summary highlights of a proposal made to the city of greensboro by the renaissance coop committee

7/29/2019 Summary Highlights of a Proposal made to the City of Greensboro by the Renaissance Coop Committee

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Summary!Highlights!of!a!!

Proposal!made!to!the!City!of!Greensboro!!

by!the!

Renaissance!Coop!Committee!(RCC)!

!The City of Greensboro is in the middle of a process in which they ll decide what shouldhappen with the Renaissance Shopping Center on Phillips Avenue, which is currentlyowned by the City. As part of that process, the RCC was invited to present a concreteproposal to the City Council at a specially called private briefing held on February 26th.The following pages summarize the main points and ideas discussed in that session.

The proposal presented on February 26th is the starting point of what we expect to bean ongoing conversation and negotiation with the City. As that conversation unfolds, theRCCs initial proposal may be modified or joined with other ideas that Council is

considering. We arent sure when the City will make its final decisions around theshopping center, but we expect that to happen sometime in April.

In the meantime, we want the community to know what the RCC proposed. To staycurrent with new developments in the process, get on our email list or log onto ourfacebook page: search for Renaissance Community Coop.

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Renaissance!Community!Coop! ! http://renaissancecoop.com!

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A!New!Approach!to!Economic!Development!

Since!1998!when!the!Winn!Dixie!store!on!Phillips!Avenue!closed,!the!surrounding!community!has!expressed!a!consistent!desire!for!a!high!quality!full!service!grocery!store,!where!a!family!could!do!all!of!its!shopping.!By!current!terminology,!this!northeast!

Greensboro!neighborhood!is!a!food!desert!where!healthy!food!choices!require!traveling!for!miles,!even!for!those!who!have!little!access!to!transportation.!

Lack!of!progress!in!securing!a!grocery!store!has!been!a!source!of!frustration!for!many!residents,!causing!some!to!feel!that!City!government!is!not!doing!all!that!it!can,!and!leaving!others!to!conclude!that!there!is!something!wrong!with!the!community!or!its!residents.!Stagnant!economic!conditions!in!Northeast!Greensboro,!characterized!by!high!unemployment!and!low!wages!for!those!who!can!find!work,!are!a!product!of!the!national!economic!crisis!on!the!one!hand!and!remnants!of!patterns!of!social!inequality!on!the!other.!Many!people!are!discouraged,!especially!young!people!who!see!little!opportunity!in!their!futures.!The!lack!of!a!neighborhood!grocery!store!and!the!specter!of!the!mostlyempty!

shopping!center!that!remains!are!daily,!discouraging!reminders!of!limited!opportunities.!

Sadly,!the!Phillips!Avenue!area!is!not!alonefood!deserts!are!appearing!in!other!Greensboro!communities!that!were!once!well!served!with!diverse!food!choices.!Food!deserts!are!a!growing!local!and!national!problem!that!emerges!from!corporate!decisions!intended!to!maximize!overall!company!profit.!Major!grocery!chains!are!moving!to!consolidate!their!stores!into!larger!units,!despite!the!fact!that!people!still!have!to!eat!and!the!negative!effect!these!closures!have!on!neighborhoods.!Private!developers!simply!do!not!see!enough!profit!to!enter!into!this!arena.!This!can!be!seen!in!the!failure!of!nearly!15!years!of!efforts!to!attract!a!true!full!service!grocer!to!the!area,!even!with!the!Citys!offer!of!incentives!to!motivate!interest.!For!a!business!whose!prime!motivation!is!making!a!sizeable!

profit,!the!numbers!simply!do!not!work!out.!Clearly,!we!need!to!try!something!new.!!

We!need!a!new!approach!to!economic!development!that!provides!good!jobs!with!good!benefits!and!helps!to!create&community&wealth.!We!need!an!approach!to!economic!development!that!begins!to!address!longstanding!issues!of!disparity!along!lines!of!race!and!class!that!have!been!raised!by!the!community!for!years!and!were!recently!highlighted!in!official!studies!commissioned!by!the!city!government.!Disparities!of!income,!wealth,!and!the!availability!of!goods!and!services!are!not!consistent!with!a!healthy!democracy.!

