Up & Coming

SPEAKERS

Amaha Sellassie Photo
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amaha sellassie

Angela Sayles Photo
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Angela Marie Sayles

Anne Misak Photo
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Anne Misak

Anthony Goodwin Photo
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Anthony Goodwin

Bijiibah Begaye Photo
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Bijiibah Begaye

Bonnie Hudspeth Photo
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Bonnie Hudspeth

Camille Kerr Photo
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Camille Kerr

Chris Dilley Photo
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Chris Dilley

Darnell Adams Photo
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Darnell Adams

Dennis Hanley Photo
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Dennis Hanley

Domenic Breininger Photo
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Domenic Breininger

Don Moffitt Photo
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Don Moffitt

Dr. Jas Jackson photo
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Dr. Jasmine R. Jackson

Erin Dale McClellan Photo
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Erin Dale Mcclellan 

Faye Mack Photo
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Faye Mack

Gabrielle Davis Photo
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Gabrielle (Gabby) Davis

Garland McQueen Photo
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Garland McQueen

Jade Barker Photo
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Jade Barker

Jamila Medley Photo
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Jamila Medley

Jeanie Wells Photo
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Jeanie Wells

Joe Rouleau Photo
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Joe Rouleau

Joel Kopischke Photo
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Joel Kopischke

John Guerra Photo
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John Guerra

JQ Hannah Photo
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JQ Hannah

Kathy Nash Photo
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Kathy Nash

Katie Novak Photo
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Katie Novak

Keyona Hough Photo
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Keyona Hough

Kim Frink Photo
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Kim Frink

LaDonna Sanders Redmond Photo
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LaDonna Sanders Redmond

Lanay Gilbert Photo
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Lanay Gilbert-Williams

Lela Klein Photo
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Lela Klein

Maggie Cohn Photo
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Maggie Cohn

Malik Yakini Photo
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Malik Yakini

Mark Goehring Photo
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Mark Goehring

Mark Mulcahy Photo
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Mark Mulcahy

Mona Jenkins Photo
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Mona Jenkins

Patrick Lockert Anthony Photo
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Patrice Lockert Anthony

Rachel DB Photo
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Rachel Dominguez-Benner

Rae Gomes Photo
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Rae Gomes

Reynaldo WIlliams Photo
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Raynardo Williams

Sam McCormick Photo
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Sam McCormick

Sarah Atkins Photo
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Sarah Atkins

Sarah Lebhherz Photo
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Sarah Lebherz

seven roots Team Photo
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seven roots team

Slobain Mitchell Photo
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Siobain Mitchell

Steve Cooke Photo
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Steve Cooke

Tamah Yisrael Photo
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Tamah Yisrael

Te'Jal Cartwright Photo
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Te’Jal Cartwight

Valeria Roach Photo
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Valeria Roach

Vernon Oakes Photo
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Vernon Oakes

Wynston Estis
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Wynston Estes

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amaha sellassie

Amaha Sellassie is an afrofuturist, peace builder, social healer, freedom fighter, network weaver, student of cooperation and lover of humanity. He’s an Associate Professor of Sociology at Sinclair Community College. amaha is a practitioner scholar and participatory action researcher dedicated towards building bridges of trust, healing historical wounds, and harnessing the unique gifts and talents of every human being as we press towards a just and equitable society. As the former chair of the Dayton Human Relations Council Board, his areas of interest include health and education equity, praxis, cooperative economic development, dismantling structural violence and getting the voice of marginalized communities into the center of public policy to emerge structures of belonging that acknowledge the dignity and worth of every human being. He is co-founder and board chair of the Gem City Market, a community driven effort to address food apartheid through a food coop dedicated to increasing access to fresh fruits and vegetables within west Dayton. He is also a co-founder and co-ed of CO-OP Dayton, a coop incubator that is guided by the Mondragon model towards building a Just Economy Ecosystem. Currently he is working towards his Ph. D. in Sociology at the University of Cincinnati with an emphasis on utilizing community based participatory action research (CBPAR) towards emerging health equity, co-creating opportunity and community transformation.

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Angela Marie Sayles

Angela Marie Sayles, Cleveland native, is a corporate professional, academic, business owner, and community developer with expertise in finance and accounting solutions, curriculum development and training, research facilitation, strategic and international business development. Angela is involved in local, national and global projects addressing land and food rights, cooperative ownership equity, financial sustainability in agribusiness, and social enterprise fund development. 

EDUCATOR AND WORKSHOP FACILITATOR As an educator, researcher and workshop facilitator, Angela develops and delivers program curriculum on the topics of personal and business financial development for non-profits, small business entrepreneurs, artists, community residents, youth and working mothers. 

FOOD SYSTEMS AND AGRIBUSINESS Angela holds the position of CEO for the Little Africa Food Cooperative. She served as a mentor to the Food Systems Change Fellowship | Nourishing Power program facilitated by Case Western Reserve University. She advocates for local food systems and cooperatives lobbying within the Ag Noire Coalition and the National Cooperative Business Association. Angela’s work with National Black Food & Justice Alliance Market Study Group as Research Facilitator has produced a 40-page summary report on the topic of Rethinking Market Studies: Impacts for Black led Cooperatives. Most recently, Angela hosted the United Nations parallel event focused on Innovation and Technology in Land and Food Rights for Global African Women at the 67th Commission on the Status of Women. She will participate in the upcoming African Food Systems Forum in September 2023 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania presenting primary research findings from the Financial Unity East Africa team on the Tanzania sunflower cooking oil sector.

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Anne Misak

Anne is the Senior Program Manager for the Healthy Food Financing Initiative at Reinvestment Fund, a national initiative to improve access to healthy food in underserved rural and urban areas, to create and preserve quality jobs, and to revitalize low-income communities. She has been engaged with cooperatives for over 15 years, including being on the boards of a student co-op association and a number of food co-ops in Philadelphia and Denver. She helped found two co-op support organizations, The Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance and the Center for Community Wealth building in Denver. Anne also has experience as an entrepreneur, federal grant writer for food systems and economic development organizations, small business lender, and community organizer. She is passionate about creating community-led solutions to achieve racial and economic justice and food sovereignty.

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Anthony Goodwin

Anthony Goodwin is the Business Innovation Director for National Co+op Grocers. He has over 17 years of grocery industry experience across various sectors including national chains, non-profits, and cooperatives. Prior to joining NCG, he worked in retail operations and new store development for Meijer, Lucky’s Market, and ProMedica Health System. His passion is improving food access in under-resourced communities. In his current role at NCG—Anthony leads the Development Cooperative which is focused on developing a cooperative food solution to address low-income, low-access (LILA) communities. Anthony has a Bachelor of Science degree and Master of Business Administration degree from The University of Toledo and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Public Health with a concentration on food justice and health equity.

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Bijiibah Begaye

Bijiibah Begaye, Cooperative CatalysBijiibah Begaye is the Executive Director of Cooperative Catalyst, where she helps to build generative partnerships, develop new co-op curriculum and training, and leads the organization’s work to organize and expand the organizations’ cooperative development and ecosystem-building efforts in communities across the Southwest. In addition to her work with Cooperative Catalyst, Bijiibah is proud to serve on Cooperation Works! board. Prior to joining the leadership team at Cooperative Catalyst, Bijiibah served as the Executive Director of Tse Ko Community Development Corporation and as a Program Director for the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension. In addition to her work experience, Bijiibah’s biggest influence comes from being raised in Coalmine Mesa on the Navajo Nation, where she and her family have managed Staggered Hearts Ranch for over 40 years.

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Bonnie Hudspeth

Bonnie Hudspeth (she/her) is an organizational developer, community builder, and independent consultant with Firebrand Cooperative based in Vermont. As an experienced facilitator, community organizer, and project manager, she brings over two decades of experience in the co-operative and non-profit sectors. She serves as Board President for the Cooperative Fund of the Northeast, advancing community-based, cooperative, and democratically owned or managed enterprises across the Northeastern United States. For more than a decade, she led Co-operative Development for the Neighboring Food Co-operative Association, supporting the shared learning, innovation, and success of more than 45 food co-ops and startup initiatives across the New England and New York

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Camille Kerr

Through the consulting firm she founded, Upside Down Consulting, Camille works to replace our current economic system with a solidarity economy that centers life, care for one another, and justice. UDC focuses on the economy in recognition of the multi-generational damage that our current economic system has had on all of our lives, and especially on people of color facing economic and physical insecurity. She specializes in cooperative start-up development, managing complex worker-centered initiatives, as well as policy advocacy and drafting. In partnership with Chicago organizers, Camille helped found ChiFresh Kitchen, a worker cooperative food service contracting business which is owned and determined primarily by formerly incarcerated folks living in the south & west sides of Chicago. Camille’s board and advisory roles include: Shared Capital Cooperative, Urban Growers Collective, EG Woode, Obran Cooperative, the City of Chicago’s Community Wealth Building Initiative and its Food Equity Council, the Community Food Navigator, and the National Cooperative Business Association’s Council of Cooperative Economists. Camille is also an executive fellow with the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, where she co-directs the Project on Unions and Worker Ownership with Sanjay Pinto. Before starting Upside Down Consulting, Camille served as the Associate Director of The ICA Group, the Director of Field Building at the Democracy at Work Institute and the Director of Research at the National Center for Employee Ownership. She has a law degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law where she was awarded a human rights fellowship and graduated cum laude.

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Chris Dilley

Chris Dilley has been a cooperative grocery retail manager for nearly 20 years. He is passionate about the cooperative model, operational excellence, local food systems development, and equitable access for all. As a Columinate consultant he now shares his experience with co-ops throughout the country, supporting start-ups and transitions of all types, with an interest in eventually making Michigan’s cooperative economy the strongest in the nation. He lives in Kalamazoo, MI, with his wife and son, and their pup, Cayanne. He enjoys reading science fiction, cooking new things, and long walks in the woods.

