Citizen's co op

History

Gretchen McIntyre, Elizabeth Nesbit, Wesley Hogan, Noah Shitama, and Matt Vargas signed the Articles of Incorporation on May 1, 2008. Founders Elizabeth Nesbit and Gretchen McIntyre were separately inspired by co-ops in other cities: McInyre by a visit to a co-op in Asheville, N.C, and Nesbit by touring various US communities in search for a new home and discovering co-ops. After years of fundraising and spreading the word with events such as a benefit concert on April 25, 2009, and receiving the final push they needed on April 23, 2011, when they met their goal of raising $15,000 through Kickstarter.com, Citizens Co-op held its grand opening on July 15, 2011.

Sustainable Practice

The Citizens Co-op was founded by local residents Elizabeth Nesbit and Gretchen McIntyre to make the food available for purchase in Gainesville more community-based. Citizens Co-op provides a solution to food safety, environmental, industrial, and economical issues by promoting health and nutrition, increasing local jobs, providing naturally raised meats, allowing shoppers to support local economy, preserving seeds, maintaining low tillage and crop rotation, promoting biodiversity of species, and providing affordable organic food. Citizens Co-op supports local food from naturally grown, small-scale and family-farms and other local businesses to create a strong economic base in the community in order to move toward regional self-sufficiency. Profits are either distributed to members or reinvested in the company to better serve the community. Citizen Co-op’s model for business is based upon respect, mutuality, and cooperation; intentions of reaching out to the community in its entirety include offering financial options for lower income households, providing home delivery services for working families and elderly patrons, working with local non-profit organizations, schools, and other groups for productive social and environmental change, creating a distribution network for local farms to supply buyers with the freshest produce, and supplying a venue for any member to sell their goods in a supported marketplace. The co-op operates using environmentally sustainable processes such as solar panels, credits for reusing bags or containers, composting in-house waste, recycling, water conservation practices, and energy efficient lighting, heating, cooling, and equipment.

Local Pledge

Citizens Co-op operates on a Local First policy by prioritizing their purchases from local and regional producers and vendors whenever possible. Food and products grown and/or processed within 150 miles of Gainesville are considered local while the borders of Mississippi, Tennessee, and North Carolina are considered within its region. In addition to locale, they base their purchases on overall quality and freshness. Citizens Co-op is committed to building direct relationships with their producers and shows preference for sustainably grown and produced goods.

Operations

Citizens co-op is a legal entity in the State of Florida that is structured to operate as a Cooperative. Its functions can be separated into:

1. Local Food Grocery: “to provide a transparent food chain for the consumer so they can really understand where their food is coming from” - Elizabeth Nesbit.
2. Building a Community: "More than a grocery store, Citizens Co-op is a unique member/producer/worker-owned co-operative. We are structured to serve the needs of our diverse members as well as the local community."

The Store

Citizens Co-op offers certified organic groceries: vegetables, fruit and meat from local producers as well as other locally made food and beauty products, supplemented by organic and fair-trade brand-name groceries and produce.

Community Building

Citizens Co-op is motivated by more than selling locally produced food. Both Founders utilize the business as a means to "educate people about where their food comes from," and "be a central hub for the community to cooperate and serve as a platform for people to launch other businesses." The goal of the Co-op is to promote a community centered on creative and sustainable business projects. Citizens Co-op provides a way to facilitate local eating, which will ensure more money stays in the community and supports Alachua farmers’ and neighbors’ livelihoods. 100% of any profits get re-distributed back to the development of the store and the community. There is no one individual owner reaping all the benefits, but rather it is dispersed across the members who all own the business equally. The financial goal of the co-op is to break-even only, after all expenses and investor dividends have been paid, not to turn excessive profits. Portions of these proceeds go to various projects, including "Porters Garden" (planting fruit trees), and "Citizens Cookbook" (with local recipes).

Consumer Membership

Consumer members are partial owners and participate in the decision-making process for the business. To obtain this type of membership applications are necessary, along with payment.

Producer Membership

Producer membership is specifically for the suppliers of the Co-op i.e. small scale and family farms within 150 miles of Gainesville, Fl.

Employee Membership

Employee membership is an option for each employee at Citizens Co-Op as a means to empower and support the good work they do.