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Dorchester Food Coop Investment Ballot Results
We are pleased to announce that we successfully reached quorum on the 2022 Dorchester Food Cooperative Investment Ballot, on Monday January 31, 2022. Together, members approved a $25,000 loan, at 5% interest, over 7 years.
In this ballot, over 150 members, about 54% of eligible members, voted. For some fun context,Ujima’s voting rate on this ballot, 54%, is above Boston's voting average (about 30%), and just below the presidential voting average (about 60%). Read more in the ballot results breakdown.
When asked why Voting Members wanted to invest in DFC, voters commented:
"They have been working to get this going for a long time and have the support of the community. Co-ops are a great way for us to invest in ourselves and gain control over food products and businesses coming into our neighborhood."
"The Dorchester Food Coop aligns with Ujima values (both from the business standards perspective but also in the idea of keeping resources and capital in the neighborhood.) Excited for more healthy food in the area!"
"After reviewing the credit memo, I feel confident that there is a strong team and plan in place to support a high quality, accessible grocery store for Dorchester residents."
Additionally, when asked beyond investment in what ways would you be willing to support DFC, voters committed to:
→ Shopping at DFC (43%)
→ Joining as a member (29%)
→ Donating or participating in their Direct Public Offering (16%)
→ and Volunteering (10%)
Your first show of support can be viewing our latest Yours, Mine, Ours Podcast, in collaboration with Moonlighters' Club, featuring Dorchester Food Cooperative. In this episode, host Joel Edwards sits down with Apolo Cátala, who serves as a Board Member for the coop.
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Dorchester Food Cooperative was named as a start-up which residents loved, and wanted to support, during Ujima’s neighborhood assemblies. DFC was invited to join Ujima’s Good Business Alliance, a network of community-based businesses that are eligible for investment from the Ujima Fund and other supportive programs.
In addition to the funding provided by the Ujima Fund, Dorchester Food Cooperative will also enjoy technical assistance, business development, and marketing support as part of their acceptance into Ujima’s Good Business Alliance.
Black Market, founded by longtime Roxbury residents Kai and Chris Grant, was established in 2017 as a nascent pop-up market with a vision to help close Boston’s racial wealth gap and a mission to reignite Roxbury’s creative economy. Black Market is no longer just an economic engine, but has evolved into a young institution with centralized programming built on three tenants: Economic Justice, Arts + Culture, and Civic Engagement.
In its 3 year span, it has hosted 81 Marketplaces, 64 Events, 3 Festivals, 3 Teach ins, 4 health and wellness classes with over 300 Vendors and 30,000 estimated visitors. The Marketplace was widely accepted as one of Boston’s premiere spaces to gather, meet and shop, understanding the need for micro-business founders to develop the business acumen and literacy needed to move towards sustainability.
Last month, Black Market accept our invitation to join the Ujima Good Business Alliance, a rigorous process that involves compliance with our 36 Good Business Standards, for its first year.
We share Black Market's pride in their outstanding business practices. Some highlights include:
Fair scheduling
Fair classification of employees
CORI-friendly policies
Paid Family and Medical Leave
Encouraging Civic Engagement
Join us in welcoming Black Market to the Ujima Good Business Alliance! Look out for more information in our next Ujima Fund Investor Update.
We also have some exciting news from our new Translocal Membership Program. Join us in welcoming Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative as our first member on this journey!
The Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative (BCDI) is a community-led planning and economic development organization based in the Bronx. They are growing a network of community and labor organizations, anchor institutions, and small businesses to build an equitable, sustainable, and democratic local economy that creates shared wealth and ownership for low-income people of color--what they call economic democracy. Grounded in a vision of black liberation, a movement building approach to economic transformation, and a community enterprise network model, BCDI creates a people-centered planning and development processes; generates community solutions through innovation and digital fabrication technology; develops, grows, and connect local Bronx businesses to new opportunities; and train leaders from across sectors to advance a more democratic Bronx economy.
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The Ujima Translocal Membership is an action-oriented initiative to support peers outside of Boston in getting closer to creating economic democracy ecosystems where they are. Ujima's Translocal Membership is comprised of five components: partnership on Ujima's Quarterly Office Hours, joint fundraising, private organizational 1-on-1 support, whole team check-ins, and ecosystems exchanges. Membership in the Translocal Program is by invitation only.
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