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Darnell Adams

Darnell Adams is a Boston-based leadership coach, facilitator, and strategist with over two decades of experience with non-profit, for profit and cooperative businesses. She has been recognized by Boston Magazine as a “Thought Leader” and part of “Boston’s new power class: the visionaries, idealists and thinkers among us whose insights are transforming the way we live, work, learn, play.” Darnell is a developer and facilitator of strategic plans, special projects and workshops, and provides expertise and training on an array of topics including transformational leadership and understanding bias and power. Darnell holds a Master of Education from Harvard University. Darnell is the President and co-owner of Firebrand Cooperative, a women-owned worker cooperative specializing in change management for mission-driven organizations.

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Dennis Hanley

Dennis has been employed in 49 of the 50 US states and has opened 600+ stores locations and over 50 distribution centers. He has worked in 11 different retail formats including conventional, upscale, natural and organic, on-line, Hispanic and Supercenters. His areas of expertise include operations and merchandising; finance and human resources; distribution, vendor management and pricing; marketing, advertising and information technology; community connection and logistics.         

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Domenic Breininger

Domenic Breininger, Bethlehem Food Co-opDomenic Breininger is the Treasurer and elected member of the Board of Directors for the Bethlehem Food Co-Op located in Bethlehem, PA. As Treasurer, he has been part of teams and committees that have secured full funding for the Bethlehem Food Co-Op’s opening ensuring that the Co-Op will open without any debt. Domenic is excited to share his Co-Op’s story at Up & Coming on what mechanisms they used to achieve their financial goals. The Bethlehem Food Co-Op’s doors are slated to open in early 2024.

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Don Moffitt

Don Moffitt works with Columinate providing support for co-ops planning large capital investments. His services include pro forma financials and financial literacy, expansion and business planning, assistance with lease negotiations and general development assistance. He’s worked in natural foods retail since 1981, including Store Manager, Vice President of Store Development, and Regional President for Whole Foods Market. He was the start-up Project Manager for the Durham Co-op Market in Durham, NC. He has a B.A. Architecture (University of Texas, Austin) and an MBA (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill).

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Dr. Jasmine R. Jackson

Dr. Jas is an applied food systems research and policy-based specialist. She partners with academic research teams, anchor institutions, philanthropic foundations, and community-based organizations to identify root causes of and develop innovative solutions to food system challenges. Dr. Jas received her master’s degree in Community Planning from Auburn University and Ph.D. in Integrative Public Policy and Development from Tuskegee University. As a New Orleans native and farmer, she has developed a unique perspective when it comes to food and the effects that it has on communities. Dr. Jas believes that your zip code should not determine your life expectancy, and building relationships is essential to creating a sustainable and just food system.

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Erin Dale Mcclellan 

Erin is the executive director of The Partnership Funds and the Partnership Action Funds, a c3/c4 funder collaborative that has defined the practice of grantmaking to advance community &  independent political power in 11 states. She is the  former Executive Director of Blueprint NC—a collaborative of 58 progressive organizations working for a fairer, more just North Carolina. She  is a founding member and the President  of the Fertile Ground Food Cooperative in Southeast Raleigh and a community driven effort to start a community owned cooperative grocery store and gathering space. 

Erin started her journey to heal her family and community  ancestral wounds in 2017 and was given the spiritual name denai sankofa in 2019. She  practices southern hoodoo and apprentices as medicine carrier of the pachakuti mesa tradition. Her healing and cultural work as denai focus on holistic healing, herbs, tool making, art and alignment alchemy. Erin founded Alchemi LLC in 2020 to focus on work as a movement healer and cultural artist. Erin is most proud of her accomplishment as a mother of two sons. She has a degree in Sociology from the College of William and Mary. 

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Faye Mack

Faye Mack (she/her) is the Executive Director at Food Co-op Initiative (FCI). FCI is a nonprofit organization committed to helping communities across the country organize and open a successful retail food co-op of their own. She joined FCI in late 2022 with a background in food systems and food justice, advocacy, community development, and food co-op governance. Faye recently served as the Advocacy and Education Director at Hunger Free Vermont. She also has experience as a researcher focused on rural food access and sustainable food systems. Faye has worked on the front end at grocery stores and food co-ops and served on the Board of Directors for City Market / Onion River Co-op in VT and for the Neighboring Food Co-op Association. She is passionate about the cooperative model, food co-ops, and the deep transformative impact they can have in their communities.



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Gabrielle (Gabby) Davis

Gabrielle (Gabby) Davis is the Racial Equity & Food Justice Manager for the National Co+op Grocers and the Board Treasurer for the Detroit People’s Food Co-op. Gabby has earned a graduate degree in public health and another in counseling and is the owner of Equitable Counseling & Consulting which provides mental health therapy that prioritizes the needs of Black, Brown and Queer folks. In her free time, Gabby enjoys reminding people that addiction is a disease, not a choice, dispelling myths about allyship and encouraging folks to say, ‘I don’t know’ instead of pretending to know. Gabby lives in the metro Detroit area with her wife and her wife’s dog and enjoys ruffling feathers when the opportunity arises. Community is Gabby’s love language.

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Garland McQueen

Garland is from Clemson, SC. Has 40 years in retail, serving as clerk to CEO and everything in between. Has opened several stores from the implementation stage and several more from different stages of pre-opening. Has been affiliated with Columinate for 10 years and specializes in project management, financial improvement, and interim management.

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Jade Barker

An award-winning board leader, Jade Barker works nationally with boards of directors to improve their effectiveness and impact as a co-owner of Columinate, a cooperative devoted to the common good. A trained mediator and coach, and a former co-director of the Mediation & Training Collaborative (now Collaborative Resolutions Group), for the past several years Jade has been designing and facilitating workshops for people who want to have more meaningful and productive conversations about race. Consistent with her life-long commitment to social change, she is also an instructor with the Sojourner Truth School for Social Change Leadership. Jade’s master’s degree in Transformational Leadership and Coaching has convinced her that we are all leaders and we can all create change.

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Jamila Medley

For over 20 years, Jamila has supported mission-based organizations in the non-profit and cooperative business sectors. As an independent consultant, Jamila leverages her background in organizational development – as well as her lived experience being part of efforts focused on economic and racial justice – to move organizations towards transformational change. She brings facilitation expertise and thought partnership to highly participatory processes which support organizations and their stakeholders with governance, strategic planning, resource generation, leadership development, research, and more. From 2012-2021, Jamila served in governance roles and then as executive director of the Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance (PACA). At PACA, she partnered with other cooperators, elected officials, movement organizers, and funders to position cooperatively owned enterprises as a robust and equitable economic development solution to economic and racial injustice in the Philadelphia region. She continues to be an advocate and educator in the solidarity economy movement locally and nationally. Jamila holds a M.S. degree in Organizational Dynamics from the University of Pennsylvania and earned her B.A. degree in Urban Studies from Connecticut College. She serves on the boards of directors and advisory committees for several organizations including the Independence Public Media Foundation, Food Co-op Initiative, and All Together Now PA.

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Jeanie Wells

Jeanie served as general manager and CEO at The Merc Co-op in Lawrence, Kansas for more than 10 years, overseeing many expansions and leading a decade of exponential growth before leaving to become a national organizational development consultant in 2009. As a consultant at Columinate, Jeanie has supported more than 125 organizations across the US and Canada over the past decade. Because of her background, she provides a breadth of support and guidance, including: Operational and financial improvement and planning, Organizational capacity and culture, Executive leadership development and coaching, Store conditioning and improved shopping environments, Merchandising and layout planning, Management team training and development, Board and GM relationship support. In addition to her work as a consultant, she leads the GM Development Program team and other project leadership roles within Columinate. Jeanie is a trusted adviser and collaborator to national industry leaders and serves on the board of Food Co-op Initiative. In 2022, she founded the new grocery store leadership program, Mighty Community Markets, designed to teach critical skills to managing locally controlled independent grocery stores of all kinds, locations, and sizes. https://columinate.coop/events/mighty-community-markets/

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Joe Rouleau

Joe Rouleau has been passionate about the organic food movement and environmental issues since his youth. In 2005 he joined Ciranda, a supplier of organic and fair-trade food ingredients, where he garnered subject matter expertise in organic supply chains and established strong industry relationships. Through his travels, he shared meals with farmers around the globe and listened to their challenges, which only further inspired him to advocate for organic agriculture. Joe currently sits as Ciranda’s Head of Sustainability where he is responsible for aligning the company’s ESG initiatives. He is professionally engaged with organizations including Marbleseed, the Sustainable Food Trade Action Council (SFTAC) and Wisconsin’s Green Tier Climate Charter, among others. 
 

Growing up in Northern Minnesota, Joe spent a lot of time outdoors and grew a deeper appreciation for nature and conservation. He has spent nearly two years of his life collectively in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) and Quetico and is known for his winter camping and survival skills. It was at a co-op in Northern Minnesota where he met his wife, Maggie. 

The couple lives in Hudson, Wisconsin, with their two daughters and a few pets (chickens coming soon!). They are longtime supporters of Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) and enjoy hiking, mountain biking, snowshoeing, fishing, and gardening as family. Their shared appreciation for CSA’s and food cooperatives inspired Joe to get involved with his local community co-op where he serves as the board president for over 2 years.  While the co-op had been previously experiencing low membership growth, Joe helped lead their membership growth to new historic levels and filled the board to its full capacity.  

Joe has a dual major in economics (BA) and Mathematics (BS) from the University of Minnesota – Duluth where he also helped develop the campus’ recycling programs. 

