Chicago Market Newsletter — March 2024

Fair Trade Tour

We have a great event planned for March 30 in our store. It's just for you if you:

• Have not seen the inside of the building yet.
  
• Have friends who are not Owners that would like to get a tour.
  
• Love the fair trade ethos and would like to learn more about how it fits into the Chicago Market plan.
  
• Or you just love FREE fair trade wine, chocolates, and coffee and connecting with the people in your community!

RSVP today and join us for our

Fair Trade Tour
March 30, 4 - 5:30pm

Featuring:

• Katherine Bissell Cordova, Executive Director of Chicago Fair Trade
• Dan Arnett, Chicago Market GM / President of Fairtrade America
• La Riojana wines presented by Candid Wines
• Divine Chocolate
• Metropolis Coffee Company

Foodshed Champions: Advocates for Urban Agriculture

Foodshed Champions raises up the activists, advocates, and organizations in our foodshed who are making a difference. Learn more about them and support any way you can.

Meet Advocates for Urban Agriculture:

"Advocates for Urban Agriculture provides support resources and education centering growers, farmers, earth stewards, land and water. We reimagine our relationships to land, labor, and our food system while honoring Indigenous Sovereignty, Black liberation, LGBTQIA+ freedom, Disability Justice, and Immigrants’ rights."

AUA educates and trains ag practitioners in the Chicago area. They endorse good growing practices; connect growers and consumers; and they advocate for policies that allow urban ag to thrive. 

Learn more and get involved: Advocates for Urban Agriculture

Follow along on the process of your store with this visual of our Timeline.

Here's the most recent progress:

• Our team has been hard at work modifying the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing parts of our drawings to align with our new utility plans. They'll be submitted for permitting on Friday!
  
  
• We've been using this time to refine our equipment list looking for ways to reduce costs during this time. 

News

We've been asking Dan to outline our store's departments in short videos and blog posts:

• Produce
• Meat & Seafood
• Wellness

 And we've been sharing the news about our Values too:

• Values: Why They Matter
• Fair Trade

• Fair Trade Tour — March 30, 4 - 5:30pm
• Board Meeting — April 1, 7-9:00pm 

News from Our Business Owners

Collective Resource Compost Collective
"Our 2024 Restaurant Raffle is live and ends March 15th! Spend $100 at any of our composting customers that are restaurants, cafés or other food-related businesses and be entered into a raffle for one of three gift cards. You choose which of those same businesses you want the card to come from. You need not be one of our customers to participate and you can enter more than once."

Irpino Real Estate

The March video profile from Irpino Real Estate introduces an old friend of theirs, Joe Lomanto of Lakeview Ace Hardware. We love this too, because Ace Hardware stores are cooperatively owned! All the Ace retailers own the business together. So check out the Local Business Spotlight Video and shop there to support your local co-op.

---

Get Involved

Your Co-op is a nationally recognized project that will have incredible impact on our local economy and the local food system. Invest in Preferred Shares now—you benefit and your Co-op can lower its reliance on bank debt. 

 

Not up for investing but want to help your Co-op financially?

• Donate any amount here. (can be tax-deductible and recurring)
• Level Up your Ownership if you're not already a Cultivating Owner.
• Donate to our Ownership Grant Program.