Common Ground Food Co-operative

Common Ground Food Co-operative will screen the film at 6:15 p.m. on Oct. 23rd at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center, 202 S Broadway Ave, Urbana, IL 61801.  Popcorn will be provided.

“October is National Cooperative Month; what better way to celebrate than with a screening of Food For Change.  Food For Change (trailer) is an 82-minute documentary focusing on food co-ops as a force for dynamic social and economic change in American culture. It examines the important historical role played by food co-ops in lifting America out of the Great Depression through their pioneering quest for organic foods, and their current efforts to create regional food systems, build food security, and strengthen local economies.”

Location: The Independent Media Center (map)

BIRTH OF A CO-OP

In 1974, a passionate group of students worked with neighborhood leaders and organized a cooperative food distribution system to provide healthy food to a low-income neighborhood in central Champaign. It was $1 to join. With no store and no staff, Co-op owners would drive a big van up to Wisconsin and load it with organic and farm-direct foods to bring back to the community. Volunteers distributed the food from a church parking lot at Springfield and Wright streets.

COMMON GROUND IS GUIDED BY FOUR ENDS

These Ends are the reason we exist and are the embodiment of our owners’ vision- a statement created by the owners and their democratically elected Board of Directors.

1. The Co-op is the center of a vibrant, inclusive community

2. The cooperative movement is strengthened

3. The Co-op serves as an educational resource on food issues

4. Our local food system is equitable, robust and environmentally sound