For more than 170 years, food co-ops have worked to achieve the ideals of democracy, empowerment and inclusion—ideals we continue to strive toward today. How can co-ops continue to work to ensure our doors are open to all people, "without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination," in keeping with the 7 Cooperative Principles? This starts by identifying who we’re excluding and then taking action to be more welcoming, recognizing that we are better—and more successful and relevant—when we are more inclusive, when we lift one another up, and when we work together to remove barriers to participation. Join us to explore how the Neighboring Food Co-op Association (NCFA) is working with its 35 member food co-ops, startups and partners across New England to address this question through our Food Co-ops & Healthy Food Access work. During this interactive workshop, IMPACT participants will learn how NCFA’s structure as a federation of food co-ops is supporting innovation and learning among member food co-ops about sourcing, healthy food access, economic inclusion and peer collaboration. Participants will learn techniques and tools to evaluate and improve programs to engage and better serve low-income and marginalized community members and expand co-op membership and participation. You’ll leave with the tools necessary to help differentiate your co-ops in the marketplace and use community feedback to improve your co-op’s image and relevance—particularly among people who don’t see themselves reflected at your store. Presenters: Erbin Crowell, Executive Director, Neighboring Food Co-op Association & Bonnie Hudspeth, Member Programs Manager, Neighboring Food Co-op Association

1. BREAKING DOWN WALLS & BUILDING PARTICIPATION
Erbin Crowell, Executive Director
Bonnie Hudspeth, Member Programs Manager
Neighboring Food Co-op Association

2. Participation: This is Our Moment
“The promise of a more inclusive future is within our
grasp.
We know the cooperative model is the best way to
do business, build community and, ultimately, help
people take back control of their economic lives
and futures.
But capturing this moment—perhaps more than
anything else—depends on our participation.”
Doug O’Brien, President & CEO, NCBA CLUSA
Cooperative Business Journal

3. An Approach
to Building Participation
• Participation: Who’s not at the Table?
• Principles: Co-op Identity & History
• Purpose: Mission, Ends, Business Success
• Perceptions: Opportunities & Obstacles
• Partners: Reflection, Perspective
• Peers: Collaboration for Impact
• RePeat: Continuing the Work

4. Questions of
Inclusion & Participation
• Who does not currently see themselves as
able to participate?
• To what degree are co-ops obligated to
consider this question?
• To what degree is our future success
dependent on how we answer this
question?
• How can associations help increase our
impact on inclusion & participation?

5. Principles:
Voluntary and Open Membership
Co-operatives are
voluntary organisations,
open to all persons able
to use their services and
willing to accept the
responsibilities of
membership, without
gender, social, racial,
political or religious
discrimination.
ICA Statement on the Co-operative Identity

6. Principles:
Guidance Notes
Society has changed since the Co-operative
Principles were last re-formulated in 1995. There is a
welcome global trend to celebrate human diversity
and a growing commitment to the right to equality
of treatment for all people.
“Without discrimination” in this Principle imposes a
duty on co-operatives to rise to the challenge of
including all people in membership…
ICA Guidance Notes to the Co-operative Principles, 2016

7. Principles:
Guidance Notes
In order to be open to
all people, co-
operatives may need to
take positive action to
be inclusive.
Co-operative
membership is in need
of constant renewal.
ICA Guidance Notes to the Co-operative
Principles, 2015

8. Principles:
The 6th Principle in Theory…
Co-operatives serve their members
most effectively and strengthen the
co-operative movement by
working together through local,
national, regional, and international
structures.

9. …and in Practice
“Secondary co-operatives, which are
co-operatives whose members are
primary co-operatives [act] as a
place to share knowledge and
resources, and to support co-
operatives independently and
collectively.”
ICA Guidance Notes to the Co-operative Principles (2015)

10. Neighboring
Food Co-op Association (NFCA)
• Incorporated 2011
• Secondary Co-op
• 35+ Co-ops & Start-
Ups
• 144,000 Members
• 2,300 Employees
• $329 Million in
Revenue
• $90 Million in Sales of
Local Products

11. Mission
Collaboration for
Shared Success
• Small, Medium &
Large Food Co-ops
• Old, New, Start-Up
• Natural Foods &
“Hybrid” Stores
• Rural & Urban
• Varying
Demographics

12. Vision
• “…to reorient the
economy from
one primarily
dedicated to
maximizing
individual wealth
to one calculated
to advance the
common good.”
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13. The Great Recession
& Food Insecurity
STATE Population Participating
in SNAP 2010
Growth in Participation
2007-2011
CT 10% 55%
ME 17% 54%
MA 11% 86%
NH 8% 88%
RI 12% 136%
VT 13% 78%
Source: “The Role of Food Stamps in the Recession,” Communities & Banking, Fall 2013, Federal Reserve Bank
of Boston, http://www.bostonfed.org.

14. Do Co-ops Have a Role?
• Do we have a history to
build on?
• What is our co-op
advantage?
• What are the obstacles
and opportunities?
• Who might be our
partners in this work?
• How can we engage
our network to increase
impact & innovation?
Hanover Consumer Co-op, NH & VT

15. Why Are People Food Insecure?
• Unemployment, underemployment & low wages
• Lack of affordable housing
• High energy costs
• Transportation barriers
• Lack of financial flexibility
• High cost of nutritious food
• Limited time
• Consolidation and relocation of grocery stores
• Limited sources of healthy, affordable food

16. Who is Affected?
• One emergency to become food insecure
• Some households more likely to struggle:
– Rural Households
– Households with Children
– Households Headed by Single Parents
(especially Women)
– Women Living Alone
– Black- and Hispanic-headed Households

17. Food Insecurity is More than Price
• Affordability
• Quality
• Accessibility
• Community Infrastructure
• Control
• Flexibility
• What else?

