I will be a keynote speaker at the upcoming 26th annual Organic Farming and Gardening Conference hosted by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York.

Attendance at this conference is beginning to grow rapidly as awareness of organic and local food enter the mainstream. Once a conference almost exclusively attended by white farmers, the conference is increasing in diversity and in participation by urban residents and food justice organizations. This changing composition of conference goers points to a very positive trend in which people of historically divergent interests are beginning to converge and unify into a broader and more inclusive understanding of what it will take to build a movement to change the way our food system works.
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Folks mingling and getting their Grub on.

Chef Raashan did a cooking demonstration on how to make healthy sweet potato pie!

People’s Grocery youth peer educators rock a workshop.

A featured poet.

Jeannine Etter, Outreach Coordinator. The one who makes these parties happen.

Scooping up free and fresh produce from our farm

People’s Grocery is fortunate to receive financial support from some really creative, mission-driven businesses. Past examples of such creative support include Green Planet Properties, which gave 10% of its commission to People’s Grocery from the sale of local home, and the Wholes Foods, which selected People’s Grocery for its Nickels for Nonprofits Program at the new Oakland Whole Foods (we get five cents every time someone uses a cloth bag).

The latest addition to the list of mission-driven entrepreneurs that is supporting People’s Grocery is Stacee Gillelen, who is the founder and owner of
Dragonfly Designs, a local jewelry business that makes and sells “jewelry with a conscience”. Dragonfly Designs will donate 10% of all January on-line retail sales
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The U.S. grocery industry is splitting into two segments: those that sell luxury goods and those that sell cheap ones. Both Whole Foods Market (luxury) and Wal-Mart (cheap) are among America’s fastest-growing stores (although they have slowed down a bit recently). As a result of this split between luxury and discount retails, there is a space opening in the middle section of the pricing spectrum that is not being served by many retailers. Current trends indicate that this middle pricing area will be further abandoned as both luxury and discount retailing grow as an overall portion of the food retail industry.

The resulting retail gap that is being created in the center of the pricing spectrum is likely going
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People’s Grocery
Job Announcement and Description
Enterprise Manager

Description of Position
People’s Grocery is seeking a versatile and experienced individual to lead the development and management of the SOUL Box, a new food distribution enterprise that will provide fresh fruits and vegetables to low-income families in West Oakland. The Enterprise Manager’s primary role will be to develop the structure and operation of the SOUL Box and to work in collaboration with the staff to develop education, marketing, distribution and procurement processes. We are looking for an individual with at least 2 years of experience in the food industry, especially with a background in retail, distribution and/or marketing. Experience in direct producer-to-consumer marketing efforts a plus. Experience and knowledge of the West Oakland community is
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The new Whole Foods Market in Oakland is sponsoring People’s Grocery through the “Nickels for Non-profits Donation Program”. When customers bring their own bags in the store to pack their groceries they are given the option of receiving a five cent credit per bag or donating the five cents to People’s Grocery.

While we don’t normally encourage people to shop at any particular retailer, we want to put in a word of encouragement to those who might choose to shop at the new Whole Foods in Oakland (located at 230 Bay Place at Harrison St.) to bring your own cloth bags and donate your five cents bag credit to People’s Grocery. Five cents may not seem like a lot
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People’s Grub Parties are monthly events held to educate the community about health and nutrition by presenting a short cooking demonstration, a workshop presented by our “Peer 2 Peer” Youth and a Tasting of the food along with socializing, music and dancing.

So, this December, come out and join People’s Grocery for food, fun and games with our youth, staff, many friends and family who have helped us have a wonderful year, bringing healthy food and nutrition education to the people of West Oakland.

Friday, December 14th, From 6-9pm at “Healthy Oakland”
2580 San Pablo Street, Oakland 94612

Please contact Jeannine to RSVP by calling the office at
510-652-7607, emailing Jeannine@peoplesgrocery.org
or leaving a message at 510-594-4340.

People’s Grocery Market will be deeply committed to being an inclusive store that can serve all income segments. One way we plan to ensure that healthy foods are accessible to low-income shoppers is to offer ways of using food stamps that significantly benefit low-income families. One example of this is that we plan to offer double-value on food stamp purchases of fruits and vegetables. In other words, shoppers who use food stamps will receive $2 worth of produce for every food stamp dollar they spend. Another offer will be that all customers who make purchases with food stamps will receive a 10% discount. Additionally, we will promote and market our food stamp specials equally to any of our other promotion
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Here’s a link to a great editorial in the Washington Post by Mark Winne “We know hunger’s cause — poverty. We know its solution — end poverty. Let this Thanksgiving remind us of that task.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/16/AR2007111601213_2.html?hpid=opinionsbox1&sid=ST2007111900638

Abel Macias, an Oakland citizen and supporter of People’s Grocery, recently wrote the following letter to the Oakland Tribune in response to a recent article about the possible entrance of Tesco’s Fresh & Easy into Oakland.

“I was very disappointed when reading the story on Fresh & Easy (11/13/07, Business Section). I don’t understand why a representative of the City of Oakland would be excited about the prospect of another outside million dollar corporation (F&E is a unit of Tesco the worlds third largest supermarket chain) coming into Oakland and draining wealth from the local economy. Keira Williams retail specialist with Oakland Economic Development Department states “It’s great, and in many ways it makes sense for Oakland”.
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