We elected two new members to our board last month. Give a warm Chicago Market welcome to Edward Collins-Fanner and Sofia Jouravel! They are both beyond excited to get started on some exciting initiatives for the year ahead. In the meantime, they are familiarizing themselves with Chicago Market's history, mission and values.

We recently sat down and asked Edward and Sofia about their relationship with food, and how they came to become Owners, and eventually board members, of Chicago Market.

Our Owners regularly get together a couple of times a month to let loose and get to know one another. Last month, we attended a screening of Anthony Bourdain’s highly anticipated new documentary “Wasted! The Story of Food Waste” 

Many of us entered the theater seeking awareness to a large problem, but we all walked out with memorable and disturbing facts that left us with some pressing questions: How can one make a change, & how can Chicago Market influence others to make a change?

Present: Bill, Grant, Lee, Sunny, Ankit, Kelly, Linn, Dana, Greg, Lynn Garcia (guest), Dan, Jen, Sara, Emily 
Lakeview pantry

Notes: Emily

Present: Grant, Sunny, Greg, Dana, Bill, Lee, Jen, Emily, Dan, Linn, Sara, Yani

Guests: Edward
Minutes: Sunny

Start time: 7:09pm

August Board Meeting
Lakeview Pantry
Grant, Edward, Bill, Ankit, Lee, Linn, Kelly, Dana, Jen, Dan, Yani, Emily, Greg, Sunny via conference call, Katie for public period

Notes: Emily

When an organization is vibrant and healthy, lots of people want to be a part of it. That's why we were so encouraged by the large group of awesome candidates who stepped up to run for the Board of Directors of Chicago Market. The Co-op is headed into a critical phase, and these Board members will have the opportunity to make a huge impact on the Chicago Market's future.

Elections are over, and many Owners voted and met candidates at our annual meeting. We're proud to announce Chicago Market's newest Board members:

Sara Dinges
Yanira Doyle
Lee Herman
Dana McKinney
Ankit Mehta
Xuan "Sunny" Nguyen

In addition, incumbents Anthony Todd and Greg Berlowitz were re-elected to new terms. See their candidate statements to learn more about all of these Owners and what's important to them.

Author Jon Steinman is a journalist and producer of a multimedia (podcast, television series and annual food documentary film festival) initiative, Deconstructing Dinner. He's also been a leader of Kootenay Co-op in Nelson, British Columbia. Now he's bringing the idea of "Community Supported Authorship" to a new project. His book, Grocery Story: The Promise of Food Co-ops in the Age of Grocery Giants, will explore the role food co-ops like ours can play in today's food system - why change is needed, why co-ops are the right model to make it happen, and how they already empowering local communities. 

Chicago Market's 3rd Annual Meeting was held on Thursday, July 20. 

Board President and Owner #3 Grant Kessler covered a "Year in Review" including progress on Ownership growth, site selection, funding & finance, and some important organizational development, including an evolved strategic mission & vision statement. He also reviewed the extraordinary work that came together across Chicago Market's volunteer organization and over 45 supporting community organizations, behind our bid for space at the CTA's renovated Wilson Station. This team effort gave us an impressively strong bid document, and has also renewed energy and excitement among current and prospective Owners. One clear sign of this energy: robust and creative discussion at the meeting! Many Owners shared their questions and ideas about how we can build on our momentum now to recruit more Owners and engage more volunteers.

Chicago Market Board Meeting
7/27/17
7 p.m. at Lakeview Pantry
Present:
Guests: Annette, Dana, Lee, Edward, Chris, Sarah, Katie
Board: Heather, Emily, Grant, Bill, Dan, Linn, Jen, Anthony, Kelly, Greg, Karen
Notes: Heather

Introduce yourself and tell us about who else shares your fridge.  Karen Jacobs. I share my fridge with my husband Andy, our dog Rosie and (when they're in town...) my kids Ben & Katie.

Why are you a Chicago Market Owner?  Because I'm passionate about food, community, sustainability and Chicago. I feel like I *should* maybe put those other factors ahead of "food" but being honest: #foodalwayswins