18. What Do Co-ops Offer?
• Community ownership & control
• Focus on meeting needs before profit
• Develop local jobs, leadership skills, wealth
• Aggregate limited resources
• Difficult to move or buy-out
• Separate community wealth from markets
• Mobilize stakeholder loyalty
------------------------------------------------------------------
= Leaders in Food Security

19. The Co-operative Legacy:
Diversity & Inclusion
Detail from mural, Federation of Southern
Cooperatives Training Center, Epes, AL
[There is] a continuous thread of
cooperative activity and
development among African-
Americans over the past two
centuries, because of both
need and strategy...
These co-ops have often been
a tool toward the elimination of
economic exploitation and the
transition to a new economic
and social order.
Jessica Gordon Nemhard (2015)

20. The Co-operative Legacy:
Food Security
“What was the motivation
of the Rochdale Pioneers,
who codified the values
and principles on which
the co-operative
movement has based
since 1844?
We know it today as food
security.”
Dame Pauline Green, Former President,
International Co-operative Alliance

21. Co-operative Solutions
• Mutual Self-Help
• Community Ownership
• Democratic Control
• Purchasing Power as a Tool for
Economic Development

22. Partners & Perspective
• Cooperative Fund of New England
• Hunger Free Vermont
• New England Farmers Union
• Project Bread

23. Food Co-ops
& Healthy Food Access
• Increase access to healthy food
and member-ownership
• Support peer to peer collaboration
among member co-ops
• Raise profile of co-ops as tools for
increasing food security

24. Why Co-ops Should Care
• Food Co-ops Provide
Important Food
Access Points
• Opportunity for
Differentiation, Sales
& Membership
Growth
• Place of Food
Security within Co-op
Mission & Ends
Food for All DisplayBrattleboro Food Co-op, VT

25. Obstacles to Participation
• Perceptions
• Price, Product Mix
• Structures, Systems, Norms, Biases
• Race, Gender, Class, Ethnicity,
Culture, Language, Education…
• Others?

26. Structural Challenges
• Balancing Various Stakeholders / Goals
✔Customers, Employees, Suppliers,
Environment, Business Success
• Economies of Scale
✔Economic Competition against Big Boxes
• Barriers to Entry
✔Limited Capacity of individual co-ops

27. Framework for HFA Programs
1. Collaboration w/
Partner Organizations
2. Educational
Opportunity
3. Product Affordability
4. Accessible Membership
Options
5. Inclusive Marketing
6. Infrastructure
Portland Food Co-op, ME

28. Progress to Date
Resource development:
• Timeline
• Financial planning
• Toolbox
• Peer Collaboration
• New Partners
• Structure Doc
• Sharing our story Community Outreach atGreenStar Co-op Markets, Ithaca, NY

29. Progress to Date
• Peer Dialogues
• A Neighboring
Approach
• Audits
• Student Interns
• 9 new programs
launched in 1 year
Franklin Community Co-op, MA

30. Peers: Gathering Dialogues
• Food Security
• Role of Co-ops in the Civil Rights
Movement & Communities of Color
• Co-ops & the Inclusive Economy
• Peer Exchanges on Effective
Strategies for Diversity & Inclusion

31. Peers:
Neighboring Approach…
• Brattleboro Food Co-op
• Putney Food Co-op
• Monadnock Food Co-op
Putney Food Co-op, VT
Monadnock Food Co-op, NHBrattleboro Food Co-op, VT

32. Peers: Assessing Inclusion & Barriers:
Audits/Partner Feedback
• “Co-op has measures in
place to make member-
ownership more accessible”
• “There are healthy
international foods
representing the different
cultures/ethnic groups in
your community”
• “HFA signage and marketing
materials use accessible
language (6th Grade reading
level) and are translated into
other languages.”
Healthy Food Access AuditFranklin Community Co-op, MA

33. Perception:
Challenges & Responses
Challenges:
• Reaching prospective
members (not just
shoppers)
• Pricing
• Perception re: co-ops
as expensive
• Time/Cost of designing
and implementing
affordability programs
Responses:
• Partnering
• Basics, discounts, bulk,
education re: cooking.
• Education re: variety &
value
• Sharing resources
among co-ops

34. Impact
• Growth in HFA programs
• Growth in Membership
• Perceptions re: Co-op Role
in Food Security
• Seeding National Dialogue
• Deeper Engagement on
Diversity & Inclusion
Putney Food Co-op, VT

35. An Approach
to Building Participation
• Participation: Who’s not at the Table?
• Principles: Co-op Identity & History
• Purpose: Mission, Ends, Business Success
• Perceptions: Opportunities & Obstacles
• Partners: Reflection, Perspective
• Peers: Collaboration for Impact
• RePeat: Continuing the Work

36. Questions, Feedback & Discussion
Erbin Crowell
Erbin@NFCA.coop
www.NFCA.coop
Bonnie Hudspeth
Bonnie@NFCA.coop
www.NFCA.coop