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Joel Kopischke

Joel Kopischke has worked with co-ops for over 20 years, focusing on board development, cooperative governance, facilitation, strategic leadership, and executive coaching. (Governance nerd alert! Joel was even trained in Policy Governance at the Policy Governance® Academy by the Carvers – aka inventors of PG.) He is seven roots’ operations manager, working with the team to support co-ops in store development: design, site feasibility, branding, prepared foods, and project support. seven roots is a worker-owned co-op. He served as Board President with Outpost Natural Foods and spent 9 years with CDS Consulting Co-op (now Columinate) working with dozens of co-ops of various types and industries in the US, Canada, and even New Zealand, before joining seven roots. Out in the wild, Joel is also a professional actor and singer; a favorite summer pastime is singing the national anthem for Milwaukee Brewers baseball games. He is a certified facilitator for experiential trainings focused on personal development, including JEDI work addressing power, privilege and difference through the Mankind Project.

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John Guerra

John joined NCG in 2015 and advises co-ops on the planning and implementation of store reinvestment, relocations, and new store projects. John has over 17 years of experience in retail real estate development and asset management with expertise in market & financial analysis, lease negotiation, project development, and portfolio management.

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JQ Hannah

JQ Hannah is the Assistant Director of the Food Co-op Initiative and specializes in the development of trainings and content to empower startup food co-op organizers to lead in their communities. A deep believer in the power of peer idea sharing and the best innovations coming from those leading in the trenches of the movement, JQ has headed up the expansion of FCI’s peer learning opportunities, from the FCI peer remote learning groups, to the FCI regional DeepDive trainings, to the FCI Live video series. JQ served as the General Manager of Common Ground Food Co-op in Urbana, IL from 2006-2015, leading them through two store expansions and five years of being the fastest growing food co-op in the nation. 

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Kathy Nash

Kathy Nash is co-founder of Prairie Food Co-op (PFC) and current Chair. PFC was founded by Kathy and her husband Jerry in 2012 after their experience as volunteers and Owners of Common Ground Food Co-op in Urbana, IL. Kathy serves as PFC’s Project Manager to ensure the project continues to move forward and follows best practices. She is very proud that PFC has received FCI’s seed grant in addition to UCUR’s “Cooperator of the Year” and “Innovator of the Year” awards. Kathy is just a small part of PFC’s success. She is grateful for the hard work and dedication that the Board and dozens of Co-op volunteers have contributed so much of their own time and money over the past 9+ years to open their store. PFC is a powerful example of what can be accomplished when people work together towards a common goal. Prairie Food Co-op is expected to open in 2023 in Lombard, Illinois and currently has over 1600 Owners who’ve invested $1.7 million into their future store.

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Katie Novak

From the moment Katie learned about food co-ops she was all in. She jumped in first as a volunteer, later as an employee, and now as a coach (aka consultant). She has made it her mission to support, coach, and empower co-ops. 

Katie has helped co-ops raise over $9,500,000 since she began providing coaching to start-up grocery co-ops in 2017. She began her consulting career after record-breaking success chairing Green Top Grocery Co-op’s (Bloomington, IL) Capital Campaign in 2016. 

In addition to capital campaign services, Katie assists co-ops with owner growth and engagement which includes communication with current and future co-op owners. She also prides herself on being Green Top Grocery’s first employee. As the first employee of an organization, she has a unique perspective about what a new employee needs to be successful and has assisted numerous co-ops in hiring and onboarding their first employee. 

Her work has recently expanded to include grassroots marketing consultation to mission driven organizations. In addition, she has co-founded a sister company called CoApp with Jess Buttimer of Prairie Food Co-op (Lombard, IL). CoApp is a cloud-based owner tracking and fundraising system designed especially for co-ops. CoApp supports cooperation among cooperatives, resulting in data-driven insights including trends, tips & best practices.

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Keyona Hough

Keyona Hough is a teacher, researcher, mother, public speaker and defender of Black liberation and sovereignty at all costs. Currently, she holds the position of Food Susu Organizer for a Black owned organization, Black Yield Institute (BYI). Keyona is the President of the Cherry Hill Food Cooperative, which is one of the solutions to food apartheid within Baltimore City. She is a co-founder of the National Black Association of Black Cooperators (NABC), an organization contributing to the promotion of regenerative economic well-being of Black governed cooperatives. She understands the dire need for our communities to learn how food, white barbarism and limited ownership affects our psyches, attitudes, and behaviors. She graduated from Morgan State University with a bachelor’s degree in Family & Consumer Science and has over 20 years of experience in maternal and infant health, community organizing, advocacy, and resource development. Keyona continues the fight for Black people to thrive within systems they own and no longer fight for a seat at other people’s tables. 

She is the Owner/Founder of UnKIDitional LoVe Recreation Center, an organization that specializes in providing life skills, social development, and entrepreneurship skills for high functioning teens (13-18) with special needs. She has been a pioneer in advocating for children with special needs to live life to their fullest potential.

Keyona continues to be a student of life, as she believes everything you do should make you a better person. She understands the more we develop ourselves, the better we experience life, be compassionate and live authentically.

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Kim Frink

Kim is a founding member, and Board President, of SunCoast Market Co-op and lives in Imperial Beach, California in the southwest corner of San Diego County, near the international border with Mexico. As a Health and Human Services Agency manager for the County of San Diego, Kim wrote requests for proposals and served on many grant/contract proposal review teams. After retiring from the County, she worked as a grant writer for a local nonprofit and as a consultant. She has led SunCoast’s volunteer grant writing team in securing over $1.2 million in grants (so far). Kim has a master’s degree in public administration from San Diego State University and was recognized at the School of Public Affairs 50th anniversary celebration as one of the school’s 50 distinguished alumni.

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LaDonna Sanders Redmond

LaDonna is a Qualified Administrator (QA) of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), Intercultural Organizational Development Consultant and Coach with Columinate. LaDonna serves as Board President of Seward Community Co-op in Minneapolis and is a Board Member of National Cooperative Business Association. LaDonna is a community activist who worked on several public health issues throughout her career such as substance abuse, violence and food justice. LaDonna successfully worked to get Chicago Public Schools to eliminate junk food, launched urban agriculture projects, started a community grocery store and worked on federal farm policies to expand access to healthy food in communities of color. LaDonna is a 2003, WK Kellogg Food and Society Policy Fellow In 2009, Redmond was one of 25 citizen and business leaders named a Responsibility Pioneer by Time Magazine. LaDonna has a popular Tedx talk, Food + Justice = Democracy.

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Lanay Gilbert-Williams

Lanay Gilbert-Williams is a native Detroiter who is the newly appointed board president of the Detroit People’s Food Co-op. She is a community organizer and has been advocating for the betterment of Detroit’s families for almost 20 years. She registers women to vote, leads her neighborhood association, and founded an organization that supports Black mothers. She mentors and advocates for parents whose children are in foster care and is the youth coordinator of a literacy program. As a mother of six, her primary goal is to assist in creating systems that the next generation can inherit and continue to improve for future generations.

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Lela Klein

Lela Klein is the Co-Executive Director of Co-op Dayton, a nonprofit incubator in her hometown of Dayton, Ohio that builds grassroots movement and leverages community assets to build cooperative businesses that meet neighborhood needs. She is also a founding board member and served as project manager for the Gem City Market, a multi-stakeholder grocery cooperative opened in 2021 serving a low income and low access neighborhood in Dayton. Prior to co-founding Co-op Dayton, she served as General Counsel to the IUE-CWA, a manufacturing union, where she led major strategic projects, advocated on behalf of workers, and created a mentorship program to foster leadership among young manufacturing employees. Lela was also an organizer, and later an Attorney, with the Service Employees International Union.

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Maggie Cohn

As a Loan and Outreach Officer with the Cooperative Fund of the Northeast, Maggie maintains relations with current and potential borrowers, and interacts with cooperatives and co-op developers and supporters in Rhode Island, eastern Connecticut, and eastern Massachusetts. Prior to joining CFNE, Maggie worked with several Boston non-profits, including the Mission Hill Health Movement, the Boston Collaborative for Food & Fitness (which addressed issues of access to healthy food and opportunities for physical activity in low-income neighborhoods), and Mission Hill Main Streets, which engaged business owners and local residents in strengthening and improving the local commercial district. In the 1990s, she worked at Red Sun Press, a democratically controlled commercial print shop in Boston. Developing a lasting interest in community development, she left Red Sun to pursue a degree in Community Economic Development. Maggie currently serves on the boards of the Cooperative Development Institute and the Back of the Hill Community Development Corporation. She is a member of Boston Building Resources (a consumer cooperative) and several food co-ops. Maggie holds a BA from UMass Boston and a Master’s Degree in Community Economic Development from Southern New Hampshire University.

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Malik Yakini

Malik Kenyatta Yakini is co-founder and Executive Director of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN). DBCFSN operates the seven-acre D- Town Farm and is spearheading the opening of, the Detroit Food Commons, in Detroit’s North End that will house the Detroit People’s Food Co-op. He serves as a board member of the co-op. Yakini views the work of DBCFSN as part of the larger movement for building power, self-determination, and justice. He is adamantly opposed to the systems of white supremacy, capitalism, and patriarchy. He has an intense interest in contributing to the development of an international food sovereignty movement that embraces Black communities in the Americas, the Caribbean and Africa.   He is a co-founder of the National Black Food and Justice Alliance.

Speaker

Mark Goehring

Mark Goehring is Manager of Columinate, coordinates the Managers on Contract program and provides support to the GM Development program and GM search support. He’s also a governance consultant with the Columinate’s CBLD (Cooperative Board Leadership Development) program.

