Riverwest Cooperative

1. By: Dustin Grenier & Jason Aiello Riverwest Cooperative

2. Riverwest Mission • The Riverwest Co-­op and the Co-op Café are dedicated to providing the community with nutritious, wholesome food and are proud to feature organic and local ingredients. In the co-operative spirit, the Riverwest Co-­op and Cafe has these governing principles: • Voluntary and open membership • Democratic membership control • Economic participation of members • Autonomy and independence • Education, training, and information • Co-operation with other co-operatives • Concern for the community

3. Riverwest Co-op History • Opened in 2001 • Member Owned • Volunteer Ran • All Local Food • Mostly organic • Over 1300 members and 100 active volunteers

4. Riverwest Cafe • Opened October 2004 • Great spot for breakfast, lunch, and dinner • Café Menu is vegan/vegetarian • Use of organic and locally grown produce whenever possible. • The Cafe has the following weekly specials:Hearty World Market MondaysTaco TuesdaysPizza Night Saturdays

5. Riverwest Co-op • What the Riverwest Co-op prides itself on is being unique. There is no other place that is like the Co-op. There is no member owned, and all volunteer, organic grocery store, that does as much for the community as Riverwest does.

6. Riverwest as a Community • Milwaukee is an extremely diverse city, each neighborhood has its own look and feel to it. • Artist community • Attracts a number of younger people mostly students and families who find the lower rents to be a good alternative to the east side. • Diverse area, get a little bit of everything • Riverwest StatisticsPopulation: 3035Median Age: 32Median Household Income: $30,436Average Home Price: $178,500

7. Service Learning Work • Although Riverwest is a racially diverse area were it is mostly a mixture of African Americans, college students and lower income housing. Riverwest co-op offers a truly unique shopping experience, which is hard to find in Milwaukee especially in an area like riverwest. It is one of the very few stores/café’s that only offer organic and vegan food. This gives people a chance to make a decisions on what kind of shopping/eating habits they can have. In most lower income area’s it is impossible to find a place like Riverwest co-op, but through the hard work of volunteers along with local farmers and producers this organization is able to offer people an alternative source of food. In return this will help local farmers to stay in business and prosper. Most the time you see a lot more fast food places than grocery stores. Riverwest c0-0p helps to eliminate this stereo type.

8. Community Gardens • Community Gardens can give a sense of ownership and community. This in turn can help a community develop identity, and bring together people from a wide variety of back grounds. In Riverwest you have a community that is different in age, race and culture. This could help this community to come together and even for some people it could reduce stress and make them get in touch with nature. By doing this community garden it allows for residents to take interest in there community providing traditional crops that are otherwise unavailable. It also can be related with helping crime problems simply because it gets more people and eye’s on the street, giving kids other opportunities or at least they can see a difference.

9. Community • It also gives people in the community a chance to come together and meet each other. The volunteers have planted crops, trees, and various flowers, and many of these were donated. They have had multiple fundraisers to raise money for the other crops, plants, and trees. This is the main point of the Riverwest Co-op, to bring a sense of community.

11. Community Garden on Clarke and Richards in Riverwest This is a serviceberry bush Here are the four main gardens Here is where we are going to plant flowers We planted 3 different types of Apple trees; Liberty, Honey Crisp, and Northernlights

12. Food For People, Not for Profit • The Grocery store provides a wide variety of food from organic to local products which include Palermo’s Pizza, El Ray Mexican foods and Black Bear sodas. With a selection of vegan and dairy alternative food choices. All these products are from local stores and producers. This helps keep local businesses open during such hard times. This is how Riverwest co-op helps out other businesses within the city, and state. There profit margins are only there to cover what overhead the co-op has.

13. Being a Member • At Riverwest co-op membership is ownership. If interested in becoming a member you can pay a 20$ a month fee, after 100$ or a couple of years you will become a lifetime member and part owner. You will be able to vote on things pertaining to the store and café. • A 5% store discount • An additional discount if your a volunteer • The ability to place special orders at 20% above wholesale • You may find yourself asking what does supporting Riverwest co-op really entail, what am I truly helping. • By being a member and volunteering you will be supporting a wide array of things like • Organic farming • Locale agriculture • Labor-friendly business • Environmental sustainability • The City of Milwaukee and the Riverwest neighborhood • Minimal packaging

14. Click here to view our interview with Wendy 10 year member

15. Works Cited • Carrie , Trousil. "Riverwest." about (2006) 1. Web.15Apr 2009. <http://milwaukee.about.com/od/neighborhoods/a/Riverwest.htm>. • http://www.riverwestcoop.org/