Black Cooperatives
| Case Study Name | Location | Context | Student name |
|---|---|---|---|
| GullahFarmers Co-op | Beauford County, SC | Traditional farming community | Delandra Clark |
| Mandela Grocery Co-op | Oakland, CA | For-profit, Worker-owner, and Black-led Cooperative serving low-income and Black community in West Oakland, CA. | Elizabeth Howard |
| Soaring Independent Cooperative | Madison, WI | Worker-owned health care agency that serves elderly people, children, and people with mobility issues | Sarah Lipuma |
| Earthseed Land Collective | Durham, NC | Cooperative ownership of land and resources; farming | Austin Thompson |
| The Federation of Southern Cooperatives | East Point, Georgia | Non Profit cooperative association of black farmers, landowners and cooperatives | Brenden Drumm |
| Detroit People's Food Co-op | Detroit, Michigan | Address food insecurity in Detroit's Black Community | Nabila Bustillos-Francis |
| Indian Springs Cooperative | Indian Springs, Mississippi | Market produce and purchases for farmers, created in part by Ben Burkett | Hannah Smith |
| West Georgia Farmer's Cooperative | Hamilton, Georgia | Cooperative that aims to build local food system and promote economic development | Jae In Oh |
| Communities In Partnership Co-op | Durham, NC | Philanthrophy and grant funded food cooperative | Benjamin Schwarz |
| Brooklyn Packers, Brooklyn Suportive Agriculture, Black Radish | Brooklyn, New York | Brooklyn community-supported agriculture (CSA), with produce bags packed by Brooklyn Packers (worker-owner coop). Also provide package food delivery service through Black Radish, and provide free produce to mutual aid organizations across Brooklyn | |
| The Compost Co-operative | Greenfield, Massachusetts | Driven by racial and environmental justice, the worker owners of the Compost Co-operative haul food scraps for residential and commercial customers in Franklin County, MA. | Angela Hessenius |
| Freedom Quilting Bee | Alberta, Alabama | Founded in 1966, women in share-cropping families sold quilts to supplement their families' farming income. | Caroline Marshall |
| Land Loss Prevention Project | Durham, NC | Founded in 1982 to curtail epidemic losses of Black owned land in North Carolina. | April Hausle |
| Renaissance Community Co-op | Greensboro, NC | Black-owned food co-op founded in 2016 as a response to food dessert. Closed in 2019. | April Hausle |
| Green Worker Cooperatives | Bronx, NY | Build, grow, and sustain worker-owned green businesses for immigrants and communities of oclor | Ross Petersen |
| Detroit Black Community Food Security Network/Detroit People’s Food Co-op | Detroit, Michigan | DBCFSN was formed initially to ensure that Detroit’s black community participated in the food movement. Low-income neighborhoods of Detroit, and those who experience food insecurity. The Detroit People’s Food Co-op has been created to serve the low-income families of Detroit. | Jasmyn Byrd |
| The East Oakland Grocery Co-Op/ DEEP Grocery Co-Op | East Oakland, CA | Community-developed initiative that aims to provide fresh, local, healthy and culturally relevant foods, as well as job opportunities, to East Oakland residents. The point is not only to diversify neighborhood food offerings, but also to localize and build economic resilience among the area’s Black and POC communities. | Jasmyn Byrd |
| African Heritage Food Co-op | Buffalo, NY and Niagra Falls Area | There is a poverty rate of 32.3% for African Americans compared to 9.3% for white residents in the Buffalo Area (Food Tank) that African Heritage Food Cooperative is looking to address while also tackling long-standing food insecurity issues. | Davis Turner |
| Seward Community Co-op | Minneapolis, MN | As a cooperative community, we aspire not only to serve owners’ mutual needs but also to demonstrate that it is possible to cultivate a healthier and more equitable society. By working together, we see the co-op as a tool through which to support society’s need for greater racial equity. | Leslie Harrison |
| Mississippi Market Co-op | St. Paul, Minnesota | Mississippi Market opened on the corner of Saint Clair & Pascal on March 1, 1979 with the mission of providing healthy, unprocessed food to the surrounding neighborhood. The St. Paul community responded favorably to Mississippi Market, and by the late 1980’s the co-op had outgrown its space. In 1991 the co-op moved to its next location near the corner of Randolph & Fairview, more than tripling its retail space from 1,100 to 3,595 square feet. | Leslie Harrison |
| Credjafawn Co-op Store | St. Paul, Minnesota | Created within the Credjafawn Social Club -- an African American social club (one of the oldest) based in the Rondo neighborhood. The Club also provided a credit union for housing and education loans. Co-op closes shortly before it and surroundings are destroyed by I-94. | Leslie Harrison |
| Freedom Farm Cooperative | Ruleville, Sunflower County, Mississippi | Founded in 1969 by Civil Rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer; ran until 1976 | Angie Kealey Rainey |
| Little Africa Food Cooperative | Cleveland, Ohio | Created after community movement following the killing of Philando Castile. The purpose is to create a more self sustaining and independent community through food security. | Will Beam |
| Fertile Ground Food Corporation | Raleigh, NC. | a multi-stakeholder cooperative that increases access to wholesome food and serves as a community and cultural center in SE Raleigh. | Molly Ravenscraft |
| Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation | Austin, TX | Developers created a plan to segregate the lower income area of east Austin without informing the community at all. They intended to put a large wall to literally hide the “less attractive” homes from view of the new development. When the community heard of these plans they joined together to create the Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation (GBDC). | Molly Ravenscraft |
| The Central Brooklyn Food Cooperative | Brooklyn,NY | Sierra Kabir | |
| South Wast Alabama Farmers Cooperative Association | Throughout SouthWest Alabama | a farmer’s cooperative formed in 1967 with 1,800 members in order to protect farmers in South West Alabama from exploitation and allow them to underwrite production of vegetables. | AnnaGrey Lassiter |
| Winston County Self Help Cooperative | Louisville, Mississippi | Founded in 1985 works to provide help farmers within the Winston County and surrounding areas. | Noah Weaver |
| Rennaissance Community Cooperative | Greensboro, NC | A Black community owned food cooperative grocery store in Greensboro, NC. | AnnaGrey Lassiter |
| Green Team Landscaping, an industry of Cooperation Jackson | Jackson, Mississippi | Founded in 2015 to meet the need for jobs and much needed services along with aligning the opportunity of using existing skills here in Jackson. | Steph Dahl |
| Detroit Black Community Food Security Network | Detroit, Michigan | Formed in 2006 to address food insecurity in Detroit Michigan. Malik Yakini, who has been a food activist since the mid 1970s, has initiated the formation of D-Town Farms to provide healthy food options while keeping collective black wealth in the community through creating jobs and stimulating economic growth. | Kendall Yount |