Speaker

Mark Mulcahy

Mark Mulcahy is a member of Columinate and the founder and owner of Organic Options, which provides transformative leadership and consulting services for natural and organic food Retailers, Businesses, Farms and Distributors. An award-winning consultant, educator, mentor, and organic advocate, he has spent more than 38 years in the organic produce industry leading, guiding, and inspiring others to their fullest potential. Mark is well known for his creative merchandising, effective training techniques, unique and creative approaches to leadership, successful sales growth, and promotion strategies, as well as his deep-seated passion for produce and dedication to sustainable agriculture. A Connoisseur of workplace Joy and inspirational retail operations Mark works with managers at every level to reimagine their workplace so it can grow and thrive in the changing marketplace. Mark is the co-creator and presenter of Rising Stars, a leadership development course for Coops and independent retailers, and Flavor Foundations, a fun, thought-provoking, interactive, and inspiring journey into the unique legacy of food and its relationship and connection with our mind, body, and community. As part of the Columinate Manager on contract and GM development program Mark has helped Co-op’s revamp, revitalize, and restructure their organizations as they transition to a new General Manager. Mark is an avid baseball fan, Pun Enthusiast®, and lover of Pie!

Speaker

Mona Jenkins

Mona is an educator and organizer who graduated from the University of Cincinnati where she studied Psychology and Educational Foundations for Social Change. She actively works with community members to address neighborhood specific issues related to health, gender, housing, and education. In collaborating with leaders and individuals who reside in the neighborhoods, Mona seeks to build engagement, empowerment, and community sustainable solutions. She served as the Director of Development and Operations for the Cincinnati Homeless Coalition, an advocacy agency whose goal is to eradicate homelessness, for more than 6 years prior to taking on her role full-time as the Cofounder of Queen Mother’s Market Cooperative (QMMC). QMMC is a worker and community-owned grocery store that will be opening in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Walnut Hills in 2024. Mona also serves as the Cooperative Food Justice Coordinator for Co-op Cincy, where she works with residents to address food insecurity within their neighborhoods through equitable, community-centered approaches. Mona is on the board of the Erica J. Holloman Foundation, Inc., an organization for the awareness of Triple Negative Breast Cancer, the Cincinnati Health Network (CHN), and the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO).

Speaker

Patrice Lockert Anthony

Patrice Lockert Anthony, owner and founder of Black Label Consulting and Coaching, has been working for, and toward, the beloved community for most of her life. She consults, coaches, facilitates, and writes through workshops, mini-lunchtime sessions, and retreats. There is always more to share, higher ground to reach, and those she’d like to inspire to do more to create a nation that speaks to and for all of us. Her work in Anti Racist education for co-ops and communities is meant to help all co-op leaders, management, staff, members, and larger communities know and understand that our democracy only ends when we give up, only dies when we fail to nourish it, and is only a lie when we refuse to incorporate it’s values and principles into the very bedrock…the marrow of who are as cooperators. She knows her ancestors provide spirit and energy and passion to her purpose. Ase Selah!

Speaker

Rachel Dominguez-Benner

Rachel Dominguez-Benner makes moments, memories, and opportunities that spark creative joy in others. A trained Graphic Designer with a love of screen print, illustration, storytelling, and gift giving – Rachel is a maker of many mediums who loves the cross-pollination of ideas that emerges in creative community spaces. With a vibrant, bold style and emphasis on original brush ink illustrations, Rachel creates giftable art for everyday use in your kitchen and home. Building with others, Rachel is a designer and community creative rooted in Dayton, Ohio with clients across the United States. Rachel DB Creative brings creative capacity to collaborative organizations by contract support in Graphic Design and Communications.

Speaker

Rae Gomes

She is currently the Deputy Director of Brooklyn Movement Center (BMC) and a co-founding board member, and the current board chair of the Central Brooklyn Food Cooperative, which was incubated by BMC. She supports food sovereignty work locally including working toward a Central Brooklyn Food Hub and is on the Leadership Team of the National Black Food and Justice Alliance. 

She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College. Her writing often includes issues of race and activism and has been published in The Nation magazine, Civil Eats, The Counter, Colorlines, and The Root, among others.  

As an organizer, she works at the intersection of race and food justice to address health disparities in under-resourced communities. Employing a framework of community self-determination, she works with local residents to cultivate power and ownership over the systems that have failed to serve them.

Gomes is a speaker and advisor on topics spanning the food system, appearing on panels for Slow Food USA, Rose Luxembourg Local to Global Grassroots forum, and NY State Health Foundation. She has consulted for Stone Barns Center for Agriculture, Food Education Fund, and GrowNYC. She also advised Studio Atao on “The Neighborhood Table: Combating Gentrification Through Intentional Hospitality” and facilitated a six-month process that led to the “Diversity and Equity Working Group Report” for the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. 

Gomes is a 2021 Urban Design Forum Forefront Fellow, focused on Food Equity, winner of the Food Policy Pitch Day at CUNY Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center, and a “40 under 40” Food Policy Stars, class of 2019. 

Speakers

Raynardo Williams

Raynardo Williams is General Manager at Seward Community Co-op, a 20,000+-member food cooperative with two grocery stores and a production facility in Minneapolis. Ray is passionate about healthy food access for all, with a focus on communities of color; increasing diversity and inclusivity within food cooperatives; and raising awareness of cooperative economics in communities of color.

Ray has many years of leadership experience in retail food cooperatives and the financial services industry. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration at National American University and a master’s degree in management at Hamline University in St. Paul. Ray was born and raised in St. Paul, MN, but currently resides in North Minneapolis with his dog Tucker Blaze. Ray enjoys traveling, cooking, shopping, and spending time with his family and close friends.

Speaker

Sam McCormick

Sam McCormick is the General Manager at Assabet Co-op Market in Maynard, MA. They were born and raised in Philadelphia and have worn many different hats over the years. In addition to the years managing Mariposa Food Co-op in West Philly, they have spent time in co-op education, green construction, and business management and consulting in a variety of sectors. They are passionate about food sovereignty, anti-racism, and social equity work, and have tried to center these values in all of their pursuits. Sam is thrilled to be back working in the co-op sector and relocated to Massachusetts with their partner three years ago for this work. Sam brought their wealth of experience in co-op management and green construction to the challenge of securing a site and opening Assabet’s store. Now the work of guiding and supporting a thriving open store is here! Sam believes that community support is vital for a thriving consumer-owned co-op and strives to continue embedding this in the operations of the open store.

Speaker

Sarah Atkins

Sarah Atkins, HGC Owner #22 since August 2023, was born and raised in Afton, Minnesota, before moving to Madison where she earned a degree in Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin. She and her late husband have resided in Hudson since 1995. She is an avid proponent of locally sourced and sustainable practices in construction, consumer products and food. She grew up appreciating organic and “home-grown” food resources with a large family garden at home and an even larger one “up north”. Her passion for HGC is founded on, among other things, her belief that co-ops have the unique ability to strengthen the fabric of its community due to their unique ownership structure, democratic foundation and the broad spectrum of possibilities for product and service offerings.

As an entrepreneur, Sarah Atkins launched Archovations, Inc. in 1996. This national company is a manufacturer of building products for moisture management in building exteriors. As a business owner, she has experience overseeing and coordinating the work of company teams including marketing, sales, finance, operations, human resources and product development. Sarah’s business is located in downtown Hudson and continues to be an active part of Hudson’s downtown business growth.

Speaker

Sarah Lebherz

Sarah Lebherz works with Columinate developing pro forma financials for start-up cooperatives. She’s worked at Common Market Co-op in Frederick, MD for over 25 years as Merchandising Manager, General Manager, Project Manager and most recently, Chief Financial Officer. She has been Project Manager for two expansion projects for Common Market during her tenure, including the expansion of the original store and the development of a second store. She has previously served as a member of the Risk Management Committee for the Eastern Corridor of National Cooperative Grocers (NCG).

Speakers

seven roots team

seven roots provides store development and design support to food co-ops and independent grocers, with a passion for helping young cooperatives make a difference in their communities. The team delivers store development support and services, including site selection and feasibility, project coordination, store design and programming, prepared foods work, as well as branding, and governance/GM coaching. What’s cool about 7r? The group works collaboratively, bringing their varied backgrounds in cooperatives and store operations into each project. They’ve filled roles on co-op retail floors, admin support, board seats, and on startup teams. Those experiences inform their work with co-ops nationwide. seven roots is proudly worker owned and committed to cooperation! What else? These folks are people people. Please introduce yourselves and your co-op – 7r loves to tackle challenges and connect folks to resources.

Speaker

Siobain Mitchell

Siobain Mitchell is the Finance Manager at Assabet Co-op Market in Maynard, MA. She is also a peer group facilitator & technical assistance provider through FCI and an independent consultant. Siobain loves working with start-ups, and provides financial literacy training for boards, full Stage 2 feasibility assessments, and pro forma financials. Siobain has a certificate in Financial Planning from B.U. and worked as a mortgage loan underwriter prior to taking time off to raise her family and work to organize and open a food co-op in her community.

Speaker

Steve Cooke

Steve Cooke has been the General Manager of Friendly City Food Co-op since August of 2010. He came back to the Shenandoah Valley to be part of the start-up team there and applied all the experience, skills and local food system building tools he acquired as GM of Sevananda Natural Foods Market in Atlanta, GA, where he worked for 16 years. He is passionate about co-ops and creating equitable, and sustainable start-ups, he currently serves on the board of Food Co-op Initiative. Steve is active on the Member Advisory committee of the National Co-op Grocers. He has been part of the planning committees of the Virginia Farm to Table Conference. Steve has a degree in Political Science and Journalism from James Madison University in Harrisonburg. He likes to say that he “has a degree in Political Science and Communications, and that’s why he runs a food co-op,” tying the politics of food, and the building of strong community relationships.

