Chicago Market Newsletter - May 2017
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WATCH US GROW!

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This month, we welcomed 25 individuals, households, and local businesses as new Owners of Chicago Market. Our co-op is now 925 Owners strong! Join us now, or come to our next Ownership Info Session to learn how we're building a better food community.

Over 1,600 have signed the community petition of support for Chicago Market's bid for a retail space at the renovated Wilson (Red Line) CTA station. Learn more about the bid here, and sign the petition! Please help us spread the word - share the petition and hashtag #ChiMktAtCTAWilson on your social media pages, email to ask us for a Chicago Market yard sign for your yard, window, flower box...or become an awesome Chicago Market volunteer (email us to learn more).
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COMMUNITY MEETING - MAY 20:  Chicago Market at CTA's Wilson Station

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Join us for our next public meeting on Saturday afternoon, 1:30-3:00 pm at the Bezazian branch, Chicago Public Library. Chicago Market's Board of Directors and Site team will share information about our bid for space at the renovated Wilson Station, in a building with a special history. We'll talk about our vision ("What's a food co-op, anyhow? What does it bring to our community?"), as well as information about the bid process, timeline, our initial thoughts about the store layout, and how you can help support us. And importantly, we want to hear from you: your thoughts, ideas and questions are what will make this co-op a true community resource. Please join us! RSVP here so we can plan for seating.

Meanwhile, click here for a summary of our recent Owners' meeting about the Wilson site, and watch our site's blog and Facebook page for additional meeting reports and updated #ChiMktAtCTAWilson FAQs.
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BBQ CO-OP POP-UP MARKET - JUNE 10

BBQ Co-op Pop-Up

Get ready for summer and fill your grill with fresh, local and sustainable goods at our next Co-op Pop-Up Market on Saturday June 10, 2:00-4:00 pm. We'll bring some of our favorite farmers and producers to Truman College in Uptown. You'll find meat, produce, hot dog and hamburger buns, sauces, sweets and more! All align with Chicago Market's Purchasing Values.

Owner #598 Kolleen Blume will be there with her string band, providing wonderful live music. And we'll be joined by Lakeview Pantry, one of Chicago's largest and longest-operating food pantries; we invite you to make donations of food or goods from the Pop-Up to support this important neighborhood resource.

The event is FREE but you do need to RSVP here.

You'll get a $10 coupon good for purchases at the Pop-Up if you join Chicago Market before or at the event, or if you recruit a friend!

Sharing the event on your social media pages and with friends and neighbors is one of the easiest and most helpful ways for you to help us grow, since it lets others learn about the co-op, meet the farmers who support us, and talk with Chicago Market Owners and volunteers as they experience what we're all about.
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More Upcoming Events...

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May 16 - 6:15-7:15 pm. Chicago Market Volunteers at Ravenswood Community Services. RCS provides outreach and resources to neighbors in need in the Ravenswood and Uptown neighborhoods. Among other activities, they provide a weekly community meal at All Saints Episcopal Church. Join Owner #8 Kelly Hewitt to help serve food. We're seeking twelve volunteers; click here for more information and to sign up. 

May 24 - 7:00-9:00 pm. Chicago Market Board Meeting is open to all Owners. Click here for location update and to RSVP. 

June 6 - 7:00-9:00 pm. Chicago Market Owner Meet-up. Our new monthly meet-ups are your chance to eat, drink and socialize with other Owners. Join us and meet some new like-minded friends. RSVP here to let us know you'll join us, this time at Southport & Irving.

June 7 - 7:00-8:00 pm. Chicago Market Ownership Info Session, at Emerald City's friendly Uptown coffeehouse. Are you co-op curious? Got friends or neighbors who are interested in greater access to local, organic goods in a sustainable community-owned store? Come meet Owners and Board members of Chicago Market to ask questions and learn more! Please RSVP here.

June 20 - Chicago Market Book Club (rescheduled from April). Meets at Owner #763 Café Chien. Our selection this time is "American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (and What We Can Do About It)" by Jonathan Bloom. Click here to RSVP and for more details.

July 20 - hold the date!
 Chicago Market's Annual Owners Meeting. 

Bookmark this page on our website and check back often to keep up with all our happenings, and let us know if you've got an idea of your own or would like to plan an event!
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"I'm An Owner!" - Meet Chicago Market Owner #148 Annette Mambuca

  Chicago Market Volunteer & Owner #148 Annette Mambuca recently had an idea: what if we invited co-op Owners to answer a few fun questions about themselves, and share with the rest of us?

