Annual Report - Fiscal Year 2022

ANNUAL REPORT

RACIAL,

AND FOOD JUSTICE IMPACT REPORT

DONATIONS

Donated over 400 seed packets to grow fresh produce at Victoria Community Garden and for Memorialize the Movement to use at George Floyd Square.

Invested $1,800 in sponsorships to the Overcoming Racism Conference, Hmong Cultural Center, Juneteenth celebrations, Fiesta Latina, and the Queer Farmer Convergence.

Our Positive Change program continues to focus on the urgent needs of racial justice and food access, and this past year featured organizations such as Sweet Potato Comfort Pie, Immigrant Law Center of MN, Department of Indian Work, RECLAIM, and Ain Dah Yung Center.

CLASSES & EVENTS

29 OF OUR 36 VIRTUAL CLASSES, or 80% of all classes, were taught by BIPOC instructors, bringing diverse perspectives and recipes to our co-op community.

CONTINUED THE EVENT SERIES “Co-op Community Conversations: Exploring the Intersection of Racial, Social, and Food Justice” in conjunction with Twin Cities food co-ops as a way to examine and connect our cooperative values with social justice movements. Events included a partnership with Green Card Voices featuring video stories from immigrant food makers in the Twin Cities, and a panel discussion with Native American leaders on connecting to the land and the environmental impact on Indigenous foods.

HOSTED THE “BEYOND SOUL FOOD” seven-part class series with Chef Lachelle featuring the plant-based foundations of soul food, medicinal plant wisdom passed down through generations, and Lachelle’s personal food story.

HELD VIRTUAL CONVERSATION EVENTS to celebrate Juneteenth, “Why We Must Change the Narrator: An Evening with In Black Ink,” and Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, featuring Chef Jess’ story and recipes as an adopted Korean.

GENERAL MANAGER REPORT

CATHERINE DOWNEY, General Manager

NOT UNLIKE THE PAST TWO YEARS, our world continues to be disrupted. Supply chain issues persist and we have record inflation and ongoing global conflict. It continues to be a difficult time for many businesses, and we are no exception. While we maintain a strong cash position and a solid balance sheet, softer sales combined with higher expenses caused the co-op to experience a net operating income loss during our fiscal year that ended June 2022.

At our core, we exist to serve our community and our members. We continue to do a good job at this, and our sales to our 19,000 members remain strong at 76%. However, as food-at-home costs rise, shoppers are more budget-conscious and are spending more of their grocery dollars on private label and at club stores and discounters. We continue to navigate this new landscape and are evaluating how we need to adapt and change to compete and thrive. To operate successfully as a cooperative in an increasingly consolidated and competitive environment poses unique challenges and is something I do not take for granted.

Despite a loss for the year, we remain well positioned for the future. The last two years have highlighted the need to evaluate and refresh our mission and strategic priorities. Therefore, we are embarking on a strategic planning process to chart our path forward and will look at opportunities to be more efficient operators and an excellent workplace while we ensure that we effectively serve our community.

In addition to giving Selby a refresh, we continue to look for ways to boost our customer count and sales at all our stores. East 7th is a particular focus. Although it is a beautiful store, it has struggled to attract customers and to achieve the sales level we need. This summer we began experimenting with a varied product mix to ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers and community. Our West 7th store is seeing the strongest sales growth, and Selby continues to have the highest sales volume and benefits from a new apartment building and several new businesses nearby.

I have continued to learn and grow since taking on the role of General Manager in March of 2020. As we face this challenging future, I believe we will continue to positively impact our community. As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” No doubt that is what our founding members set out to do almost 44 years ago. It’s up to all of us to carry that forward!

“WE ARE EMBARKING ON A STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS TO CHART OUR PATH FORWARD AND WILL LOOK AT OPPORTUNITIES TO BE MORE EFFICIENT OPERATORS AND AN EXCELLENT WORKPLACE WHILE WE ENSURE THAT WE EFFECTIVELY SERVE OUR COMMUNITY.”

BOARD REPORT

MOLLY PHIPPS, President

THE LAST FEW YEARS have brought about dramatic changes in our world, our community, and our co-op. Our general manager, Catherine Downey, led us through the worst of the pandemic admirably: developing safety protocols to keep staff safe, raising staff wages, and keeping products on the shelves as the global supply chain crumbled. As we look toward the future with the hope of emerging from the pandemic and returning to more normal lives, we have an invaluable chance to shift what a new normal life looks like. We have the chance to reexamine and prune out past practices and attitudes that have no place in a cooperative, democratic society, including discrimination and exclusion of people based on religion, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender expression, or immigration status.

Mississippi Market has been working to create a more just community for many years, and there is always more work to be done. We operate in a society built on oppression where we are taught to not see the negative ramifications of seemingly innocuous policies and procedures. To combat these unconscious biases we all carry with us, we need to continually and consciously examine our work to form a more democratic and equal Mississippi Market where all truly feel welcome. Since 2017, the Mississippi Market Board of Directors has had a dedicated committee to address these issues: the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee (with a counterpart Inclusion Committee for staff). As a policy governance board, we don’t get involved in the operations of Mississippi Market but shape the direction of the co-op by holding staff accountable through our policies and strategic drivers.

The DEI committee works with the Recruitment Committee to ensure that our application process does not include unintentional barriers to board service and helps set priorities to vet the qualifications of board candidates. Additionally, the board is reviewing our policies and board procedures through a DEI lens to root out language and approaches

that run counter to creating a welcoming and equitable Mississippi Market for all. While creating a more diverse, equitable and inclusive co-op is a continual process, it is crucial to periodically take stock of what we’ve accomplished so far. Not so we can pat ourselves on the back and rest on our laurels, but so we can celebrate along the journey and see that even if the progress feels slow, we are making progress in the stores and in our community. You’ll find more information throughout these pages on the DEI initiatives large and small the co-op is working on.

As we celebrate these achievements, we look for ways we can better live our cooperative values of lifting each other up in democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. While we are “just” a grocery store, we’re also something different – a community-owned organization that affirms our social responsibility to the community and beyond. Thank you, member-owners, for choosing to be an active participant in an organization that believes in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.

“WHILE WE ARE ‘JUST’ A GROCERY STORE, WE’RE ALSO SOMETHING DIFFERENT – A COMMUNITY-OWNED ORGANIZATION THAT AFFIRMS OUR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY TO THE COMMUNITY AND BEYOND.”

(78,034) -0.26%

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