Speaker

Tamah Yisrael

Tamah Yisrael is a Business Consultant at Columinate that supports community organizing and empowerment as well as provides financial management services. She established her consulting practice in October 2018 to provide business development, bookkeeping, and management services to small businesses, nonprofits, and social impact enterprises and expanded this practice as a member and co-founder of Resolve Financial Cooperative. In providing Outsourced Executive Director Services to Builders of the Highway Foundation (BOTH Foundation) a national nonprofit, she successfully merged three organizations that created educational community centers in New Orleans, Miami, and Orlando. She is also a partner of Yisrael Records Inc., an independent record label and producer of jazz and contemporary music who provides management of local artists such as the Yisrael Trio. As an experienced business owner, she provides an array of insight and approach to management that increases an organization’s effectiveness and efficiency. Her community advocacy efforts are focused on cultural awareness, social justice, and access to healthy foods. She previously served as President and member of the board of directors for the New Orleans Food Co-op, which enabled her to bridge the connection in all three of these sectors. She is currently organizing a cooperative movement and is the Outreach and Education Coordinator of Cooperation New Orleans Loan Fund. Additionally, she was recognized by the Metro Birmingham Branch of the NAACP in its Annual Salute to Outstanding African American for her contributions to culture and youth of the community. She is a graduate of the Foundation for Louisiana’s TOGETHER Initiative LEAD Community Training Program, UNO’s Community Development Finance program, and Cooperation Works’ Art & Science of Cooperative Development. She continues to serve the community on various committees and working groups to build a more equitable society.

Speaker

Te’Jal Cartwight

Te’Jal Cartwright is a journalist and Outreach Director for Co-op Dayton in Dayton Ohio. Her life goal is to build community and bring healing through truth and transparency. She is the executive producer and host of What’s the Biz with TJ, a digital platform that tells the stories of Black-owned businesses in communities across the nation. Under Te’Jal’s leadership, What’s the Biz has helped increase the visibility and brand awareness of more than 100 Black-owned businesses in Dayton. Te’Jal has 3 completed seasons, has garnered over 72,000 views in season 3 alone, and has partnered with organizations like the Greater West Dayton Incubator and Launch Dayton to connect local Black owned businesses to much needed resources. In 2022, Te’Jal launched Moments of Clarity on Instagram live, a platform that builds community through transparent conversations and storytelling. 

Te’Jal’s coverage of collaboration, business, politics, and mental health have been featured in local and national publications such as the Dayton Daily News and Mom’s Rising. Te’Jal has also interviewed legendary artists like Jo Jo Brim and Christopher “Play” Martin from Kid N’ Play. As a Story Coach for Lore, Te’Jal has led the storytelling initiatives of organizations ranging from higher education institutions to venture capitalist firms.

She is a passionate community advocate and a true champion of community development in Dayton. With a B.A. in English from the University of Dayton, Te’Jal’s journalism challenges her audience to reflect on themselves and their impact on the world. Her Storytelling skills have been an asset to local cooperatives, giving them insight on how they can connect with community in a creative way!

Speaker

Valeria Roach

Valeria (Val) is the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the National Cooperative Business Association Cooperative League of the United States of America (NCBA CLUSA.) Val has 30+ years of experience in the profit, not-for-profit and NGO industries in domestic and global operations, she developed extensive expertise in international development across Africa, Asia, Central America, Eurasia, and the Middle East.  She is recognized for competence in financial management, government contract acquisition, government contract accounting, program management, compliance, and capacity building.  She has strong leadership, business and financial acumen, and has a visionary approach to strategic thinking.  

Val serves on the Board of Rochdale Capital which provides financing and technical assistance to cooperative businesses and other community-based organizations. She serves as Chair of the Cooperative Business International, Inc. (CBI Global) Board who work with coffee and spice producers in S.E. Asia and combine production partnerships with social responsibility and sustainability. 

Speaker

Vernon Oakes

Vernon Oakes is a retired Property Manager, and host of Everything Co-op, a weekly radio broadcast. He has a strong background in management and operations; developed in corporate and entrepreneurial environments. Mr. Oakes has significant experience in a wide range of business activities including finance, marketing, sales, sales forecasting, distribution and service, and systems design; both national and international. He has nine years of teaching experience at the college level, and two years training adults for the Department of Interior.

With the support of National Cooperative Bank, and a personal investment, Vernon has been hosting Everything Co-op for Almost 10 years. He is committed to helping people learn about the cooperative business model, because he feels that it can help the Country solve many of the problems being experienced in this post-recession era. Mr. Oakes uses this platform to share examples of how cooperatives address issues related to housing, health care, sustenance, cost of living increases, and the distribution of wealth.

Mr. Oakes received a Master’s degree in business administration from Stanford University, a Master of Science in Mathematics from Penn State University and a Bachelor’s of Science in Mathematics and Chemistry from Bluefield State College. Vernon served on the Limited Equity Cooperative Advisory Council, established by Washington, DC Councilmember Anita Bonds. He received “the Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Potomac Association of Housing Cooperatives, the “Spirit of Cooperative Award” from the National Cooperative Bank, and the National Association of Housing Cooperatives’s Jerry Voorhis Memorial Award.

Speaker

Wynston Estes

Wynston has been working with Food Co-ops since the early 90s. Part of her experience has been on the store planning side of operations as a project manager for several new builds and remodel projects. Working with newly formed as well as developing Co-op’s to help plan your stores from concept to opening day is thrilling. Having been a GM, she understands the challenges on the board, the management team, and the complex network of professional service providers to build and open a store. Supporting the decision makers at the Co-op with current day knowledge of trends in our industry as well as issues hampering construction budgets and timelines, limits risks and helps avoid expensive missteps. Her expertise in operations helps her to guide design decisions so the store layout matches the financial projections which supports the goal of running sustainable Co-ops that will be of service to their communities for many years to come.

OUR SPONSORS

How to Be a Great Employer (and not get sued)

Speaker – LaDonna Sanders Redmond and Valeria Roach

Business ethics, culture, and structure are key to ensure good governance and work environment for employees.  In this session, you will learn the characteristics of a good employer, legal requirements, and policy development to protect the interest of the business.  Attendees will learn how to implement good business practices and become a low-risk Employer.

This session is especially great for stages 2A-open.

The Financials that Boards Need to Understand after Opening

Speaker – Siobain Mitchell

It’s the moment you’ve been working towards all these long years. Your food co-op opens. You’re about to have a whole lot of financial information coming at you. In this session Siobain will cover what the full board is responsible for knowing & understanding, what your Board Officers and/or Board Finance Committee is responsible for, and when to seek outside support.

This session is especially great for stages 2B-open.

Owner Engagement Events - A Peer to Peer Round Table

Speaker – Faye Mack facilitator

Owner engagement events are an important way to build excitement and keep owners and communities engaged during the long mid-development phase before you announce your store location. Come learn about the innovative events thrown by your peers when they were in Stage 2A-2B. Northside Food Co-op, Prairie Food Co-op and SoLA Food Co-op will be on hand to share about their popup grocery offerings, farmers market, and collaborative popup food giveaways. They’ll share details about their events, lessons learned, and the impact the events had during this important stage of development. You’ll rotate around the room, giving you the opportunity to have small group conversations with each presenting co-op, ask questions, and engage in dynamic discussions with peers, all while picking up tips and ideas to bring home.

This session is especially great for stages 1-2B.

Engagement beyond the Computer

Speaker – Rachel DB

Join community creative and marketing professional Rachel Dominguez-Benner for an interactive session introducing advanced techniques to engage your people in spreading your food co-op’s message and reach beyond the computer. After a short, upbeat presentation by Rachel DB, participants will work to choose and unfold one technique to take back with you, ready for action. Be prepared for talking to others, no wrong answers in brainstorming, the delight of creative cross-pollination, and prizes. 

This session is especially great for all.

Gem City Market: 5 Stories about the co-op

Speaker – Mark Goehring, amaha sellassie, Dennis Hanley, Anthony Goodwin

Many things attract people to food co-ops and there are many stories that can be told about them. In fact, there are so many ways to talk about a food co-op that sometimes the notion of selling groceries can get left behind. From an organizational leadership perspective, it can be helpful to have a handful of stories to focus people’s attention on priorities, trends, or purpose, and, for food co-ops, it might be helpful if some of them were about selling groceries!

So, what if we played with this idea? You can have five stories about the co-op, and three of them have to be about selling groceries.

This session will feature amaha sellassie, board president of Gem City Market; Dennis Hanley, Columinate manager on contract and IGM at Gem City Market; and Anthony Goodwin of NCG Development Co-op, who will share stories about Gem City Market (with many of them about selling groceries!) Time will be provided for attendees to apply the 5 and 3 story principle to their own co-op.

This session is especially great for all.

Capital Stack Case Study: How Three Different Co-ops Pieced together Their Funding

Speaker – Lela Klien and Maggie Cohn

With banks and lenders changing how they manage risk, and construction costs increasing, there is no longer a “standard” way to build a co-op capital stack. Panelists will walk participants through three capital stack examples from recently opened co-ops in both low-income/low-access communities and middle class communities. Cooperator and lender panelists will share their perspective on the current state of co-op financing, including lending, philanthropy, membership equity and other creative tools.

This session is especially great for stages 2A-2B.

"Food Desert" Diaries: Dispatches from the Northside of Wilmington, NC

Speaker – seven roots and Cierra Washington

Together with their local city and county governments as well as scores of local organizations, community members and volunteers, Northside Food Co-op is building a co-op grocery store in Wilmington, NC. Collectively, they are creating a promise of food equity in a historically marginalized Black neighborhood, and pioneering a model for private-public partnership in co-op development. 

This session is especially great for all.

