Saint Paul, MN – May 25th marks one year since the police killing of George Floyd. In Minneapolis and other communities, celebration of life events will be held to honor Mr. Floyd and support continued healing and activism around racial justice.
Food co-ops have an important role in building a more just, equitable and inclusive society. Over the past year, NCG and our member co-ops have prioritized racial equity in our work together, collaborating to both measure the diversity in the food cooperative system and identify ways that we can improve.
We advocated for federal legislation that would reserve funding for community development and minority depository financial institutions that serve BIPOC communities in COVID-19 relief legislation and asked Congress to provide at least $25 million for migrant and seasonal farmworkers for pandemic-related emergency supportive services.
We endorsed the Justice for Black Farmers Act that would reform discriminatory practices at USDA and create opportunity for a new generation of Black farmers. We made strategic investments to support racial justice, contributing to Agricultural Justice Project, Campaign Zero, Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund and Black Visions Collective.
We also recently launched a supplier diversity program to identify and increase the number of products in food co-ops that bear certifications as companies owned by Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and other underrepresented groups. Internally, NCG continues to provide DEI resources and training for staff as part of a long-term DEI strategy that was initiated in 2018.
Food co-ops are for everyone and we’re committed to continually learning and growing so we can live up to that statement. We believe that everyone has the capacity, and the responsibility, to effect change.
About NCG
National Co+op Grocers (NCG), founded in 1999, is a business services cooperative for retail food co-ops located throughout the United States. NCG helps unify food co-ops in order to optimize operational and marketing resources, strengthen purchasing power and ultimately offer more value to food co-op owners and shoppers everywhere. Our 148 member co-ops operate more than 200 stores in 38 states with combined annual sales over $2.3 billion. NCG is a winner of the dotCoop Global Awards for Cooperative Excellence and a Certified B Corporation. Find a map of NCG member co-ops. To learn more about co-ops, visit www.welcometothetable.coop.
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Media inquiries may be directed to Eric Davis (eric@harvest-pr.com; 612-424-7545).