About People’s Market

The People’s Cooperative Market Vision Mission Values and Goals Statement 

Our Vision 

We envision a vibrant market community that is thoughtfully driven by a comprehensive set of values (listed below) which reflect the highest aspirations for equitable inclusiveness in significant and meaningful ways. Cultivating a genuine sense of belonging for all individuals who share and support these values is a central objective of our mission. We actively strive to work towards intersectional anti-racism, as well as to create safe and supportive spaces for vital food justice work. Additionally, we seek to foster meaningful collaborations, build lasting equity, cultivate a sense of liberation, and ensure access to local food, art, and educational opportunities for all members of our community.

Our Mission 

People’s Co-op Market is an intersectional anti-racist food justice cooperative market with abundance in mind and solidarity in action. We hope to bring attention not only to injustices in our food systems but to dismantle them and replace them with a BIPOC holistic model of care for the land, food and those in need. We are led by the Cooperative model as an organization while being mindful of our farmers, vendors and customers needs. We seek to be an educational and cultural hub for our community, ever expanding the meaning of community especially for those in the margins of society. We seek to be a space for social conversations around racism, marginalization, issues of nation and borders along with care for our earth, the land we cultivate and the food we eat to sustain our bodies. Our organization is Black Queer women led and we center the experiences, the expertise and the courage of our Black Queer leadership.

Our Values 

• Democracy Building Toward Consensus -whenever possible we work for consensus.

  • In our voting practices we hear dissenting voices and work through compromise to get to consensus. Knowing that Democracy can often leave out Black, Indigenous and other People of Color along with other marginalized folks from the conversation we prioritize their voice in discussion when voting.

• Equitable Access to Locally Grown Food -is a right all should have. We strive to bring that to our community.

  • Equitable can and often does look like an over-balance towards historically marginalized communities like BIPOC & LGBTQ peoples. We prioritize them over communities with easy access to local foods via finances or their own ability to grow food. It is more important to support underserved farms over well established farms.

• Support for Underserved and Low-Income Communities -in local food access through SNAP and other accessibility measures.

  • This shows up in our direct work with local food pantries, food distribution centers and other types of food distribution organizations working locally. Those can and do include homeless outreach groups, shelters, and giving away food to churches and individuals.

• Working Toward Anti-Racism -in our planning, in the Market, and in our community.

  • Acknowledging that Anti-Racism is a journey and not a destination we still strive for it in all the work we do. When issues of intersectionality arise in anti-racism work we attempt to be mindful of intersectionality within the issue and hold space for interconnected struggles.

    • Again acknowledging that failures may still happen; we work to mitigate them.

      • Stopping racist behaviors if and or when they pop up in the planning committee, the market or in our social media space.

• Restorative Justice Practices -when conflict arises we lean into conflict and do not avoid them in order to solve them.

  • Restorative Justice is a practice that involves mutual commitment. All parties are agreeing to engage in this process especially when conflicts arise whether they be personal, organizational or operational conflicts.

    • This means we agree to work through ANY problem as they arise, not let them fester, not let them sit without conversation and communication. .

• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice - DEIJ

  • DEIJ is not merely having Black, Indigenous and other People of Color along with other marginalized folks at the table for the work we are doing , but prioritizing their historically marginalized voices, talents and leadership. The justice aspect of the work often is the outcome of prioritizing, a balance of the scales.

    • Acknowledging diversity is more than tokenism, Equity can often look like over-balancing, Inclusion means at all levels and Justice can be uncomfortable and feel like punishment for those historically prioritized.

• Cooperative Economics - we are committed to sharing resources to uplift us all.

  • The concept of Cooperative Economics is integral to BIPOC communities but is seemingly lacking in the American ideology of “self-reliance”. As an agricultural Co-op our basic definition is centered around Cooperative Economics, the joining together of our resources to bolster us all into thriving connections. This need is greatest in the BIPOC community due to years of historical marginalization, oppression, suppression and control.

    • Our value comes from the Kwanzaa Nguzo Saba fourth principle of Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) and is a commitment to the practice of shared social wealth and the work necessary to achieve it. Ujamaa literally means familyhood and suggests a sharing of work and wealth in the manner of a family.

• Collective Values -refers to the shared beliefs and principles that guide the behavior and decision-making of a group of people.

  • While we celebrate our respective differences cultural, ethnic, racial and or religious we work together usings the shared values listed here to govern our organization. These collective values shape our decisions so it is critical that we have continued and consistent dialogue about those values. Debating them and thoroughly understanding them.

    • Acknowledging that often Black, Indigenous and other People of Color along with other marginalized folks should be our leaders in these dialogues and debates. Additionally understanding that conflicts might arise from these discussions due to white supremacy showing up in all conversations.

• Meaningful Collaborative Work - with like-minded groups or organizations especially those that support marginalized people.

  • This collaborative effort prioritizes the joint work and where each group's individual missions intersect. It is about collective work and not about individual work, so the groups collective name or joined names will be prioritized over individuals who worked on it.

    • This is not to say the individual isn’t valued but that when we work together the outcome is greater than what we can do by ourselves.

• Earnest Dialogue -using active listening to move towards lifting up the voices of marginalized people within our group, market, and community.

  • This requires trust and the ability to see each other as partners even if our personalities conflict. We use our conflict resolution measures to move through these conflicts. Giving each other the grace and gratitude to get curious rather than accuse each other of bad behavior.

    • Acknowledging that often Black, Indigenous and other People of Color along with other marginalized folks are often not afforded the benefit of the doubt and are often the targets of disingenuous dialogues.

• Solidarity -with marginalized people, especially those who feel unsafe in the Bloomington community, its city run market or other social spaces.

  • The purpose of this value is to promote solidarity-aligned behaviors and facilitate a cultural evolution to reduce racism and prejudice toward Black women in particular but other BIPOC. Displayed Solidarity is overt actions that confront pre-existing racial attitudes, model antiracist verbal behavior, and demonstrate equivalences between injustices faced by Black and non-Black people of color.

  • Solidarity is an action not just words, it is support for BIPOC people even when you are at odds with them personally.

    • This can and often does look like standing up for BIPOC you might not like or even might disagree with, it is support when in conflict, support when upset, support when confused and support when challenged. It is unwavering.

Our Goals 

• To create a market that reflects our values in all that we do in our local community.

• To bring fresh veggies, eggs, meat, dairy & prepared food to people in need, especially those from BIPOC farmers and especially those people in need in marginalized communities. 

• To address food inequality by providing free local food to people in need.

• Support for BIPOC farmers, small farmers and marginalized farmers in our community and in Indiana. 

• Creating deeper working relationships with BIPOC farmers in Indiana, Bloomington and our surrounding community. 

• Develop community growing spaces for fresh local food in order to help address food inequality.

• To be an incubator space for BIPOC businesses, specifically working in food, artisan goods and farm products. 

• To create a market space for BIPOC businesses to grow and thrive to create community, a customer base & refine products for sale