LBGCoOp

LBGCoOp

Photo courtesy of the Long Beach Grocery Cooperative.

People Post is a space for opinion pieces, letters to the editor and guest submissions from members of the Long Beach community. The following is an op-ed submitted by Miles McNeeley, a commissioner and the former chair of the Long Beach Human Relations Commission, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Long Beach Post.

It was my wife who had first heard about the possibility of a grocery cooperative forming in Long Beach. She explained that there was a movement to start a co-op and that we should consider joining. My initial reaction was skeptical. I hadn’t, to my knowledge, ever been to a food co-op and didn’t understand how they worked exactly. We then attended a documentary film screening about the history of co-ops in the U.S., their importance, and the ideals and driving forces behind them.

I began to realize that co-ops are based on a lot of values that I feel very strongly about. I became drawn to the idea of transitioning the ownership and production of basic goods from large, distant corporations to people in the local community. I thought about how my neighbors and local farmers could better provide for themselves and their families by partnering with a stable storefront grocery store. I learned how co-ops emphasize paying living wages and providing full benefits to their employees. It became clear that there were so many possibilities because a major principle of the co-op is having an ethical concern for the health and well being of the community it serves, not solely on maximizing profits.

Another factor that allows cooperatives to adopt a community oriented approach is that they are owned by their members and are thus democratic. So, the co-op decides by vote on what to do with surplus funds. Whether the co-op votes to provide dividends to the member owners and employee owners or give greater discounts to low income shoppers, the money goes back to the community. Cooperatives allow us to activate our social conscience in our everyday transactions.

Grocery co-ops have been successful in hundreds of cities across the U.S. The grocery cooperative is one example of a typically “corporatized” business that can instead follow a community-based model. How can such common sense ideas seem so radical and so foreign? What if other businesses adopted a similar framework? It’s become clear to me that seeing this come to fruition is about so much more than just opening a grocery store—it’s about shifting paradigms.

The Long Beach Grocery Cooperative is hosting a free documentary film screening and town hall at The Art Theatre, located at 2025 East 4th Street, on Sunday, October 22 at 10:00AM.

All questions and concerns about the co-op and the process are welcome. Other information can be accessed by visiting http://www.longbeachgrocery.coop/.

Born at St. Mary Hospital, Miles McNeeley has lived in Long Beach for over 30 years. He holds a Master of Social Work degree from CSULB and works on health behavior research at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. He is a commissioner and the former chair of the Long Beach Human Relations Commission. Miles has recently joined on as a board member for the Long Beach Grocery Cooperative.