Details for grant proposals when you are greening a vacant lot with a new market :
Author: D.W.
Dolores Huerta To Receive Presidential Medal Of Freedom
She has been in the forefront of many campaigns chiefly of course known as the co-organizer of the farm workers movement with Chavez and I am grateful to President Obama for honoring a true community organizer. Love this quote as a matter of fact:
“To me, it means a recognition of organizing,” says Huerta about what receiving the award means to her. “Organization is important for our country, and the world for that matter, to create a just society.”
Psychology professor’s research relates food to moral identities | WWNO
Maybe it’s me, but I am not sure I follow this guy’s reasoning. Did the participants all have the same level of volunteerism before the study? Is this also true of people who, let’s say, viewed pictures of religious icons? Did they feel more or less altruistic afterwards? Are the findings correlation or cause?
“After viewing a few organic foods, comfort foods or control foods, participants who were exposed to organic foods volunteered significantly less time to help a needy stranger, and they judged moral transgressions significantly harsher than those who viewed non-organic foods. These results suggest that exposure to organic foods may lead people to affirm their moral identities, which reduces their desire to be altruistic.”
Psychology professor's research relates food to moral identities | WWNO.
No one likes to be ignored, ever.
We can use reports like this to know how to set expectations for our own markets and their warm brand of social cohesion. In addition, it’s another way for markets to use to explain their added worth to the community.
Another educational food production platform, if nothing else….
When I worked at marketumbrella.org, one of the many projects that I helped design and run was our White Boot Brigade, the roaming shrimper market for added seasonal seafood sales. Rouse’s Supermarkets was an early supporter of the WBB, and we genuinely enjoyed working with this Houma-based family company. Since they gamely took on being the main grocery store chain in our city (when Sav-A-Center decided that post-Katrina New Orleans wasn’t for them), I for one was very happy as I knew them and knew their stores. New Orleanians are VERY picky about their “markets” (as stores are often called) and yet, the Rouse family has mostly met their needs. As for buying locally, they do buy, they do support local entrepreneurs. Farmers have a harder time getting their produce in there, but value-added farmers market vendors seem to be doing well.
They just opened a store a few blocks from the flagship Saturday farmers market in downtown New Orleans, and I think it will help both the market and the store. That store is the subject of this excellent story on their new rooftop garden.
The only supermarket in downtown New Orleans is the first grocery in the country to develop an aeroponic urban farm on its roof.
What exactly is an aeroponic urban garden?
Think vertical instead of horizontal. The garden “towers” use water rather than soil, and allow plants to grow upward instead of outward. It was developed by a former Disney greenhouse manager, and is used at Disney properties, the Chicago O’Hare Airport Eco-Farm and on the Manhattan rooftop of Bell Book & Candle restaurant.
Community Supported Enterprises
Just attended a very useful workshop on Community Supported Enterprises, a model for investments for local businesses.I’ll leave my questions to the end after I give you some details…
3 examples were profiled:
Claire’s Restaurant, Hardwick Vermont is a LLC (actually 2 LLCs) that has 3 groups involved: investors in the real estate group, owner/managers (3 people) and 50 subscribers/lenders.
The one owner raised money by knocking on doors and reaching out to her network, since she was the only long-time Vermonter among the (3) owners.
She found investors who invested in the real estate group which owns the lease (and subleases to the restaurant) and the equipment. Their investment is very long-term and they were told that at the beginning. If the restaurant fails, they can get someone to take over the new lease.
The subscribers/lenders gave 1000.00 each to the restaurant itself and get their money back in increments of 25.00 in 10 months of the year over 4 years at the restaurant. The subscribers can transfer ownership of their subscription and family can use the subscription. There is no cash out provision. Since the restaurant does not own the equipment, it does not have major debt.
The Community Store, Saranac Lake NY
Is a C-corporation and has a board of directors of 7 and 3 full-time staff. Issued stock at 100 each to NY residents, goal was to raise 500,000, which took 5 years to do.
Shares can be transferred to out of state holders after 9 months. Since there is no majority stockholder, there is little chance for formal financing.
They ended the offer with 750 investors, mostly by asking their early shareholders to host “share” parties where board members could sell stock. Did constant events to keep their name and idea in front of people throughout the 5 years. Got the last 42,000 because of an in-depth New York Times story on cover of Sunday edition.
Co-op Power
Massachusetts, Southern Vermont
Classic member cooperative, different levels of membership:
Standard: 975.00 over 2 years
Farmer: 750.00 over 2 years
Limited Resource: 500.00 over 2 years
Buying Group: 250.00 over 2 years
Green Worker: 50.00 plus 6 months of work at Co-op Power
They also raise money through project loans for specific projects:
Biodiesel Project: 500.00 min, 5 years, 650k raised
Energy Efficiency Project: 500.00 min, 2-5 %, 5 years, 90k raised.
