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board of directors

Are We Embracing the Entire Community?

Many cooperative grocery stores across the country are asking themselves whether they are embracing the entire community they serve. This is an especially important question for food cooperatives to explore because of their guiding values of democracy, equity, and equality. I am pleased to report that the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op Board stepped into this conversation at a recent monthly meeting and is committed to figuring out what we can do better to support our cooperative values of inclusion and accessibility.

For me, attempting to answer this question feels a bit daunting because my perspective is limited by my life experience. As a self-identified white woman and member of the dominant culture, I only know what I know. I need more information! Fortunately, the organizations that support food cooperatives (National Cooperative Grocers & Cooperative Development Services) have begun tackling this question and are sharing what they have gleaned thus far. Here is what I learned:

  • Many of the “new wave” food cooperatives have reached their 40-year anniversary. Middlebury Coop just celebrated this milestone!
  • In most food cooperatives across the county, nearly everyone involved, from board members, staff, management, and customer base is white.
  • Many people agree that racism is a societal problem yet they are challenged to recognize how long-held beliefs and biases could be informing individual and organizational values.
  • Being able to “see” outside dominant culture requires personal dedication to understanding how white supremacy works as a system that keeps people divided and oppressed.
  • Transforming organizations and institutions takes everyone’s participation.
  • Attempting to have meaningful and genuine conversations about race in food cooperatives will be challenging.

What I was surprised to learn is that the lack of diversity at our Co-op may not be just about the demographics of Addison County. I imagine that examining and assessing the organizational culture at the Middlebury Food Coop may be more challenging because of our demographics, but we have much to learn from other food coops in our small state and across the nation. The challenge for me personally is how to unearth/ recognize my biases and to “see” outside the dominant culture that I live and work in. I am eager to hear how others perceive/experience the Middlebury Food Co-op and to expand my perspective so that I can more fully engage in conversations about race and food cooperatives from a more informed place.

Please share your thoughts:  board@middleburycoop.com

Lynn Dunton is a member of the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op Board of Directors

Run for the Co-op’s Board of Directors!

It’s election time! Please  — each and every one of you — consider running for MNFC’s Board of Directors.  Spring will be here before we know it (really…it will!) — and among other things, it is the time when the Middlebury Natural Food Co-op member-owners have an opportunity to participate more fully in the democratic practices and overall wellbeing of the Co-op.  We invite all member-owners to consider running for open seats on the Board of Directors. The voting takes place during the month of May. Elected winners are announced at the MNFC Annual Meeting, and new board members begin their term at the June Board of Directors Meeting.  There are four open seats this election season. Please see the information for potential candidates below.

Board of Directors Applications are available at the Co-op or online:

https://middlebury.coop/participate/joining-our-board/

Dear Potential Board Candidate,

 Thank you for your interest in serving on the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op’s Board of Directors. This election packet provides you with an overview of Board functions and responsibilities to help you make your decision about running for the Board.  Please contact Kate Gridley (kmgridley@gmail.com) or any member of the Board for further information.

All are welcome here.

Here are our values:

MNFC member-owners, customers and the community benefit from:

Healthy Foods

A Vibrant Local Economy

Environmentally Sustainable and Energy-efficient Practices

Cooperative Democratic Ownership

And Learning About These Values

The Board of Directors is the legal representative of the member-owners of MNFC and is therefore responsible for the overall financial wellbeing of the Co-op.  The Board exercises its responsibilities through its relationship with the General Manager, whom it hires and oversees. The Board is made up of 11 directors. Each term of office is three years, and terms are staggered so no more than 4 terms expire each year.

