thrice all american: Tacoma Food Cooperative Public Meeting

Tacoma Food Cooperative Public Meeting

· Posted Thursday February 15, 2007 by jamie

Remember the time when I threw out the harebrained idea of starting a food co-op and then promptly never followed up on actually trying to get anything organized? Yeah, those were good times…

Anyway, luckily enough for those who at the time showed interest, someone else had the same idea, except for they actually pulled together a steering committee and solicited the advice of the Northwest Cooperative Development Center. Their focus is natural, organic, and local food. Very cool.

Next Wednesday, Feb. 21, they will be holding their first public meeting. So now I have no excuses—I want to see this happen, and someone else has done the hard work of getting the ball rolling. If you feel anything like me, I encourage you to get involved, starting by going to this meeting.

Here’s their press release:

Tacoma Food Cooperative Steering Committee Holds First Public Meeting

For Immediate Release: February 14, 2007

TACOMA, WA – The Tacoma Food Cooperative Steering Committee is hosting a public meeting Wednesday, February 21, 2007. The meeting is at the Allen-Russell Community Center, 1321 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. All are welcome to attend.

The steering committee has met regularly over the last couple of months to discuss the process of forming a consumer cooperative. Committee members represent a diverse group of activists in the Tacoma community. The group identified the need for an affordable urban retail grocery store that focuses on local, organic and natural foods and is based on the cooperative ownership model.

The Northwest Cooperative Development Center is helping to sponsor the event. There will be a presentation on the structure of a consumer cooperative and its benefits. The group will also present information that details the seven other food cooperatives that operate retail space in Washington State, including Puget Consumer Cooperative (PCC), which is the largest consumer cooperative in the nation with over 36,000 members. There will be time for questions from the audience to be answered.

The steering committee members hope the public meeting will draw residents interested not only in joining the food co-op, but also in helping to shape its structure. Primary issues such as funding strategies, location and governance are still being worked on, and the committee looks to solicit leadership in these areas.