Detroit People's Food Co-op - A 10 year Journey

Speaker – Vernon Oakes, Lanay Gilbert-Williams, Malik Yakini

The fight for justice and equality is embedded in Detroit’s history, but organized efforts for food justice is fairly new to Detroit. The Detroit People’s Food Co-op began it’s journey almost a decade ago and is due to open its doors near the end of 2023. How did it all begin? How has it developed? What has worked and what has not? These topics and more will be discussed in this session.

This session is especially great for all.

Regaining Momentum During and Post Pandemic – Hudson Grocery Cooperative

Speaker – Joe Rouleau and Sarah Atkins

Joe Rouleau (Board President) and Sarah Atkins (Treasurer) from Hudson Grocery Cooperative share their story and how they were able to get unstuck during a pandemic.   HGC started in 2012 and had 5 good years reaching its first 500 members.  Things started to slow down and 3 years later they were only at ~600 owners.  Experiencing lots of board turnover and push back even from within their community, had them at the edge as 2020 winded down.   By late 2020,  they were able to add new talent to their board and already started working on new strategies and initiatives.  By the end of 2021, they had largest year in history followed by 2022 their 2nd largest.  There were still some challenges along the way however they push through with a net increase of ~50% new owners in 2 years (over 940 by May 2023).  Their board is full with a wide range of skills and have re-engaged within their community and owners.   They are working on securing a site, drafting business plan and launching a capital campaign.  If this sounds familiar?, please join them to hear their stories and participate in a dynamic conversation.  

This session is especially great for stages 2A-2B.

The Food Shed Co-op Difference: Capital Campaign Success

Speaker – Katie Novak

Doug Close, Food Shed Co-op Board member joins Katie Novak, of Katie Novak Cooperative Coaching to delve into an inspiring case study of the successful Food Shed Co-op $1.7 million dollar capital campaign. Discover the innovations that Food Shed Co-op employed alongside tried and true practices that consistently get results. In this session, Katie and Doug will take you on a journey through the Food Shed Co-op Capital Campaign highlighting their strategies, challenges, and triumphs. 

This session is especially great for stages 2A-2B.

Telling a Story That Moves Mountains

Speaker – Darnell Adams

Organizational level storytelling that builds powerful startups with huge community support that get funded. How do co-op startups craft and tell the stories that will lead to success? Let’s look at examples of co-ops whose powerful stories are moving their communities to action and securing support from funders. Get ready to work on your co-op’s story and leave with concrete techniques that you can use right away.

This session is especially great for stages 1-2B.

Community Organizing Tools for Engagement & Beyond

Speaker – Tamah Yisrael

Community organizing is the center of movement building and a critical tool in building out membership and supporter bases.  More and more communities are also looking to cooperatives as a way of creating economic centers and space for organizing. These elements are necessary for viable and supportive ecosystems that meet the needs of the communities cooperatives serve.  This workshop focuses on these objectives for the cooperatives and lifts out the tools, practices, and strategies that help build up participation and ownership interests.  

 Participants will identify collectively what community organizing tools are being used at our co-ops, and which ones we are not yet using. We will also create space to learn from one another’s work and what we can add to our co-op’s work to build our cooperative movement in our communities. We will also discuss how to engage in existing movements and other organizing efforts to create relational value for the community.

This session is designed to support the co-op in thinking about what value it is creating for the community and supporting the co-op beyond the scope of being just another retail store.

This session is especially great for all.

Getting Things Done: Accountability Basics for Startups

Speaker – Jade Barker

To create a strong foundation for your co-op startup, it’s crucial to learn and practice the basics of accountability.  Strong accountability systems can mean the difference between a wildly successful startup that empowers its members or an organization that saps its members’ energy and withers away. Don’t make your volunteers slog through the confusion created by having little or no accountability. Perhaps your startup has plenty of good ideas, but little follow-through. Or you are great at getting some things done, but not others. What does it take to be accountable? Come learn the basics of accountability, assess your co-operative’s strengths and weaknesses, and walk away with the tools you need to be accountability superstars. Participants will be introduced to Policy Governance®, a system used by Board’s worldwide to maintain accountability in their organizations, and how you can use a simplified version to kickstart your co-op’s accountability journey.

This session is especially great for stages 1-2B.

Embodied Co-op Leadership

Speaker – Bonnie Hudspeth and Darnell Adams

As co-op organizers, we are leaders in our communities with the ability to build inclusive movements. We go to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion trainings, read books, listen to podcasts, and yet we may still be stuck when it comes to shifting our behaviors.  There’s information we know in our minds, and sometimes contradictory things we feel in our bodies. 

This community conversation will explore how White co-op organizers can become mindful of our bodies in those moments of conflict and fear. What are the tools we can use for grounding and so we keep moving forward instead of freezing, fighting, or fleeing so we can address and not perpetuate white supremacy in the cooperative movement? Come ready to engage and play!

This session is especially great for all.

Understanding and Using Your Pro Forma

Speaker -Don Moffitt and Sarah Lebherz

When we produce your first pro forma it’s intended to be a tool, an interactive file that you can use to explore the financial feasibility of your co-op. We’ll share a sample, talk with you about what it is and how it works, why you need it, how you can you use it. We’ll show you the inputs and the outcomes, along with key indicators of feasibility. We’ll share our experience and insights and tackle your questions. 

This session is especially great for stages 1-2B.

Market Feasibility and Its Role in Your Co-op's Feasibility

Speaker – JQ Hannah

No matter what stage of organizing you are in, you’ve likely heard the term “market study” said a lot and are aware it plays a critical role in your co-op’s business feasibility. This one type of study not only decides if your co-op has market feasibility but also plays a huge role in two of the three other areas of feasibility for your co-op as well:  financial and site. We’ll dig into what a market study is, what it can and cannot tell you, how it is utilized in feasibility, and how you can leverage it in your organizing to gain owners and local support. We’ll also touch on the questions of market study accuracy, market study providers used by startups, the question of cultural competency in market study research, and more. 

This session is especially great for stages 1-2A.

“Locking Down a Site: Nuts, Bolts, and Stories”

Speaker – John Guerra, Anthony Goodwin, Don Moffitt, Malik Yakini, Kathy Nash

This session will explore moving from a feasible site to beginning negotiations on the site—what skills and competencies do you need at the table, what’s your role in negotiating, and what to expect as you negotiate a lease or purchase.  We’ll discuss these topics with both consultants and co-operators who have been through the process, to discuss preparation and lessons learned from their site searches and negotiations.

This session is especially great for stages 2A-2B.

Nailing Site Selection: More than Parking, Receiving, and Trash

Speaker – the seven roots team

The place your co-op calls home will have dramatic impact on the life and viability of your fledgling business. This session will cover site search, feasibility, and selection, with a focus on feasibility. 

What should these processes look like? Do they overlap? How to search for the right kind of site? How to decide if a site is feasible? What about multiple sites? We’ll explore these questions and more. 

Site feasibility will tell your board the pros, cons and doability of a potential store site so you don’t have to be a grocery pro to evaluate your options. Empower your board to sleep like babies!

This session is especially great for stages 2A-2B.

Capital Stacks: the Nitty Gritty of Piecing together the Money to Build Your Co-op

Speaker – Lela Klein

With banks and lenders changing how they manage risk, and construction costs increasing, recently opened cooperatives have had to get creative to put together the equity and financing needed to build and open their store. Different kinds of co-ops and communities present different opportunities and risks, meaning there isn’t one right way to build your capital stack.  This workshop will delve into descriptions, tips, and pitfalls of the most commonly used sources of capital for cooperatives, including lending, grants, donations, member equity and loans, and public finance tools.

This session is especially great for stages 2A-2B.

Finding and Keeping Your Greatest Asset - Your GM!

Speaker – Jeanie Wells and Mark Mulchahy

You’ve dreamed…You’ve planned…You’ve raised capital…You’ve secured a site…You’ve drawn up plans… You’ve created a timeline…Now you’ve got to hire a GM.

Join Jeanie Wells and Mark Mulcahy in reviewing the current landscape in the world of GM hiring – including its challenges and obstacles, available resources for support, and what to look for to find the best fit for your co-op, your mission, and your values.

In this workshop Jeanie and Mark will tap into their years of experience as retailers, GMs and consultants, working in a wide variety of co-op formats, locations, sizes and models, to help you find the clearest path to success.

Participants will leave with: 

Best practices for finding and hiring your GM

A broad understanding of the current landscape your GM will need to navigate and lead in in today’s marketplace

A framework to assess new GM’s strengths and gaps, and guidance on using resources to help new GM develop skills and fill gaps

Strategies to set the right tone and build a strong working relationship with GM from the outset 

Moving your board through transition – from planning to performance and profitability

A thorough list of resources available to start-ups

This session is especially great for stages 2B-3.

Searching for Financial Feasibility

Speaker – Don Moffit and Sarah Lebherz

Stage 2A is all about feasibility—will the vision you have work? This workshop focuses on increasing your understanding of financial feasibility. We’ll talk about what it means, how to assess it, what impacts it. Your co-op will be financially sustainable if you can identify a path that’s feasible—and then operate the co-op accordingly. We’ll share our experience and insights, tackle your questions and do it interactively.

This session is especially great for stages 1-2A.

How to be a Startup Board Superstar: What is the board? What does it do? What is it in charge of?

Speaker – Joel Koposchke 

Your board is already up and running – so why attend this session? Just like buildings need a solid foundation and world class musicians or athletes revisit fundamentals to maximize performance, this session will cover the critical fundamentals in a fun and engaging way. Whether you’re brand new or coming in for a tune-up, if your board is operating at less than 100% efficiency, productivity, and fun, there’s room for improvement. Bring what’s hanging you up, and we’ll tackle the challenges your board is facing.

This session is especially great for all.