Here are the questions that occurred to me:
So, why haven’t farmers markets taken this model to find their start up?
And why don’t we see more cooperatives at market management level?,’
And why not project loans among the shoppers and farmers for short-term projects to create merchandise or an earned income stream for the market or for a farmer?
Community
I am because we are.
Whiteness assigns unearned privilege in our society. Join others to learn how to undo racism in your own life, your own business, your own community.
Malik Yakini, Detroit Black Community Food Security Network
Community Organizer for Mississippi-position available
MHAP is Now Hiring
The Mississippi Health Advocacy Program (MHAP) is now hiring a Community Organizer for its food policy initiative. If you are a committed advocate for strengthening Mississippi’s food system, this position may be for you.
Purpose: The successful candidate for Community Organizer will be responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with key community stakeholders, policymakers, and state agencies to facilitate food policy initiatives in the state. The Community Organizer will work on both local and statewide levels to build grassroots networks. He/She will be a full time employee of Mississippi Health Advocacy Program reporting directly to the Program Director.
Responsibilities:
Coordinate with various organizations/agencies in planning campaign strategies and tactics
Engage in public outreach to build organization infrastructure
Participate in statewide and local coalition building
Delegate responsibilities and organize people to work on projects
Arrange workshops, meetings, and other training for leadership development
Researches and gathers information for articles, press releases, and other communication vehicles such as social media
Arranges for distribution of communications
Documents meetings through formal minutes as required and follows up as appropriate
Provides administrative support in program committee and coalition work
Qualifications required:
Education Requirement: Bachelor’s Degree
Skills: Organizer should have following skills and attributes:
Knowledge of food policy and public health
Creativity, innovation, and decision making skills
Own transportation and valid Mississippi driver’s license is required
Ability to think organizationally
Public speaking skills
Basic computer skills
Motivated to work without supervision
Ability to prioritize multiple tasks and work as part of a statewide team
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Must be willing to work various hours and some weekends
Preferred Qualifications:
Master’s degree in Nutrition and Food Systems, Public Health, Health Promotion, or other related degree.
For more information about this position email your resume and cover letter to dsmith@mhap.org.
Our Black Year
Amazing presentation and exhortation at the 2012 BALLE conference from author and activist Maggie Anderson, author of “Our Black Year” a year long experiment in buying only from black-owned businesses. Her presentation was inspiring, troubling, uplifting, poignant and above all, a challenge to us “localists” to get past concepts and really place our buying power in the arena of a true power shift.
I cheered, cried and nodded throughout thinking of my own city of New Orleans and the tragedy of the lost African-American owned businesses and leaders that I have seen disappear from downtown since my childhood. Since Hurricane Katrina, that loss has been accelerated tremendously.
I heard her and committed to picking up the challenge in my own life, within the farmers market movement and on my neighborhood corridors.
Please read and listen to her amazing story and ideas so you can fashion your own plan to reduce African-American unemployment by shopping at and encouraging the number one employer of African-Americans – African-American owned businesses.
The obesity problem as a mathematical question
“The (obesity) epidemic was caused by the overproduction of food in the United States.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/science/a-mathematical-challenge-to-obesity.html?_r=2
Farmer Congressional testimony
I never thought I’d be testifying in front of Congress. But last week, there I was.
My name is Justin Doerr, and I am a beginning farmer from Nebraska and an Iraq War Veteran. When I got back from the service, I had the desire to farm but did not have the capital and resources to begin farming.
Last Thursday, I told Congress what I wanted for the Farm Bill: better beginning farmer programs so people like me can get started in agriculture. You can see my testimony here:
href=”http://agriculture.house.gov/pdf/hearings/Doerr120510.pdf”>http://agriculture.house.gov/pdf/hearings/Doerr120510.pdf
CSA benchmarks
As many of you know, I am conducting research for a national indicator matrix for food systems. (See FMC story on this blog from a few weeks ago for more info…) so I am very much looking forward to this webinar and encourage you to register and to pass the info along to farmers as well.
Chicago market location
I’d very much like to see this market in its full summer glory! The bricked block is where it’s held when outdoors… My friend who lives around the corner goes to it and enjoys it, but only goes to the outdoor summer market. Her reason? ” can’t get it together to make it to the indoor market, and I’m not sure I like it when markets are indoors…”
Huh.
Helping Farmers Markets Grow 