DETAILS:

Time Requirements and Responsibilities for Directors

  • Make a three-year commitment to the Board of Directors.
  • Attend two Board orientation sessions.
  • Attend a workshop for cooperative boards in the first two years of your term (this one-day session is typically held in Brattleboro on a Saturday in January and MNFC pays for travel expenses).
  • Be familiar with MNFC’s by-laws and Board policies.
  • Prepare for and attend monthly Board meetings (6:30-8: 30 pm, currently scheduled for the fourth Wednesday of the month at the Co-op), occasional sub-committee meetings, and a daylong annual retreat (usually February). Monthly time commitment 4-6 hours a month.
  • Attend the Co-op’s Annual Meeting (early June) and Co-op community events.
  • Keep information and materials confidential when appropriate.

Qualifications of Candidates 

  • Be or become a member-owner of the Co-op.

Powers and Duties

  • Monitor the General Manager’s performance (store operations are the sole responsibility of the GM)
  • Monitor financial statements
  • Monitor, revise, create appropriate policies on a yearly basis
  • Communicate with the member-owners
  • Work to perpetuate the cooperative
  • Monitor Board performance

 Brief Explanation of Policy Governance Model

The Board of Directors of MNFC governs using the model of Policy Governance.

The Board develops policies outlining how the Board functions; what authority is delegated to the General Manager; and the limitations within which the General Manager operates. The General Manager communicates with the Board through monthly reports.  In Policy Governance, the General Manager makes all operational decisions while the Board focuses its attention on the strategic direction of the Co-op; engages with member-owners; and monitors management performance.

Compensation

In recognition of the time and commitment required to prepare for and attend meetings, required training and events, directors receive a stipend of $649/year plus a 10% discount on all purchases (except alcohol) at the coop.  Committee chairs and Executive Officers receive additional stipends.

Please apply!  As the MNFC handbook says: Regardless of race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, national origin or ancestry, place of birth, disability, and genetic information, you are welcome at the Co-op.  Racism or discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated.

 2018 Application for Candidacy for Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op Board of Directors

Scenario Planning – A New Tool in Your Board’s Governance Tool Kit

One day last August, even as our co-op was in the midst of its recent expansion project, your board spent the better part of an afternoon peering into the future. We gathered across town in a director’s screened-in sunroom and had brought along an assortment of fresh, summery, potluck dishes to share when the work was done.

Every director was there, along with our general manager, Glenn Lower, and our minute-taker and staff liaison, Victoria DeWind. The goal wasn’t to map a new direction, or plot our next move, but rather to make sense of a few of the conditions, contexts and events that our cooperative could potentially face and, based on that sense-making, dial up our general state of readiness to meet some of the challenges that might arise.

It is generally agreed among observers of food cooperatives that current economic, political, social, environmental and competitive market conditions make developing specific business strategies nearly impossible. But even though we can’t know much about our future we can imagine it. We can develop a set of plausible (but not necessarily probable) “what-ifs”, and then envision responses. This, in a nutshell, is what scenario planning is all about.

Here is another description of scenario planning from a recent article in the Harvard Business Review:

“Scenario planning is making hypothetical assumptions about what the future might be and how your organization’s environment could change over time in light of that future. More precisely, scenario planning is identifying a specific set of uncertainties, different ‘realities’ of what might happen in the future of your business. It sounds simple, and possibly not worth the trouble or effort; however, building this set of scenarios is probably the best thing you can ever do to help guide your organization in the long term.”

Since guiding the co-op’s direction over the long term is one of your board’s key responsibilities, we decided to make scenario planning a regular part of our yearly work. So to start, we focused on two possible scenarios. The first was an adverse social media event, which is something that happens at co-ops more often than you’d think and can be very tricky to resolve given the speed and reach of current social media technology. (This scenario was mainly about a potential risk.) The second scenario involved the possibility of partnering with another local or regional organization with similar and/or complementary values to ours. (This scenario was more about a potential opportunity.)

We brainstormed possibilities; identified forces at play; made diagrams; used sticky notes, index cards, and worksheets; arranged various combinations of factors; tested them for plausibility; weeded out the weak or overly fuzzy ones; and then, as the sun was getting low, enjoyed a fine dinner together out on the lawn. (No surprise: your board can cook.)