We've enjoyed meeting Owners at our new monthly Meet-Ups and our newsletter 'Volunteer Spotlights' are a popular feature...so here's another way we can virtually 'meet' and build community with each other.

Check out Annette's profile below...and then, click on the "I'm An Owner!" link and fill out your own profile, for us to feature in our next newsletter!







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What's your name and tell us about who else shares your fridge (i.e. is part of your household's Ownership)?
I'm Annette Mambuca, and I have shared my fridge (and other appliances) with Peter M. Cooke since college, albeit when we lived bicoastally for about 8 years. I had my own appliances then.




Why are you a Chicago Market Owner?
I was in Switzerland when I received the email to become part of Chicago Market. I became an Owner (#148) on the spot! I had an amazing introduction to food co-ops when I was an undergrad, at the Peaceable Kingdom Bakery in Kent, Ohio (now known as Kent Natural Foods). I was particularly blown away by the bulk bins. I remember thinking, You mean I can buy as many nuts as I want?!? I love the idea of bringing a refreshed co-op experience to Chicago - that's why I'm also a volunteer. (Unabashed plug to other Owners to lend a hand!)

What type of work do you do, or what else are you devoting time to, and why? I've been in business for myself for 30 years as the Principal for Mambu©a Communications for Business & Nonprofits. I'm a creative communications consultant and writer. What I'm loving lately is collaborating with two "coaches" - one is a relationship coach and the other is Dana Hirt, a parenting coach and Chicago Market Owner #879. The work has been a blast! Before that, I had a 30+ year freelance writing career working with nonprofits and corporations.

Is there another type of work you'd like to be doing? I love what I'm doing most of the time, but I am always happy to entertain new ideas. Whatcha' got in mind?

What else is really important to you? I'm a fierce proponent of mentoring -- and of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago. I was first matched with my "little" when she was just 11 and we officially aged out of the program when she was 18. She's almost 27, and we're still going strong!

What's your one 'wish come true' that you'd like to see from Chicago Market? Might be a product for our shelves, a program you'd like to see, a job you'd like to have, a location; whatever. Name it! Hmmm. I'd have to say I'd like to store to be located in the Andersonville area, south of Foster.

Three words that best describe you?  Spirited. Thoughtful. Creative. 
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What's Up in Uptown?

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Owners #43 Karen Jacobs and #55 Sofia Jouravel recently joined a walking tour of the Uptown neighborhood on a lovely Sunday afternoon. Our guide was Patti Swanson, who runs Chicago for Chicagoans, a pay-what-you-can walking tour service that partners with residents and neighborhood organizations to share their history with others. For the Uptown tour, Patti partnered with Vitaliy Vladimirov of Uptown United.

Covering about two hours and wandering across city blocks that covered Uptown's famed Jazz Age district, the lakeshore, and a huge diversity of residential, commercial and community centers, we learned about the people and events that have given Uptown its unique and diverse character. Some fun facts:

* Broadway Avenue was originally named Evanston Avenue, but the name was changed in 1913 as part of an effort to market Uptown as an entertainment destination that could compete with...well, you know. 

* It was only in 1980 that Edgewater broke away from Uptown and became its own designated Chicago community area.

* Essanay Studios in Uptown was a pioneering silent film studio (films starring Charlie Chaplin, among others) until Chicago's weather and the rising popularity of Westerns pushed the industry ever-westward.

* The Argyle street district, running eastward from under the El tracks, was once a Jewish enclave (and you can still see signs of this on certain buildings...). After the fall of Saigon in 1975, the area brought an influx of South East Asian refugees and took on its current pan-Asian commercial character. 

* The homes of Studs Terkel and (for a short while) George R. R. Martin can be found within Uptown.

* Uptown has a deep history of activism, especially around racial and economic justice issues. Grassroots organizer Peggy Terry fought passionately for racial equality and was an early proponent of what we now might call "intersectionality," the concept that poverty, racism and sexism can be understood as interdependent and not independent struggles. Radical organizers including the (white, largely Appalachian migrant) Young Patriots Organization, the Black Panther Party and the (Latino) Young Lords Organization in the 1960's worked together to push for a "Hank Williams Village" cooperative community in Uptown and even first coined the moniker "Rainbow Coalition." This name was later co-opted by Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition; the urban planning vision was co-opted in quite a different way as Mayor Richard J. Daley and other interests established Truman College in that location, instead. Today, activism still plays a huge role in Uptown's development and community organizing, especially around issues of affordable housing and preserving the neighborhood's extraordinary multicultural diversity. 



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