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South Philly Food Co-opSteering Committee MeetingMonday, October 11, 2010

In attendance: Molly, Alison, John, Julia, Rebecca, David, Cassie, Mary Beth,and Maria

1. Subcommittee update (5)a. Outreach

i. Block party on Christianpeople are really into itii. Larry Schaffer (?) very connected, great meeting himiii. Blocktoberfest---collect donationsiv. Julie & Rebecca working on finalizing civic association

presentationb. Are we ready for combined civic meeting on 10/21 at Neuman-Gorretti?

i. Alison will present along with Julie and Rebecca and maybe Cassie

c. Amy Dean---looking over survey of local businesses to make sure it isdone tactfully and responsibly

d. Legal/Financei. TDBank account w/tax ID # opened 10/10 (signersCassie, Molly

& Erika)ii. Erika O will be bookkeeperiii. Proposal for incorporating has been completediv. Saturdaymet with Stuart Reed who recommended incorporating

early as possible to protect us from legal liabilityv. Directors and officers insurance how much will it cost us? Do we

need it?

2. Vote: Legal/Finance Bookkeeping proposal (10)a. Overview of banking practiceswho is responsible for what?b. Form for collecting money at eventsc. PayPal account---donate button for website. Alison has account set up,

will talk to finance about linking bank accountd. Rebecca, Patty (Outreach) and Molly will create some kind of system for

tracking volunteer hourse. All policies are in effect as of tonightf. $25 in petty cash to Outreach to make change when necessaryg. First official co-op vote! 7 votes and 2 abstentions

3. Door-to-door surveys (deadline 10/9) How are we doing? (10)a. Outreach will put together an organized canvassing endeavorb. orientation first then walkc. about 5 different locations

4. Up for Discussion: (40)a. Post mortem from last meeting (Tina Johnson): Are we thinking too big?

Thoughts?i. start w/a working model with possibility to relax rulesii. will we be able to get people to join?

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iii. working will create community as opposed to grocery storeiv. working will provide jobs to communityv. will working really save moneyvi. working and labor laws----will someone sue b/c we arent hiring

people, using volunteervii. how many co-ops have succeeded with a non-working model?

viii. definitely a strong sense of community is wanted by steeringcommittee

ix. future members need education on what exactly a co-op is oncewe have a plan

x. we need to decide what we want the co-op to be and then shareour vision with the community

xi. Flatbush co-op started with a simpler work-only model and thenevolved into what they are now

xii. hybrid modelhave only a small percentagexiii. Weavers Way had working only model(6 hrs a year) w/members

only paying $400/yrxiv. it was alienating the community who couldnt shop there, some

members stopped working and shoppingxv. what makes us different than other stores? Why will people shop

at our store and not at a regular grocery store?xvi. we need to have our vision straight before we ask people to buy

in?xvii. why do we want a working model? Is it just to build community or

to save money?xviii. Kensingtonopen membership structure needed for success b/c

of their populationxix. differentiate ourselves --- local food, bulk food, organic foodxx. membership specialslower prices only for members (like Acme),

bulk discounts, check cashing

b. Membership Structure Open discussion, re-review co-op manual and co-op/membership info on Google group if needed

i. see above discussion

c. Timeline Feedback. Are we ready to put this on the website?i. we didnt get to discuss this

5. Other?a. Website ($2.50) for Mary Beth (Alison, Marsha, Maria, Rose, John, David,

Cassie, Rebecca, Julia paid)b. Update to email list feedback? Ready to Send?

6. Set date and time for 10/25 meeting.a. Education topic Rochdale Principles (Marsha)b. Julie present possible Case Studies of other co-ops and how they

succeeded?i. Kensington and other urban co-ops

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c. Next weeks meeting-----617 Reed St (Johns house)