Summaries of this initial scenario work were later prepared and stored online for easy reference, for the benefit of future boards, and potentially to share with other co-ops as well.

As always, write anytime with questions or comments: tam@middleburycoop.com

By: Tam Stewart  – chair of your co-op’s Board of Directors

The Right to Food in the United States –  What can we do on the local level?

It’s time for the United States to support the human right to food.  Every person must have access to safe, nutritious, and adequate food obtained in dignified ways to be healthy and have an adequate standard of living. Our federal government should commit to respect, protect and fulfill the right to adequate food and nutrition, as almost every other country in the world has done. Recent assaults on federal food assistance by our government have stirred public outrage, as well as resistance from more moderate members of Congress.  But the problem goes deeper than threats to food access in the current administration – the solutions need to be made comprehensive and accessible.

United States opposition to the right to adequate food and nutrition (RtFN) has endured through Democratic and Republican administrations.  Nevertheless, post-World War II bipartisan programs in support of food and economic security were greatly improving hunger and poverty until they were reversed in the early 1980s. Combined federal and private food assistance cobbled together since that time has not been adequate to prevent steady or rising hunger and food insecurity in the U.S. on national and local levels.  In Vermont, the latest available data (2013-2015 average) tell us that 6.3% of households had low food security (reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet) and 5.1% had very low food security (reduced food quantity or disrupted eating patterns because of not having enough money or resources). This problem is especially serious in households with children:  nearly 1 in 5 children in Vermont doesn’t have regular access to enough food for a healthy, active lifestyle.

We shouldn’t be surprised: private charitable food assistance, such as food banks and pantries, and government food assistance such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and WIC cannot end hunger and food insecurity.  These programs do not address the root causes of food insecurity such as racism, falling real wages, and rising inequality in income and assets. People at the front lines of hunger and food insecurity do not participate in the design and implementation of US programs.  Nor do these programs respond to chronic food insecurity by building robust, diversified, sustainable, and decentralized food economies. There is no popularly conceived, comprehensive plan in the U.S. with measurable benchmarks to assess the success or failures of the present approach. Therefore, our capacity to hold government actors accountable to progressively improving food and nutrition status is ultimately constrained.  All of these actions are part of putting the RtFN in action.  Countries endorsing the RtFN and taking steps to make it real (e.g., Brazil, France, all Scandinavian countries, Eastern European countries, Japan) have a lower prevalence of moderate and severe food insecurity than the US, even when their GDP is much lower than the US.  For a look at how U.S. food security is broken down geographically, please click on the graphic, below:

Although nobody expects action at the federal level anytime soon, support may be feasible at town, city and state levels. Democratic action is often most effective and possible when people know and encounter each other regularly, and can hold each other accountable. Middlebury and Vermont could support the RtFN, even without federal action, in many ways.  We could look for guidance to many other places around the world that have created programs in line with the RtFN, then develop a plan for eliminating hunger and food insecurity that could be a model for other cities and states.

To find out more about the state of food security in the U.S., please see the following resources.

USDA Economic Research Service

Hunger Free Vermont

Molly Anderson is MNFC’s newest member of the Board.  She teaches at Middlebury College about hunger, food security, food sovereignty, and ways to “fix” food systems.  She works to improve our food system with national and international organizations, as well as through MNFC.

 

 

The Co-op Board Hosts Staff Appreciation Ice Cream Social

The Co-op Board of Directors hosted an ice cream social for staff in late May to show their appreciation to staff.  While the board appreciates the staff every day, staff are going above and beyond their regular routines to accommodate many changes.  The social was held in the old store space where the board meets monthly.  This location did not go un-noticed as many noted how much the Co-op has grown.

There were many flavors of ice cream, but where the board went… well, overboard, was with the toppings: from pretzels and M&Ms to nuts, fresh fruit, and two kinds of secret recipe sauces (caramel and chocolate).  All the ingredients were on hand to create a well-deserved treat.  More than 30 staff members came by, some with just the time to grab an ice cream and go back to work or to a meeting, others with a bit more time to sit and talk.