The!Renaissance!Community!Cooperative!(RCC)!is!pursuing!a!community&ownership&approach!that!assumes!satisfying!the!needs!of!the!community!as!its!core!purpose.!Higher!wages,!more!benefits,!and!higher!quality!goods!at!lower!prices!are!possible!if!the!driving!concern!of!the!store!is!not!maximum!profit,!but!rather!maximum!community!benefit.!The!RCC!is!working!to!create!a!selfsustaining,!viable!business!that!is!democratically!owned!and!controlled!by&the&community&itself.&The!RCC!model!requires!an!operation!that!will!have!enough!profit!to!assure!sustainability!and!growth,!but!it!will!not!operate!with!the!goal!of!maximizing!profit.!!

The!RCC!model!begins!with!a!grocery!store,!but!it!doesnt!end!there.!As!the!RCC!grocery!


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store!meets!a!longstanding!community!need,!it!will!build!enough!community!wealth,!community!selfconfidence,!and!community!knowhow!that!the!community!will!be!able!to!assume!ownership!of!the!Center!at!an!appropriate!time!in!the!future.!!And!from!there,!who!knows?!

There!is!a!lot!of!talk!these!days!about!community!wealth!building.!Thats!sensible:!the!wealth!that!is!attracted!to!a!community!and!remains&and&grows&in&that&community!impacts!the!quality!of!life,!determines!how!resilient!communities!are!to!economic!instability,!and!facilitates!the!capacity!of!communities!to!meet!their!own!needs.!Much!of!the!current!work!on!wealth!building!is!based!on!the!premise!that!all!that!is!missing!is!economic!literacy.!In!fact,!the!real!problem!is!that!often!there!is!very!little!community!wealth!from!which!more!can!be!built.!The!City!governments!support!of!the!RCCs!cooperative!business!effort!will!directly!impact!wealth!that!will!be!retained!and!grow!in!the!community!for!the!benefit!of!the!community!as!a!whole!rather!than!simply!for!the!benefit!of!a!few.!!

With!the!ownership!of!the!RCC!grocery!store!in!the!hands!of!a!broad,!democratically!

controlled!community!body,!the!strategic!direction!of!the!business!toward!meeting!the!needs!of!the!community!and!its!continued!presence!in!the!community!are!assured.!While!an!individual!entrepreneur!might!want!to!take!his!investment!out!at!some!point!in!order!to!attain!higher!returns!elsewhere,!the!community!as!a!group!will!have!no!such!desire,!given!their!ongoing!need!for!the!healthy!foods!that!their!store!will!provide.!

The!community!is!empowered!when!it!can!be!directly!involved!in!its!own!development!through!communitybased!approaches.!Engaged!communities!will!become!more!interested!in!the!whole!range!of!civic!functions!that!are!part!of!the!life!in!this!city.!

Even!better,!the!RCCs!approach!is!Replicable,&Scalable,&and&Inspiring.!The!model!is!not!particularly!costly!or!hard!to!teach,!so!it!can!be!taken!up!in!other!neighborhoods!that!are!willing!to!invest!the!time!and!effort!to!do!the!community!building,!learning,!and!grassroots!fundraising.!The!RCC!is!finding!that!the!movement!readily!increases!in!size!and!engages!more!people!as!excitement!spreads.!As!the!RCC!approach!in!northeast!Greensboro!becomes!a!model!for!the!rest!of!the!city,!Greensboro!can!become!a!model!for!other!cities!in!the!country!that!are!experiencing!the!same!problems!that!we!face.!

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Summary!of!the!RCCs!February!26th!Proposal!to!the!City!of!Greensboro!!

Working!with!the!City!and!other!partners,!the!Renaissance!Coop!Committee!(RCC)!is!proposing!to!take!the!lead!on!a!new!communityownership!approach!to!economic!development!in!Northeast!Greensboro!that!will!bring!good!jobs!with!good!benefits!and!

meet!longstanding!community!needs.!The!model!begins!with!a!communityowned!grocery!store!and!leads!to!community!ownership!of!the!entire!Renaissance!shopping!center!(the!Center).!The!model!can!be!replicated!in!other!communities!in!Greensboro,!growing!in!size!and!impact,!making!lasting!change!that!will!inspire!other!cities!to!do!similar!projects.!

