Louisville Community Grocery

Author: Arte Chambers

  • Meeting Summary – Board Meeting Feb 20th, 2025

    Meeting Summary – Board Meeting Feb 20th, 2025

    Board Present:   Arte Chambers, Cassia Herron, DeNita Wright, Judy Schroeder

    Owners:  LaiEsha Allen, Gina Braxton, Emily Boone, Gwen Kelly, Michelle Lori, Luther Pearson, Dennisha Rivers

    Next Steps

    The meeting discussed the progress all committees are making as a result of the Owners Meeting on January 25th. Specifically, as Next Steps:

    • The meeting discussed the progress all committees are making as a result of the Owners Meeting on January 25th. Specifically, as Next Steps:
    • Tech Committee is expanding with Shavaun John & Julian who are in training to help administer the blog, wiki, and listserv. Arte will publish all committee charters and work plans on the wiki and website, as they develop. 
    • Robin Hawkins is working on documenting the Co-op’s history and past decisions.
    • The Finance Committee will have Finance Statements to review monthly.
    • Arte will circulate a question for discussion within all committees about the proper level of transparency and access to financial reporting. [With a full discussion, members agreed that the question was not about public access to LCG’s financial reporting, but about access for owners. Our meeting recognized both the importance of participation and access as owners of a co-op, and that some business opportunities get complicated or lost when our business transactions are public, in real time. We are looking specifically for a policy that gives owners confidence in our financial practices, without publishing our business transactions (financial reports) in public, such as links on our website & newsletters, rather than requests to the Treasurer or attendance at Board meetings.
    • Judy to research language for Conflict of Interest disclosures.
    • Site Selection Committee to meet on March 7th for a tour of two potential properties.
    • The Business Development Committee is updating our business model and will be meeting with representatives from National Co-op Grocers.
    • Board to include an agenda in future meeting invitations.

    Board Goals

    • Formalize internal processes
    • Create committee Charters and standard operating procedures
    • Agree on explicit goals & reporting expectations for each committee
    • Develop Conflict of Interest & Non-Disclosure protocols for all business functions
    • Establish a formal grievance process
    • Develop Code of Conduct for owners
  • January 2025 owners meeting recap

    January 2025 owners meeting recap

    The Jan 2025 Owners Meeting was a great success. Fifteen owners and three allies gathered to update our goals and begin planning for 2025. Two break-out conversations focused on some basic objectives to work on in 2025, including Site Selection & Business Development, Technology & Communications, Owner Engagement, and Internal Systems (especially finances).

    ALL OWNERS are welcome (and needed) to participate, at any point!

    Site Selection & Business Development Committees

    Members: 

    Alix Davison, Emily Boone, Amanda Fuller, Myrisa Christy (CFA), Kellie Padgett (KCARD), Cassia Herron (committees’ chair)

    How to get involved: Please contact Cassia cassia.herron@gmail.com

    2025 Goals

    1. Finalize site selection
    2. Revise sources and uses, proforma and business plan
    3. Launch capital campaign

    Q1 Work Plan

    Site Selection Committee 

    • Finalize and rank sites
      • Investigate each site’s development opportunities
      • Decide if committee members do this work or co-op to hire a realtor
      • Ask National Cooperative Grocers for list of questions (NCG is interested in supporting our site selection process and us becoming members)
    • Finalize site selection by end of March
    • Committee to sunset after site selection is complete
    • Members are encouraged to join Business Development Committee

    Business Development Committee

    • Review new market study + old business plan and proforma
    • Meet with NCG in March

    Next Steps

    Site Selection Committee Meeting

    2/6 or 2/11 at 6:30PM

    Business Development Committee Meeting

    2/17 or 2/24 at 1PM or 6:30PM

    2/28 at 10AM or 11AM

    Technology & Social Media/Communications 

    Another topic that was discussed at length was how we improve our ability to communicate with our ownership and our community. 

    Members:  Arte Chambers, John Krueger, Shavaun Evans, Kaitlin Franklin 

    Volunteered to work with Arte on our communications technology & social media. 

    How to get involved: Please contact Arte arte.chambers@gmail.com

    Arte is working to get all committees organized with technology and support by February 15th. Once that is completed, action steps will begin and everyone in LCG will be updated with specifics on how to join in the work.

    Owner Engagement/Outreach 

    Members: Robin Hawkins, Gina Braxton, Tony Manning and Kaitlin Franklin agreed to bolster our in-person efforts with Owner Engagement activities, such as canvassing, new owner recruitment, potlucks, or street teams, as needed. 

    How to get involved: Please contact Robin mrsrmfaulkner@gmail.com

    Internal Systems

    Members: Michelle Lori, Amy Shir, Robin Hawkins, Judy Schroeder

    How to get involved: Please contact Judy judys@iglou.com

    1. There is a need to document our history, both good and bad, so that we may learn from our past mistakes and become a better co-op.
      – Robin Hawkins and Judy Schroeder offered to start by doing interviews to gather info and create the narrative that LCG may share internally and externally.
    1. Financial Practices:  How do we know that LCG isn’t going to repeat the same problems the Board has had before?  We have a proficient & dedicated Treasurer, Seamus Allman, so our interest was in strengthening hands-on support for –
      1. financial reporting
      2. wider knowledge about our finances & history (where are our files & who has access to them?)
      3. an audit of our assets 
      4. a charter that identifies what the committee needs in the future to be functional for the co-op. 

    Michelle Lori & Amy Shir will start this Quarter by reviewing and organizing LCG’s historical Google Docs filing system and Judy will have a conversation with the Treasurer about the best ways this team can be of support for financial reporting. By the June Owners Meeting, we’ll have an organized filing system, a financial reporting process, and an audit of our assets completed.