectives, ideas, skills, and areas of expertise – all of which are vital parts of what makes a cooperative work.
2. Increased revenue for the co-op means we can increase our collective buying power, using our dollars to make wiser purchasing choices and giving all of us a voice in supporting local agriculture, production, and processing, organic agriculture, sustainable agriculture, fair trade, fair wages, non-GMO food, cooperative producers, and other initiatives.

The health of the store is mightily dependent on the health of its membership. The co-op board and staff need to remain cognizant of what works for members and what doesn’t. Dialogue between members, staff, and board should be vigorous and wide open in times of flux to ensure transparency and complete understanding. The membership owes it to itself to ask questions and to initiate discussions. Being a member of a co-op has more responsibility attached to it than shopping in a regular retail establishment. Space, size, product selection, governance, paid staff running our store – all these things are important and merit frequent discussion. But they’re not what’s made Common Ground, Common Ground. It’s the people – the membership, the suppliers and farmers, the staff - that have made Common Ground the resource it’s become for so many people over the years in our community. More of us can only be a good thing.

 

Membership means joining and committing with others in an organized way to do something in common. At CGFC we have our mission statement:

"A cooperatively owned grocery store that promotes local and organic production, fosters conscious consumerism, and builds community."

Together we can do things that we could not do without the strength of numbers. The co-op is a store like no other in the area - CGFC reflects certain social and economic values and principles. It exists because people have come together in a coordinated way to cooperate with each other to get their food in a manner that it is consistent with their higher humanitarian sentiments.

I not only value CGFC's emphasis on local, sustainable production, higher quality, but for other reasons as well. CGFC has the potential of impacting social and economic spheres in central Illinois. Social and economic values get exponentialized not only by where my dollar goes, but where it does not go. The money goes more directly to a local producer rather than to one out of state. The middle men are eliminated or greatly diminished and significantly less goes to oil companies (this alone has several layers of impact). Well I think you get the gist. I feel that for every dollar spent purchasing consumer goods that represent the values and principles that attract me to CGFC another dollar is not spent on goods produced and distributed by a broken system based on lower standards (perhaps even unethical and immoral standards).

I think that my money doubles or more in value because my principles and perspectives are being supported. CGFC is my main medium for this kind of exchange. By recognizing these areas of progressive action, I (and all members of CGFC) can be assured that their resources have much greater value than it might seem when making a purchase. My membership in CGFC works two ways. It works for me by providing the best products consistent with these principles at the fairest prices. In turn I work for CGFC by taking ownership. Being a co-op means collective ownership – my membership means I own the store with others.

Since I own the business I want to use that business to my best advantage and make the business as strong as possible. My family goes to the co-op first to buy what we need - from ourselves. We only go somewhere else when what we need is not at the co-op. Sometimes we "special order" what we need from the catalogues in the store. Prices at the co-op are somewhat irrelevant because we want to support the co-op and the cause it represents – an alternative to capitalism. We have confidence that the social and economic impact value of our dollars is consistent with what we value. It might cost a little more, but we consider any additional amount of money spent as if it were a donation to a progressive cause.

 

Another great way my membership matters is that I have a voice. By expressing my concerns, even about seemingly little things, I can make a bigger difference for everyone, in choosing board members and bylaws. General Membership Meetings are great opportunities to get updates on the state of the co-op, staff and board members and other relevant news presented in an enjoyable social context - not to mention lots of good potluck food.

I have shared here why membership matters to me. and why it might matter to you. Each individual will have their own. What I have tried to cover here are some that are important to me and share my perspectives on them. It is not just that membership matters, but that membership potential exists at all in a local retail store and can be exercised to make a difference that matters.

 

In Cooperation,

Richard Antisdel

(alternative title: "But how can the Strawberry Fields Cafe be closing?")

Of all the wonderful advantages our co-op has over other grocery stores, the hardest to help people understand are those of ownership and values. I've held quite a few conversations with people about why the co-op is a wonderful place, and their eyes often glaze over when I talk about being a member-owner, or about our mission. That's frustrating to me, because I consider these points crucial co-op advantages, and I want people to get it.

The closure of the Strawberry Fields cafe has upset a lot of people. It was a place to gather, to see friends, get out of the heat, enjoy a smoothie, and be a part of a community. With so few public spaces left to us in an increasingly private world, even the semblance of a public place (Strawberry Fields is after all a private for-profit business) can serve an important function in a community, and could even be viewed as a community asset.

The thing about community assets is: the community should own them. Think of the things that are "public:" libraries, parks, pools, and streets, for example. You depend on them being there. You expect that any changes to those services would go through a lengthy public process to which you could give input. It's ridiculous to imagine someone owning Crystal Lake Park and suddenly closing it to build apartments, or that you'd only hear about it after the fact by reading the News Gazette.

The strawberry fields cafe belongs to the Strawberry Fields owners, and chances are you're not one of them. Strawberry Fields has one bottom line. They believe they can make more money by putting vitamins where people used to sit, and that's what they're going to do. Strawberry Fields has no public mission to serve the community, no articulated set of values that guide their operations, and no process through which individuals (aside from the owners) can influence the evolution of those values.

This is not an attempt to smear Strawberry Fields. They are one of the few businesses trying to keep downtown Urbana active, and I applaud that. What I'm trying to make clear is that there are different ways businesses can be structured, and the way a business is structured means something.

Our co-op could never (legally!) operate in that fashion. Our democratic nature ensures that decisions are made with input from the member-owners. We're bound by our bylaws to a process that is open, member-driven, and value-based. Every aspect of our organization is transparent, from policies on treatment of staff to the financial records to the selection of products to the election of our board of directors. You don't have to participate in any of this to shop at the co-op. But you can participate, and that makes a big difference, especially when things start to change. (And things are always changing.)

As many of you know, our co-op is on the verge of a major expansion and relocation project. These types of projects are lengthy, expensive, and difficult. In order to succeed, we're going to need investments of time and money from our community. What's the return on that investment? A place that:


In the end, it's all about you. But of course, that means it's all about us. Because we want to support local farmers. Because we want a community that's educated on issues related to the food we eat. Because we want to provide good jobs. Because we want better health for ourselves and our families. Because we want to take care of the earth.

So here's hoping that in light of a sad event for our community, an awareness can grow of why community ownership matters. And here's hoping that in a year or so, there's a shiny new co-op home that you help us create. Because we want places to gather out of the heat and sip cold drinks!

In cooperation,
Clint Popetz
CGFC Board Chair