Working to Build Community and Bring Good Food to Bushwick
 
 

Our Mission

We are a community grocery store expanding food options in New York City and promoting cooperative principles as tools for social change. As a cooperative, our member-owners democratically guide the decision-making and direction of the business.

 
 
 
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Our Vision

We envision a community resource that reconfigures our relationship with food. The Bushwick Food Cooperative we work towards:

  • addresses issues of health and equity, both global and specific to our neighborhoods

  • reflects the racial, economic, and cultural diversity of our community

  • provides a gathering place and safe space for people to share, learn, connect, and support one another

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Our Values

 

Solidarity With Our Community

  • We believe we are stronger when people of every race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, economic status, faith, and ability are represented and have a voice within our cooperative, especially those who historically have been silenced.

  • We commit to actively responding to systems of oppression that impact equal opportunity and food access in order to create a more just culture shift.

  • We recognize the many individuals that guide our food from seed, to store, to kitchen table, and advocate for fair wages and safe and supportive working conditions for all workers.

Building Strength Through Cooperation

  • We promote the power of the collective, where each individual’s unique gifts, lived experience, and knowledge unite to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

  • We believe an interconnected community with a culture of compassion and mutual investment ensures harmonious collaboration between individuals.

  • We adhere to the 7 Cooperative Principles set forth by the International Cooperative Alliance, honoring an established tradition of cooperation as a vehicle for a more equitable world.

Reconfiguring Our Relationship With Food

  • We believe in offering fresh, nutritious, and culturally appropriate foods reflective of our community.

  • We uphold food as sustenance, food as ancestral tradition, food as medicine, and food as gratitude.

Care For The Environment & Our Future

  • We weigh all of our actions in consideration of the health of current and future generations, from supporting farming practices that sustain the planet to composting, recycling, and reducing waste.

Fostering A Culture Of Responsibility

  • We know that with collective responsibility comes better stewardship of the common good.

  • We uphold accountability throughout all of the cooperative’s activities in support of the organization’s long-term viability.

 
 
 

Our History

 

The first meeting of the Bushwick Food Co-op was held in the spring of 2009 by a group of Bushwick neighbors after a conference on urban agriculture at the Bushwick Public Library. In the spring of 2010, the Co-op began running as a buyer’s club, open only to owners. In February of 2012, the Co-op moved into a retail space at The Loom, and began operating as a store, open to both owners and the public. In July of 2019, the store was damaged by a fire, resulting in the temporary suspension of operations. The Board is currently working to rebuild and reopen the Co-op.

The Bushwick Food Co-op is incorporated under the New York State Not-for-Profit Cooperative Corporation Law, which means we are a not-for-profit; however, we are not a 501c3, nor are we tax exempt. We are all invested in keeping costs low and working together in order to invest more in our store and build community. Therefore, the more owners and organizers we have, the better the Co-op can run, and the stronger the community is.

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Our Team

 
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Jen Chantrta-napichate

Board Director

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Chris Lepre

Board Secretary

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Nikki Thomas

Board Vice President

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Morgan Vlad-Mccabe

Board Treasurer

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Brittni Zotos

Board President