What do you do when your local supermarket closes? For one town, it means you open your own community-owned store.
When the local Winn Dixie shut its doors in northeast Greensboro, N.C. in the 1990s, the area became a barren food desert. For the past 15 years, residents have been waiting for another grocery story to fill the void, according to Yes! magazine, but none came. The community isn’t big enough to satiate the needs of a large shareholder corporation, which has acted as a deterrent for other chain stores.
Left without access to food for too long, the community took the matter into their own hands and started researching. After exploring various options, it decided to form a grocery store cooperative.
Starting next year, northeast Greensboro residents will have access to a store that will provide them quality food as well as well-paid jobs. All workers at the Renaissance Community Cooperative will be paid more than minimum wage, starting at $10 per hour.
There’s a common belief about co-ops that they work best in more affluent communities. However, northeast Greensboro is a low-income and predominantly African-American community, so with the start of the cooperative, the town is looking to break that stereotype.
While the results and success of the co-op remain to be seen, right now it can be viewed as a positive step in the right direction. And, if it does become successful, it will serve as an example and model for other low-income areas to follow.
It goes just to show what positives can come from what first seem to be a devastating event.
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Tag: Cooperatives
When These Maine Businesses Went Up for Sale, Their Employees Said ‘We’ll Buy’
In Deer Isle, Maine, more than 60 residents just became business owners, thanks to the formation of the Island Employee Cooperative.
More than a year ago, the employees of Burnt Cove Market, V & S Variety and The Galley learned that the couple who had owned the businesses for 43 years was retiring and selling them. Fearful that the change in ownership would result in loss of jobs and other negative changes, the employees took the only sensible option — they bought the businesses.
This is the largest merger of businesses in the history of cooperatives — collectively, it’s now called the Island Employee Cooperative — and it’s the largest co-op in Maine and the second largest in New England.
The process to establish this groundbreaking co-op wasn’t easy and took more than a year due to all of the legal work and the size of the businesses. Fortunately, the worker/owners had some help from Independent Retailers Shared Services Cooperative and the Cooperative Development Institute , which assisted with the organization of management, governance, legal and financial systems.
In addition, Coastal Enterprises and the Cooperative Fund of New England pitched in financially to help get the cooperative off the ground.
The Island Employee Cooperative’s feat was not an easy one, but it’s an important one. Not only did it preserve the jobs of its employee and the businesses vital to the residents of the town, it also serves as an example for other workers and cities. That’s because the events leading to its formation and its business model are easily adoptable and adaptable to other businesses across the country.
While the Island Employee Cooperative has shown that it’s possible, the road to the formation of cooperatives would be far easier if cities would invest in their development. Some cities are beginning to do so, such as New York, which just pledged $1 million to facilitate the start of worker cooperatives. Ohio has also been dappling in co-ops by giving small grants for research and technical assistance.
However, until more cities start participating, it’s up to the employees. Clearly, we should never underestimate the little guy.
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These Organizations Are Empowering Female Workers
There aren’t a ton of bright spots in the working world. After all, there’s the continued problem of unemployment, millennials’ struggle to find jobs and the high poverty rate amongst minimum-wage workers — which is something that women struggle with in particular since they make up two-thirds of minimum-wage employees.
However, some organizations and cities are working to alleviate some of that burden. One of which is Seattle, which just became the city with the highest minimum wage: $15 an hour. Fortunately, this wage increase may be just the first of many, now that the movement 15 Now is spreading through the country.
While this will greatly benefit the women in Seattle, women nationwide still earn only 77 cents for each dollar that a man earns. The poverty rates are also higher for women: 15.4 percent in 2012 compared to 11.9 percent for men and 31 percent for women-run households.
That’s why some women are taking matters into their own hands. Instead of waiting for change in government policies, they’re forming worker cooperatives that offer guarantees of fair pay and non-exploitive working conditions. These co-ops focus on specific female needs by providing an empowering environment that helps women fight feelings of isolation, vulnerability and inferiority.
While these co-ops can be found across the country, here are a few examples of ones making a big difference:
The country’s largest female-owned co-op is Cooperative Home Care Associates (CHCA), which was founded in the Bronx in 1985. The group’s business? Direct personal health care. CHCA offers jobs and benefits for 2,000 people, earning $60 million a year. Additionally, the co-op offers a free training program focusing on workforce development to 600 low-income and unemployed women.
The Women’s Action to Gain Economic Security (WAGES) began in 1995 in Oakland, California. Comprised of low-income immigrants (mainly Latinas) the organization now boasts five eco-friendly housecleaning co-ops. More than 95 women are employed by WAGES, all of which are worker-owners — entitling them to vote in business decisions and receive an equal share of the profits.
Another one is the New York City-based Beyond Care Childcare Cooperative, which started in 2008. Working in partnership with the Center for Family Life in Sunset Park, the co-op is owned by immigrant women and now boasts 30 members. Its services include business development, nanny training and social support and education opportunities.
While change may be slow, these female-owned co-ops are demonstrating that women are not willing to wait any longer for it.
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