For the month of July, GRITtv will be spotlighting cooperatives in all their myriad forms. This week, it’s food!
The Park Slope Food Co-op (PSFC) was founded in 1973 by ten organizers who had dreams of purchasing quality food and working together to achieve that goal. In forty years, it has grown into a 16,000+ member community supermarket – to become one of the biggest food co-ops in the USA. PSFC general manager, Joe Holtz states, “We knew we were trying to start a cooperative, and we thought, well, cooperation means people working together and we felt like we were growing up into a society where there wasn’t enough people working together.”
The co-op is a more democratic food space than your conventional grocery. Members are required to commit their time and encouraged to raise their voices by working shifts and attending meetings. PSFC also has a revolving loan fund which aims to help other cooperatives get their start. A co-op cooperating to help other co-ops? As an extended service, the co-op provides childcare and payment options for those on income-based assistance. Hungry for more? Click play to watch the full interview.