The!RCC!requests!that!the!City!retain!ownership!of!the!Center!for!410!years,!allowing!time!for!a!democratically!governed!community!group!to!develop!capacity!to!assume!ownership.!When!such!a!group!is!ready!to!assume!ownership,!the!City!will!negotiate!a!reasonable!purchase!price!and!financing!terms,!with!conditions!that!ensure!ongoing!community!ownership.!

The!RCC!requests!that!the!City!lease!15,000!square!feet!to!the!RCC!to!operate!a!fullservice!communityowned!grocery!store!with!associated!community!space.!To!ensure!rapid!return!of!profits!to!the!community,!the!rent!for!the!grocery!store/community!space!should!be!set!at!a!variable,!capped!level!not!to!exceed!$2,000/month,!which!is!intended!to!cover!lost!property!tax!and!the!ongoing!cost!of!keeping!the!Center!maintained.!!

The!RCC!requests!that!during!the!period!of!City!ownership,!the!City!will!work!closely!with!a!communitybased!advisory!group!that!includes!significant!representation!from!stakeholders!in!the!community!surrounding!the!Center!

The!RCC!requests!economic!development!assistance!from!the!City,!including:!o An!Economic!Development!Grant!of!$100,000!!o A!tenyear!Economic!Development!Loan!of!$600,000!at!0%!interest!o Assistance!from!the!Citys!Economic!Development!office!and!lobbyist!in!

identifying!and!securing!grants,!loans,!and!loan!guarantees!from!Federal!and!state!sources!!


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More on Community-Based Enterprises!

Community Based Enterprises (CBEs) are economically and environmentallysustainable, pay a living wage to all their employees, and are woven into thefabric of their communities. We recognize that most businesses will exist on a

continuum of practice in each area. Our general idea is that CBE s would consciouslyand continuously strive to advance further on each criterion within defined time frames.

Community Based Enterprises are economically sustainable: With this criterion weare saying that a CBE must be a real business, not a charity. In particular, we aretalking about businesses that are intended to produce a surplus (that is, operate in theblack or with a net operating profit), based on sound business models taking intoconsideration market demand and the sustainable availability of labor, capital and rawmaterials. This criterion is not intended to exclude businesses that are just gettingstarted or businesses undergoing expansions, both of which may not enter profitabilityfor a while. Such businesses need initial infusions of capital to cover start-up and

expansion costs and early business losses, as well as to smooth out business-cyclefluctuations. However, new businesses and expansions should have realistic projectionsfor moving toward profitability and thus not require ongoing subsidy.

Community Based Enterprises are environmentally sustainable: With this criterionwe assert that CBEs should not pollute or otherwise damage the environment nordeplete resources that should remain available for generations to come. This meansthat CBEs should avoid environmental damage and depletion entirely, or where this isnot yet possible, then include corrections and clean-ups of environmental problems asbusiness costs, rather than putting the expense of clean-up on the community as an

externalized cost to be paid by others. One very promising area of businessdevelopment is in the area of green businesses, businesses that are built around aproducts or services that are expressly designed to mitigate or lessen environmentaldamage. Whether a CBEs products and services explicitly fit into this category or not,we think all CBEs should directly concern themselves with their environmental footprintsand lessen those footprints.

Community Based Enterprises pay a living wage: With this criterion, were statingthat the wages paid by a CBE should not leave full-time workers in poverty. Whilefamilies financial needs vary quite a bit depending on the number of people in eachfamily and how many family members are working, a good figure to work from in North

Carolina is $10 per hour as a minimum living wage. Working 2080 hours per year (40hours per week for 52 weeks) yields an annual before-tax income of $20,800, which isenough to cover housing, food, medical, transportation at a most basic level for a singleadult, according to the NC Justice Center.Community Based Enterprises are woven into the fabric of their communities:With this criterion, we affirm the need to building local, living economies within thecontext of particular places. There are two main considerations. The first is that CBEs


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must be anchored in their communities, so that they are unlikely to get up and leave inpursuit of higher profits elsewhere. There are a number of ways a CBE might beanchored in its community, including being owned by its workers or by the largercommunity. Or, a CBE might depend mightily on a particular place for its raw resourcesor marketsfor example, champagne can only be made in the Champagne region of

France and North Carolina wines can only be made in the grape-growing areas onNorth Carolina. The second important way that CBEs are woven into the fabric of theircommunities is that they must expressly support the communityon an ongoing basis.This might be accomplished by a reasonable portion of the businesss profit beingcontributed to the community in a conscious and deliberate way to meet social needsand improve the quality of life. This might include recreation, education, or economicdevelopment support for other community based enterprises.

