This week’s issue of Yes Weekly features a lengthy article from Eric Ginsburg about the Renaissance Cooperative Committee’s effort to launch a cooperative grocery in Northeast Greensboro. The Fund for Democratic Communities is thrilled to be supporting their work to bring a community-owned store to their neighborhood!
If Greensboro learned anything from the White Street Landfill fight, it’s the power of grassroots organizing and that the residents of northeast Greensboro are a force to be reckoned with. The same people who shut down attempts to reopen the landfill in their backyard are gearing up to take on another chronic issue in their neighborhood — the lack of a grocery store.
Tired of asking the city or a private investor to come to the rescue, the community has outlined a plan to open a cooperative grocery store on the site themselves.
“With a cooperative like the one we’re trying to establish the money goes back into the community,” participant Sadie Blue said. “We have a vested interest. It’s our store, and we have the ability to make the store fit the needs of the people in that community.”