As the expansion continues, keeping the store moving smoothly is a balancing act and one that has not gone unnoticed by customers.   The board wanted to express gratitude to the staff for making the Coop function in the middle of a construction site.  Board members hear every day from member-owners how the staff is always friendly and available to answer questions and to help. We really wanted to acknowledge that, and the fact that they make the store feel as welcoming as ever, in spite of all the kinds of interferences that an expansion brings about (noise, dust, having to park further away from the store, etc.).

Beyond expressing thanks to the staff, the members of the board who were able to attend the social appreciated the wonderful opportunity to connect directly with members of the Staff. These two “sides” of the Co-op work in tandem, but have very seldom the chance to connect personally.

By Ilaria……

Ilaria Brancoli-Busdraghi is a long-serving Co-op Board Member.  Do you have any questions about the Board and how we do our work? Write anytime with comments, questions or suggestions: tam@middleburycoop.com.

Welcome Molly Anderson to our Board

The election results are in, and we’re welcoming a brand new board member – Molly Anderson!  Molly is a Professor of Food Studies at Middlebury College.  Here’s what she had to say about why she’d  like to join the Co-op Board of Directors:

I want to contribute to MNFC and participate more actively in helping it thrive. It’s a great coop now; and I’d like to help MNFC member-owners, staff and GM work through our next phase, which will make it an even stronger community center.  I’m committed to keeping the coop viable, yet making it even more accessible and affordable to low-income residents. 

While I’ve lived in Middlebury a bit less than 2 years, I have been working with organizations and businesses throughout New England for the past 30 years that are working to improve our food system.  I think that I could bring knowledge about food system issues, resources and trends that might be useful to the Board.  I’ve been a member of food coops in North Carolina, Arlington and Cambridge (Mass) and Maine, but haven’t served on their Boards.  I do have considerable Board experience, however:  I chaired the national Community Food Security Coalition’s board for 6 years, and served on the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project Board (Massachusetts).  I also clerked the New England Earthcare Committee, a Quaker environmental group with food and environmental interests; and I serve on several Advisory Boards for food system organizations.

I’m a bridge-builder and networker through my work, and I think collaboration across different perspectives is how we solve social problems.  In my experience, Boards work best when members feel their time is valued; when meetings are planned carefully; when there is good communication across the organization’s management, staff and Board; and when Board members listen to each other deeply and respect differences of opinion as they try to reach agreements or compromises.  While social capital is essential for good group dynamics, it’s important to stay focused on the tasks that need to be done. 

I’m on the faculty of Middlebury College as Professor of Food Studies, responsible for developing a new interdisciplinary program in food studies.  I’m also a member of Food Solutions New England and the (national) Inter-Institutional Network for Food, Agriculture & Sustainability.

 

Touring A Monthly Co-op Board Meeting

As co-op owners, you elect directors to the Board, who work on your behalf. Most of that work is done at the monthly board meetings, bi-annual board retreats, committee meetings, and several ad hoc meetings each month. On the fourth Wednesday of each month at 6:30 pm, you will find the Co-op Board of Directors around a table munching on tamari roasted almonds and sliced apples doing what they do best – guiding the health and well-being of this vibrant member-owned Addison County institution. As the Co-op Board President, it’s my job to compile an agenda for each monthly board meeting and post it, along with other reading or reference material, in the form of a board meeting packet. The content is collected from various sources; by the time the board packet is posted to our web-based collaboration tool, it’s a 20-50 page document.  Packets are posted the week before board meetings to allow for plenty of study time. Frequently, they contain financial data in spreadsheet form that requires special attention.  Here’s an example of a typical Board Meeting Agenda.

Meetings have a consistent flow from month to month and always start with a final agenda check. (Everything here that should be? Anything that shouldn’t?) We always discuss any matters brought to our attention by you either in person or through a conversation with a board member as our second agenda item. Next, we review the previous month’s meeting minutes and make any corrections or clarifications (although Victoria writes such good minutes, this doesn’t take long). Then we vote to accept them for the permanent record.