Rooting Your Co-op In Community

Speaker – Bonnie Hudspeth 

Co-ops are of the community, for the community, by the community.  But there are so many decisions to make, so many tasks to accomplish: will you ever get your doors open if you ground your co-op’s organizing process in your community? Come for a lively discussion based on “Community Organizing Self-Assessment” to explore various ways you can intentionally root your co-op in your community throughout your development process.

This session is especially great for all.

4 Pillars of Effective Startup Outreach

Speaker – Rachel Dominguez-Benner 

In this foundations session, community creative and communications professional Rachel Dominguez-Benner will bring participants on an exploration of the four pillars of effective startup outreach. All stages welcome – start your outreach on strong foundations with a full picture of the four pillars, or increase the fruitful connections of your outreach efforts by filling in the gaps in your foundational wisdom. Lecture style with visual presentation. 

This session is especially great for all.

Exploring Power and Privilege for Food Co-op Organizers

Speaker – Jamila Medley

This session invites participants to explore ways in which power and privilege are represented in our individual lives and how they impact co-op development efforts. By reflecting on how power and privilege show up in collaborative spaces too, we’ll move towards identifying anti-oppressive values to support co-op development efforts.  

This session is especially great for all.

FCI Town Hall: Could We Serve You Better?

Speaker – Darnell Adams and Faye Mack co-faciliating

How has the development process and support from Food Co-op Initiative (FCI) served you? Have you felt welcomed into the food co-op community? For the past 15 years, FCI has paved the way for new food co-ops. We are seeking your input on how well FCI and the food co-op development process serves racially, ethnically, and economically diverse communities, and how we can better meet the needs of all. Join Faye Mack, Executive Director of FCI and Darnell Adams, FCI Board Member for this Co-op Community conversation. Let your voice be heard!

This session is especially great for stages 2A-3.

Culturally Competent Board Recruitment and GM hiring

Speaker – LaDonna Sanders Redmond and Seward Board 

In 2023 the Seward Food Co-op embarked on their first GM hiring process in 18 years. Seward is a cooperative that began its equity work 10 years ago. That work began with the operation and increasing cultural competency across the operations. That work had an impact on owners, Seward owners continue to support diversity (race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender) which has created a board that is majority of people of color.  The foundation of that equity work supported the board during the hiring process of the new GM. This workshop session will cover the topics of culturally competent board recruitment and its impact on GM hiring that your startup food co-op can utilize in your future Board recruitment and GM hiring process.

This session is especially great for all.

The Anti-Racist Path:White-Led Start Ups Reimagining Democracy

Speaker – Patrice Lockert Anthony

Co-ops are models for, and paths to, democracy and justice. It’s time to do a deep dive into what it means to be white in America and how it has negatively impacted the cooperative movement. White-led start-up co-ops can shift that impact and bring promise back to what has become “just another grocery store” dynamic. Racism in America is at the top of the list for Urgencies to Resolve (UTR). A food co-op isn’t supposed to just be about building a “happy place” to shop for food. They are to uplift democracy, equity, fairness for all who participate, and bring justice to our communities. Now, we’re going to do this workshop with love and from truth. We need, though, to check any white fragility at the door. This isn’t the workshop where there will be space for fragility…only love, truth, and justice. We’ll spend 5 minutes between the intro and outro. We’ll listen for 15 minutes. We’ll have break out sessions for 30 minutes, and a whole group discussion session for 15 minutes and end with a Q and A for 10 minutes. The Speaker will provide a  *Pre-conference (small) reading packet for those who’d like to dig in a little early.

This session is especially great for all.

Mutual Aid and Our Co-ops

Speaker – LaDonna Sanders Redmond

Just two months after the COVID epidemic began turning our worlds upside down, the police murdered George Floyd in Minneapolis just blocks from the Seward Food Co-op. In response to all of the suffering and struggle around them, the Seward Food Co-op board and staff found themselves as a part of a mutual aid movement that was responding to the moment in Minneapolis and Saint Paul.  As a co-op, the cooperative is led by seven international principals the co-op has always committed to principle seven: caring for the community. However, the shift from cooperatively running a grocery store to supporting direct mutual aid practices is not only about caring it is about actions that support our communities. This practice is not something to be left in 2020 but is a foundation for a future our co-ops must be planning for. In this session, we will explore what mutual aid is, how food co-ops supported other mutual aid projects in 2020, and how these partnerships work so we can create our collective future of liberation using mutual aid and the co-op principles. 

This session is especially great for all.

Trip to George Floyd Square and Black Co-op Fellowship off-site

2:30 – 4:00 Bus tour to George Floyd Square (E 38th St. & Chicago Ave)
4:00 – 5:00 Visit to Seward Community Co-op Friendship Store (317 E 38th St, Minneapolis, MN 55409)
5:00 – 6:30 Black-led co-op fellowship at Pimento Kitchen (2524 Nicollet Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55404)

Building Black Political Power: From Buyers Club to Political Communities

Speaker – Mona Jenkins

Embark on a transformative journey with visionary leader Mona Jenkins, an advocate for Black-led initiatives, as she unveils the confluence of economic empowerment and political engagement in marginalized Black communities. Delve into her groundbreaking work at the Queen Mother’s Market, spotlighting grassroots movements’ potential.

Starting with the innovative Buyers Club model, Mona will demonstrate how this cooperative approach has successfully addressed the pressing issue of food apartheid within neighborhoods. Yet, she delves deeper, addressing challenges like gentrification through strategic negotiations and formal frameworks, safeguarding neighborhoods’ essence.

Drawing from her vast experience, Mona underscores the pivotal role of political empowerment in Black communities. She imparts practical wisdom on expanding the cooperative approach to nurture political cohesion, tapping into collective resources and community sessions to address interconnected concerns spanning healthcare, housing, and education. Don’t miss this opportunity to participate in some regional breakouts catalyzing lasting change and forging resilient political networks through cooperative endeavors.

Using Civic Engagement Strategies to Grow Membership

Speaker – Jamila Medley & Erin Dale 

In this session, you will learn basic civic engagement strategies to grow membership development. We will define civic engagement, review best practices and create temple civic engagement plans all designed to grow your cooperative’s membership base.

Building the Black Cooperative Muscle: Strategies for Working and Building Together

Speaker – Keyona Hough

Participants will be able to identify common cooperation challenges within the Black community. Learn more about their “cooperative type” and how to use their skills and vulnerability to continue the cooperative movement. Identify how white barbarism has contributed to the ways Black folks cooperate and communicate with each other. This session will dive into challenges, reasons and structures of why Black people have tension when working together. Together we will identify those challenges and create solutions, while identifying our own personal “Cooperative Types”. So often we discuss Black folks’ challenge with cooperation, but never make space to learn and build those cooperative skills. As we build community and cooperatives in our communities, we should understand the critical need to strengthen our “cooperative muscle”, the same as we bulk up in the gym. White barbarism (commonly used as white supremacy) has caused a rippling effect of hyper-independence, fear of each other, mistrust, isolation, and tension within our communities. As Black people continue the cooperative movement, we must become experts and co-creators of how we chose to work together and build cooperation. The more we work together we will see our largest resource is cooperation.

Re-thinking Market Studies

Speaker – Angela Sayles

The Re-thinking Market Studies Session will uncover the key findings of the National Black Food & Justice Alliance (NBFJA) Market Study Project including culturally relevant market study principles, insights, strategies and top recommendations from cooperators.  The project emerged from many conversations within Black-led co-op spaces where participants discussed the need for culturally relevant data that can aid Black owned co-ops to obtain funding from a wider range of public and private sources. Our perspective is that the current market research field is heavily reliant on data that diminishes the impact of Black spending and the demand for localized, community-operated food options in our communities. This session will share more about the project, its progress to date, and encourage engagement and dialogue of session participants.

Cultivating Community Power & Liberation: Black-Led Food Co-ops

Speaker – amaha sellassie & Rae Gomes 

Embark on a transformative journey with Rae Gomes from Central Brooklyn Food Co-op and amaha selassie from Gem City Market as they share the essence of Black food cooperative organizing. Discover how they support community empowerment through consistent base building, shaping marketing distribution, and weaving narratives rooted in revolution and Black Liberation.

Explore core principles, like community engagement strategies and study circles, which foster learning, collective wisdom, and personal liberation. Rae and amaha discuss the application of tools (for us; by us) such as focus groups, surveys, and innovative ideas illustrating how cooperative organizing can shape our communities.

Join this illuminating session to witness the fusion of nourishment, empowerment, and liberation in these Black-led cooperatives. Rae and amaha invite you to engage, learn, and embrace the potent force of community-driven action in shaping a more equitable and just future.

Conference Tours

Tour 1 includes: Eastside Food Co-op, Wedge Community Co-op, Valley Natural Foods 

Tour 2 includes: Linden Hills Co-op, Mississippi Market Co-op, Co-op Partners Warehouse

The tours will depart from the InterContinental at 1:00 pm and return by 5:00 pm.

Stops at each location will include a short presentation by staff with plenty of time to ask questions. You’ll also have time to tour the store on your own and shop to your heart’s content.

Local Food System - cancelled

Due to unanticipated circumstances, this session will not occur.

Welcome Reception by Local Food Co-op Hosts

The Thursday night welcome reception is being hosted by:  Mississippi Market, Eastside Food Co-op, Seward Community Co-op, Valley Natural Foods and TCCP (Wedge Community Co-op, Linden Hills Co-op, Co-op Partners Warehouse).

You are invited to join us at the Urban Growler, 2325 Endicott St, St. Paul, MN. The Urban Growler is the first women-owned microbrewery in Minnesota and was opened in July 2014 by Master Brewer Deb Loch and co-head honcho Jill Pavlak. These two combined their complementary skills and passions to create great beer, food and space for everyone.

Join us for food and drinks, a little bit of fun and maybe an outdoor game or two.