We arent sure yet how to combine these criteria to make final judgments aboutwhether a business is or is not a community based enterprise (or where such judgmentsmight come into play), but we think some clarity is needed or we run the risk of setting

the bar too low and losing the transformative potential of the very notion of communitybased enterprise. Perhaps, in conversations with others engaged in this kind ofeconomic development work, well decide a business needs to show high performanceon all four criteria. Or perhaps well decide a business must show high performance onall but one criterion, and have clear timetables and plans to achieve the last one.

For example, a business might be economically and environmentally sustainable andwoven into the fabric of its community, yet not yet pay its workers a living wage. Thismight be the case with a newly formed worker-owned coop in which the workers haveagreed to accept a lower wage as a way to capitalize initial losses. If their business planwas based on sound financial projections that showed a path to profitability with livingwages for everyone, we would probably see that business as CBE. (We would hope, bythe way, that the workers initially low wages would either be treated as a loan to be paidback out of future profits, or as part of each worker s equity in the company.)

More on Democratically Governed Community Groups

Accessibilityand Inclusion means that the group actively seeks to increase itsmembership among all kinds of people in the community. It should be widely known inthe community how to contact members of the group and how to become directlyinvolved as a member without unnecessary barriers.

Transparency is necessary because good decisions can only be made when goodinformation is available. Full disclosure of finances, including the sources and uses offunds, as well as alternative operational strategies with pros and cons need to beavailable for broad discussion before important decisions are made.

Accountability is needed as a way of having regular times and structured means toliterally give account to the broad community of ongoing activities, possibilities,


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difficulties, decisions, and results. Periodic community meetings, newsletters (paper orelectronic), and emails are some of the things that can be used.

Having a fair decision process is important in assuring that the will of the communitydetermines the choices that are being made. The decision processes may differ

according to the situation, but they must be appropriate to the decision that is beingmade and known and agreed to in advance. For any single decision, It is good tohave alternative choices available to people, rather than simply approving of a singleidea. This includes voting in public meetings as well as other democratic decisiondevices such as multiple dot voting or even the use of consensus. The basis of any andall of these processes should be the voting power of each individual is equal to that ofany other.

More on Community Owned and Controlled Enterprises

In order to retain and expand the wealth of a community and utilize it for the benefit of

the community rather than the personal elevation of individuals at the expense of thecommunity, business entities can be structured in such a way that the community ownsthem jointly and governs business activities in a democratic manner. This requires abroad and inclusive base of ownership whose entry barrier is not so high as to onlyallow a few to be owners, nor should it be so low that ownership does not impart asense of responsibility (skin in the game).

The ownership of such businesses should be structured in such a way that individualsare not allowed to damage the whole by transferring their share to someone who thenconcentrates the ownership. For this reason, some of the ownership is often indivisible

that is, it remains with the group rather than being subject to liquidation in a way thatleads to breaking up group ownership.

The decision-making process in these entities should be set up in such a way as toassure that overall direction of activities benefits the community broadly. This meansthat decisions are made on the basis of one person-one vote, rather than having powerallocated by financial share quantity.

Cooperatives, credit unions, land trusts and some mutual associations are set up onthese principles. These kinds of entities allow for an expansion of the wealth of acommunity so that it meets community needs and leaves the community better than wefound it for generations to come.


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Whos in charge? We Are!!

Join the Renaissance Coop Committee Show support at City Council

o Call or email all the Council members and tell them you want a coopgrocery store

o Attend the Council briefing on Wednesday, March 13th at 3 pmo Attend the Council meeting where the decision will be made (Date TBD)

Sign up for more info and email updates Support the fundraising campaign Learn more about coops and the grocery business

o Coop Grocery Movie Night April 10 or 24

Renaissance Coop Committee

P.O. Box 13531

Greensboro NC 27415

[email protected]

www.facebook.com/pages/Renaissance-Community-Coop

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summary highlights of a proposal made to the city of greensboro by the renaissance coop committee

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