After these first few tasks, we often turn to monthly policy monitoring chores. Our system of Policy Governance involves adhering to policies that direct the activities of both the board and general manager. This is done through a regular schedule of monitoring to ensure compliance. Learn more about Policy Governance here. (http://www.policygovernance.com/model.htm) If it’s a Governance Policy (GP), we review it and decide whether, as a board, we are in compliance. (We usually are.) If it’s an Executive Limitation (EL), we review the report that Glenn has provided to demonstrate his compliance and decide whether we agree. (We nearly always do.) At around this point, we discuss the monthly “GM Report” for a while. This report is not about policy compliance, but is informative and designed to give the board insight into the “under the hood” workings of our co-op, as well as views of “the big picture”, such as what is happening regionally and nationally in the world of food co-ops and in the market conditions that affect us.

With any luck, we’re halfway through the meeting now and turn to a list of timely or topical agenda items. These might include updates from committee chairs; retreat planning; expansion project details; board training and education; and communication and outreach. The impressive part of a monthly board meeting is the quality and dedication each member brings to his or her commitment to representing the Co-op. By 8:20, we review next steps, tasks, assignments and due dates before we adjourn and head home at 8:30.

Tam Stewart is our current Board President.  Do you have any questions about the Board and how we do our work? Write anytime with comments, questions or suggestions: tam@middleburycoop.com.

Members…Vote For Your Board of Directors by May 26th!

The candidates are ready and the ballots are in the mail…you should see one in your mailbox next week.  The ballot packet includes information about the election, candidate bios and photos, a preview of our Annual Meeting Celebration and our Annual Report.  You can link directly to everything but the ballot (the ballot will only be in your mailbox!), RIGHT HERE.  After you’ve filled out your ballot, bring it to any cashier to redeem your Coupon for $3.00 of Any Vermont Product (this will be attached to your ballot).  All ballots need to be in before 7pm on May 26th.  Happy voting!

Being A Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op Board Member

As a new member of the Board of Directors, I frequently get asked why I choose to be a board member. We are all familiar with the refrain “voting with your dollars” as a shared value of conscious consumers. I choose to spend my money at the co-op because I believe in this slogan. I choose to be a member of the Board of Directors because I similarly believe in the concept of “voting with your time.” Being a member of the board allows me to “spend” my time committing to the power of democracy and to pursue lifelong learning.

Wendell Berry writes: “No matter how much one may love the world as a whole, one can live fully in it only by living responsibly in some small part of it.” In these unsettled times, participating in the democratic leadership of a cooperatively owned, local business allows me to practice living responsibly in my small part of the world. Our co-op may seem like a small fish in the big pond of the globe—whether we buy organic, fair trade chocolate chips at the co-op, or conventional chocolate chips at a big-box store may seem dolefully inconsequential in the face of the massive social-justice issues our world faces.  But, it’s really not; these choices matter.  Participating in the democratic ownership of the co-op, however, allows me to devote my dollars, time and energy to the pursuit of an alternative to our global status quo.

Being on the Board of Directors also offers opportunities for meaningful personal growth. I recently attended a cooperative board leadership workshop, and it was truthfully the most useful training that I have ever attended. In only a few hours, I had the opportunity to learn the history and saliency of the cooperative movement, meet board members from our neighboring co-ops, and learn essential skills for my board work. My highlight of the day was building MNFC’s financial model with LEGOs alongside Glenn, our General Manager, and Ann, a fellow board member! The concepts and skills I took away from that day have proven to be not only indispensable for my work with MNFC, but also highly translatable to my job as a cooperative leader of the Bridge School.

The election season for our co-op is in full swing. As you decide whether to spend your time filling out your ballot, and voting for new members of the Board of Directors, I urge you to remember Wendell Berry’s notion. Our co-op may be small, but voting for our board allows us to exercise our democratic muscles and live responsibly in our small part of the world, and thereby living fully in the world as a whole – Amanda Warren, Board Member, Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op

To learn more about the Co-op’s Board of Directors, click here.

