Detroit People's Food Co-op

Welcome to Detroit People's Food Co-op The Detroit People’s Food Co-Op is a Black-led and community-owned grocery cooperative. The co-op’s purpose is to provide improved access to healthy food and food education to Detroit residents. Meeting the needs of the community is achieved through the democratic control of the co-op by its member/owners. Food co-ops continue to be developed throughout the world as a means to increase access to healthy, sustainably grown food while building community ownership and empowerment. In the United States, many food co-ops are located in college towns or affluent communities. The Detroit People’s Food Co-op, which will be located in Detroit’s historic North End, will be an unique model, serving an urban, predominately African American, low and moderate-income community. A vision of a better futurethrough good food The purpose of the Co-op shall be to serve citizens of the Detroit community by: Assuring Member access to the goods, services, and facilities of the Co-op DPFC will provide access to goods and services that will serve as wide of a variety of dietary needs and preferences as possible in order to be as welcoming to all members of our community. We will actively work to remove barriers to accessing the goods and services that the co-op offers. Educating the community about nutrition and sustainability DPFC will offer educational materials and classes to help our community learn more about nutrition, cooking, healthy living, sustainability, community development and more. We are committed to help heal individuals, our community, and the earth. Benefiting the community by supporting local businesses DPFC will prioritize working with local businesses in order to support our community and keep as much of our money as possible here…in Detroit. The co-op will prioritize buying from local growers and producers, service providers and other vendors whenever possible to help our community thrive. Improving community access to fresh and healthy food DPFC will provide its member/owners and the community with greater access to healthy foods, and greater control of the food system. The co-op is not profit-driven and will uphold product standards in line with the desires of the member/owners. A food co-op is a grocery store that’s owned by its member/owners as opposed to a grocery store such as Kroger or Meijer which has corporate ownership or an independent grocery store owned by a family or individual. In a food co-op members have a role in shaping the store culture, operations, and product standards. Detroit People’s Food Co-op is democratically controlled by its member/owners. Each member/owner can only purchase one ownership share and has one vote. Although food co-ops, like all businesses, must have revenues that exceed operating costs if they are to be sustainable, food co-ops prioritize community well-being over making profits for member/owners. The Detroit Food Commons is being financed through a combination of donations, grants, loans, and New Markets Tax Credits obtained by the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network (www.dbcfsn.org) and Develop Detroit Inc.(www.developdetroit.org). DPFC member-owner equity will only be used for internal co-op costs such as hiring a general manager, the store’s point-of-sales system, and promotion. Member/owners must be residents of the State of Michigan and be at least 21 years of age because DPFC will sell beer and wine. You must be of legal drinking age to be an owner of a store that sells alcohol. All member/owners must complete an application and purchase a $200 member/owner share which can be paid in one lump sum or ten monthly installments. DPFC only offers individual member/owner shares. Families, institutions, or organizations cannot be member/owners. DPFC was created to build Black food sovereignty and economic equity for Detroit’s African American community. While DPFC is Black-led, membership is open to all who share th