Reception is 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm. Bus transportation to/from the hotel will be provided.

Exploring Power and Privilege for Food Co-op Organizers

Speaker – Jamila Medley, Camille Kerr

This session invites participants to explore ways in which power and privilege are represented in our individual lives and how they impact co-op development efforts. By reflecting on how power and privilege show up in collaborative spaces too, we’ll move towards identifying anti-oppressive values to support co-op development efforts.  

This session is especially great for all.

Site Feasibility, LIVE!

Speaker – seven roots

Play along as seven roots helps one co-op get one step closer to their dream store. We’ll choose one lucky co-op with a site in their sights, and help you walk through site feasibility factors live and in person! Everyone in the room will get a chance to dig in to fun activities related to a different aspect of feasibility. Bring your co-op’s info to compare, contrast, and get insights. 

Stop by seven roots’ table to enter your co-op to win time in the limelight or attend to learn along the way to inform your co-op’s site search. Bonus: One lucky participant gets a FREE STORE (just kidding, but this session will be a lot of fun!)

This session is especially great for stages 2A-2B.

This Moment in Black Food Co-op Organizing: Empowering Communities, Nourishing Futures

Speaker – Dr. Jasmine Jackson

This engaging presentation will shed light on the transformative efforts of Black-led cooperatives and the groundbreaking work being undertaken by NBFJA, including their latest research project, the Rethinking Market Studies. Participants will have the opportunity to delve into the strategies employed by these cooperatives to foster economic empowerment, food sovereignty, and social justice. As we celebrate and learn from this momentous era in Black food co-op organizing, we invite conference attendees to engage in meaningful discussions, ask questions, and discover ways to actively support and uplift Black-led co-ops in their communities.

This session is especially great for all.

Indigenous Cooperative Food Development

Speaker – Bijiibah Begaye

Indigenous Cooperative Food Development offers a powerful framework for empowering Indigenous communities and nurturing sustainable food systems. Storytelling serves as a powerful medium for transmitting traditional knowledge, preserving cultural heritage, inspiring collective action, and promoting cross-cultural understanding. By recognizing and honoring the role of storytelling, the richness of Indigenous cultures and the importance of Indigenous knowledge can be shared and celebrated, leading to more inclusive and sustainable food systems. By honoring traditional knowledge, cultural practices, and cooperative principles, we can address food security, economic empowerment, and social well-being while preserving cultural heritage. Through the sharing of successful case studies, recognition of challenges, and proposed strategies for the future, this presentation aims to inspire collective action and foster a brighter future where Indigenous communities thrive through their own sustainable food systems.

This session is especially great for all.

Community Oomph: the Fourth Critical Area of Feasibility

Speaker – JQ Hannah

The first three areas of startup food co-op business feasibility map pretty closely to the classic four concepts espoused in all business feasibility;  market, financial, and site feasibility. But the fourth area of feasibility has a very unique co-op specific flavor and, we’d argue, is just as critical to opening a successful co-op grocery store as the other three. This fourth area of feasibility is traditionally known as “organizational capacity,” but in this session we’ll call it “community oomph” – it’s all about the co-op being embraced by the community it will serve so deeply that the co-op is truly is “of” the community, not just “for” the community.  What the heck does that mean? How do we measure if our startup has the magical fourth area of feasibility and does it really matter that much? JQ will share some metrics you can use to measure your startups “community oomph,” how to diagnosis and work to correct issues in these areas of “oomph,” and what the very real repercussions can be if our startups move forward without it.

This session is especially great for stages 1-2B.

Feasibility: the Four Critical Areas for Startups

Speaker – JQ Hannah

Testing and finding feasibility for your startup food co-op as a business is one of the biggest and most challenging responsibilities a startup food co-op organizing team/board must take on. Often, you’ll hear in the business world the phrase “you need a feasibility study”, as if it was one process, one thing. For startup food co-ops, there are four key areas of feasibility that we look at, with the market study only being one of the critical four. In this session, we’ll outline all four areas of feasibility, how they are met, what it means for the board to deem the co-op’s business plan “feasible” (and when to do it), and how feasibility unfolds in each stage of a startup food co-op’s development. We’ll be sharing with you a feasibility survey tool to assess your startup’s progress toward feasibility as well as sample feasibility reports and assessments completed by your peers. And yes, we’ll discuss what to do when you don’t find feasibility in one more areas as well!

This session is especially great for all.

4-in-3: the Startup Food Co-op Organizing Framework

Speaker – JQ Hannah

There is no one way to open a food co-op, every journey to opening day for every co-op will be different. That said, there are resources needed and milestones along the journey that were identified in the early 2000s as nearly universal among startup food co-ops that got to opening day and beyond that were then encoded into what is called the “Four Cornerstones in Three Stages” startup food co-op development “model” as a road map for startup organizers. As startups have continued to open and innovate, we at FCI have come to think of it as a “framework” rather than a “model,” but so much of the original wisdom captured in it speaks directly to our organizing today and still serves as a powerful map for organizing your startup. We invite you in this session to: 1) come learn with us about what is universal about the stages and cornerstones, 2)hear from us what we see evolving in this framework 3) share back to us what is and isn’t useful about the framework and 4) interact with some simple tools we’ve created for making this framework a powerful shared language for your organizing team. 

This session is especially great for all.

Dissecting the Definition of "Healthy"

Speaker – Gabby Davis

After arriving as the Racial Equity & Food Justice Manager of the National Co+op Grocers in January 2022, Gabrielle Davis immediately saw a stark difference in the definition of ‘healthy’ at co-ops versus in other communities she’d worked with. Gabby became very curious about how we all think differently about what it means to ‘eat healthy’ and what ‘healthy foods’ are and can be. In mid-2022, that curiosity led her to ask her social media networks what their idea of ‘eating healthy’ was and what ‘healthy foods’ are. She received an array of responses (over 100) that served as reminders that we may be alienating our co-op members and potential co-op members by unconsciously pushing our own definition of ‘eating healthy’ at our co-ops. In this session, Gabby will educate us on why it is imperative we critically evaluate the messages we are sharing as a co-op and why broadening our definition of “healthy” is core to making everyone truly welcome at our food co-ops. This presentation will provide alternate ideas of what “healthy food” means to people throughout the food co-op industry and beyond, letting us learn directly from these voices and their experiences.    

This session is especially great for all.

Pursuing Grants: Stories from Start-up Co-ops

Speaker – Anne Misak

Grants have gone from a “nice to have” in your co-op’s funding sources to an absolute essential, with only one startup opening in the last three years that did not have grants as part of their capital stack. Luckily, startup food co-ops have quickly adapted to this new reality and are carving the path forward to grant success! Anne Misak, Senior Program Manager for the Healthy Food Financing Initiative at the Reinvestment Fund, will be facilitating and adding her knowledge to this panel session where multiple startup food co-ops that have successfully received grants will share their on-the-ground stories of finding grant sources, winning grants, unsuccessful attempts, and lessons learned. Come learn from your peers about what has worked for them! 

This session is especially great for stages 2A-3.

A Tale of Two Co-ops

Speaker – Katie Novak facilitates

Representatives from Rise Community Market (Cairo, IL) and Southside Food Co-op (Chicago, IL) join Katie Novak of Katie Novak Cooperative Coaching for a facilitated discussion about their organizing experiences. The conversation promises to be an insightful and informative discussion on the differences and similarities in cooperative organizing across population sectors from rural southern Illinois to densely populated Chicago.

This session is especially great for all.

A New Approach to Store Openings

Speaker – Mark Goehring, Wynston Estis, Chris Dilley, Garland McQueen, Dennis Hanley, Luke Schell

Columinate has a Manager on Contract program that can support a food co-op from early in the start up process all the way through store opening. The phases include a consultative relationship very early, followed by Managers on Contract for Project Management, Pre-store opening, Store opening and Post-store opening stages. With this approach the hand off to the co-op’s longterm manager happens in the Post-store opening stage, three months after opening, for example. This approach to store opening changes when to start your GM search process and goes hand in hand with Columinate’s GM Development and Training program for your new GM.  In this session a panel of Managers on Contract will share their perspectives and Columinate will gather feedback on the approach.

This session is great for stages 2A-2B.

Are Food Co-ops a Gentrifying Force?

Speaker – Darnell Adams facilitates; panel is Steve Cooke, Jamila Medley, and Ray Williams

“Gentrification: the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and business. This process often causes the displacement of people and businesses that have been there.”

How is gentrification affecting the communities we are organizing in? What are we doing to address it with our co-op/organizing?  Are we actually organizing for the future residents of our communities? Join facilitator Darnell Adams as she leads a conversation with panelist Jamila Medley, Steve Cooke and Raynardo Williams to discuss these questions and more! 

This session is especially great for all.

Offering Food Before the Store: A Peer to Peer Round Table

Speaker – Faye Mack facilitator

Many startup food co-ops connect with their owners and future shoppers, build community, and develop relationships with local vendors by finding innovative ways to offer food before they open their store. Come learn about the creative ways your peers are bringing food to their communities at this round table session. Chicago Market, Little Africa and Market 166 Food Co-ops will be on hand to share their unique programs and lessons learned. You’ll rotate around the room, giving you the opportunity to have small group conversations with each presenting co-op, ask questions, and engage in dynamic discussions with peers, all while picking up tips and ideas to bring home.

This session is especially great for stages 1-2B.

Organizing Your Community through Storytelling

Speaker – Te’Jel Cartwright 

Storytelling is key when it comes to building genuine connections that last. A story can also help you find a tribe that is committed to the same agenda as you. In this session, attendees will find power in themselves and craft their personal story in conjunction with their co-op. Attendees will also learn how to share their story through different platforms to reach different audiences (donors, community members, partners, etc.).

This session is especially great for all.