 

Run for the Board of Directors!

 

It’s our very local election time! Please consider running for MNFC’s Board of Directors.  Spring arrives this month and with it the time when Middlebury Natural Food Co-op member-owners have an opportunity to participate more fully in the overall wellbeing of the Co-op.

 

We invite all member-owners to consider running for open seats on the Board of Directors. The voting takes place during the month of May. Elected winners are announced at the MNFC Annual Meeting, and new board members begin their term at the June Board of Directors Meeting.  There are four open seats this election season. Please see the information for potential candidates below. Applications are due must be received by Tuesday, March 14, 2017

 

Board of Directors Applications are available here.

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Open Letter to Potential Board Candidates

Thank you for your interest in serving on the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op’s Board of Directors. The election packet provides you with an overview of Board functions and responsibilities to help you make your decision about running for the Board.  Please contact Kate Gridley (kmgridley@gmail.com) or any member of the Board for further information.

 

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors is the legal representative of the member-owners of the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op and thus is responsible for the overall wellbeing of the Co-op.  The Board exercises its responsibilities through its relationship with the General Manager, whom it hires and monitors. It is made up of 11 directors and one non-voting staff representative.  Each term of office is three years, and terms are staggered so no more than four terms expire each year. There are no term limits.

 

Powers and Duties

  • Provide linkage between the Board and member-owners.
  • Create policies that are consistent with cooperative principals and MNFC Ends. (Policy Governance-see below)
  • Monitor management performance on implementing policy.
  • Work to perpetuate the cooperative.

(Operations are the sole responsibility of the General Manager.)

 

Qualifications of Candidates

  • Be or become a member of the Co-op in good standing.
  • Express yourself in a clear, concise manner.
  • Work in a group and support decisions made by consensus.
  • Devote the time necessary to accomplish Board objectives and fulfill your term.
  • Communicate electronically using email and the Board’s web-based information sharing program.
  • Understand financial statements or be willing to learn through instruction.

 

Expectations for Directors

  • Make a three-year commitment to the Board of Directors.
  • Attend two Board orientation sessions and a training for cooperative boards in the first two years of your term. This is a one-day session typically held In Brattleboro on a Saturday in January. (MNFC pays for travel expenses).
  • Have familiarity with and adherence to the Co-op’s by-laws and Board policies.
  • Prepare for and attend monthly Board meetings (6:30-8:30pm, usually on the fourth Wednesday of the month at the Co-op), sub-committee meetings, a day-long annual retreat (early February), the Co-op’s Annual Meeting (early June) and Co-op community events. Time commitment averages 3-4 hours per month.
  • Take responsibility for Board duties and work together with understanding, mutual support and respect to make decisions that will enhance the viability of the Co-op.
  • Keep information and materials confidential when appropriate.

            

Policy Governance

The Board of Directors of MNFC operates using the model of Policy Governance. This model of leadership results in the General Manager making all operational decisions. Rather, the Board focuses its attention on the strategic direction of the Co-op, engaging with member-owners and monitoring management performance. Policies are developed by the Board outlining how the Board functions, how authority is delegated to management, what limitations management may have and to define Ends toward which management works. Management then reports to the Board in written monitoring reports as to compliance or non-compliance with these policies.

 

Compensation

In recognition of the time and commitment required to prepare for and attend meetings, required trainings and events, directors receive a stipend of $ 600/year plus a 10% discount on all purchases (except alcohol) at the Co-op.

Committee chairs and Executive Officers receive additional stipends.

 

 

Applications should be submitted to Kate Gridley.

 

Via email:

kmgridleygmail.com

 

Or

 

Regular mail to:

 

Kate Gridley,

c/o Middlebury natural Foods Co-op,

1 Washington Street

Middlebury, Vermont 05753

 

 

Applications are due by Tuesday, March 14, 2017