Black-led supermarket launches ‘crowdfunding’ campaign
By Nelson A. King
In one of the most rapidly
gentrifying areas in New York
City, a group of residents in the
Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown
Heights sections of Brooklyn
have come together to organize
and open The Central Brooklyn
Food Coop (CBFC).
Mark Winston Griffith, executive
director of the Brooklyn
Movement Center, the organization
incubating the CBFC,
said resident are “proud to
announce the launch of their
first-ever ‘crowdfunding’ campaign,
with the goal of raising
$25,000 by Nov. 22 to support a
down-payment for their physical
storefront.”
Griffith sees the project “as a
way of making ourselves visible
again,” adding that “we have
the wherewithal and ability to
do for ourselves.”
“I just can’t imagine a more
powerful statement of our right
to be here and to be here in the
future,” he said.
A game-changing initiative,
Griffith said the Black-led
retail food cooperative centers
the needs of low- and moderate
income residents and will
enable thousands to nourish
themselves with healthy and
affordable food.
As a consumer-owned coop,
Griffith said each member will
hold an equity stake in the coop
and help lower operational costs
through an investment fee and
three hours of monthly labor.
Organizers have been laying
the groundwork for the coop
for six years, ensuring that the
initiative involves and builds
the leadership of long-term residents
Caribbean L 20 ife, NOVEMBER 1-7, 2019
of Bedford-Stuyvesant
and Crown Heights.
Currently, they are seeking a
location and plan to open their
doors to the in Spring 2020,
“and this campaign will be
essential to securing a space,”
Griffith said.
Since the coop began accepting
invested members in January
2019, he said 46 members
have joined, demonstrating
early buy-in even before the
space is secured.
“We want our children to
have a place to go where they
can learn and enjoy food,” said
Rae Gomes, founding member
of CBFC. “We want to continue
this effort to support black
farmers and other farmers of
color.
“We want to increase political
education in our community
and cooperative economics
in our community,” she added.
“This is not just a food store.
This is an effort of community
self-determination.”
Once open, Griffith said the
Central Brooklyn Food Coop
will bring “affordable, high
quality food and community
programming to a neighborhood
hit hard by gentrification,
where four of five food stores
are bodegas.”
He said the coop will focus on
partnering with local farms and
producers, owned and run by
people of color “to offer fresh,
quality food at significantly
lower prices than a traditional
grocery store, thanks to the
member-owned model.”
Griffith said this model has
been proven successful by the
Park Slope Food Coop, founded
in 1973, and similar coops
throughout the country.
“When we say that we’re
black led and community led,
we don’t just mean the people
who own the store, we also
mean the local business owners
selling baked goods or jam,”
said Ashleigh Eubanks, organizing
and staff member at Rise
Boro Community Partnership,
an organizational partner to
the CBFC. “And, there are a lot
of community gardeners that
produce a lot of good quality,
high volume produce to sell.
We want to buy from them. It’s
really about how we can leverage
support for people who
don’t have access to larger markets,
and also going beyond
Brooklyn and supporting local,
small, family farms, that also
struggle to compete.”
By establishing the Central
Brooklyn Food Coop, Griffith
said residents are coming
together to achieve food sovereignty
in an area that has been
called a “food desert”.
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