About Urban Greens

Urban Greens Food Co-op is...

• ...a community of members who believe in establishing a cooperative market to expand access to healthy foods throughout our community.
• ...developing a business plan and securing financing.
• ...committed to opening a market on the west side of Providence.
• ...counting on your membership to open its doors. Join now!

Mission

Urban Greens is a food cooperative on the west side of Providence with a mission to provide simple, direct access to affordable, local, natural products and to offer a community-based alternative to corporate supermarkets.

Values

Equal Access: Every person, regardless of economic or social status, deserves access to healthy, affordable food produced in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.

Local Agriculture: Our health is dependent upon responsible stewardship of the planet's resources. Supporting local agriculture is an important part of this stewardship. Happily, local food also tastes better.

Local Economy: Small businesses, as opposed to national retail chains, keep a higher percentage of every dollar spent within the community. The co-op will help create and support jobs for local farmers, food producers, and staff.

Cooperative Principles, Cooperative Values: Cooperatives are based on the values of democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. As a cooperative, we believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.

Community Partnerships: Building and sharing strength requires actively seeking collaboration with neighbors, community members, local community groups, small businesses, non-profits, members and non-members.

Social Entrepreneurship: We can affect social change in our food systems through entrepreneurship. The cooperative measures success in terms of both social change and economic viability.

We also will join with the broader cooperative community in following the 7 Cooperative Principles as defined by the International Cooperative Alliance. Learn more about cooperatives.

History

Urban Greens was founded as a cooperative buying club in the year 2000 by a group of residents on the west side of Providence who felt that their need for an affordable source of healthy foods was not being met. The buying club has grown to over 200 members and operates out of the West Broadway Neighborhood Association headquarters located at 1560 Westminster Street in the Armory District of Providence.

An entirely volunteer-run organization for the first five years of its life, Urban Greens received an Americorps Vista member in the fall of 2005, its first staff position. Since then, the club has grown to order nearly $5000 per month from local businesses and distributors. Over the years, Urban Greens has refined its ordering processes, expanded and revised its volunteer system and added more locally-produced goods. The current focus of Urban Greens is to open a food market on the west side of Providence where residents will be able to purchase local foods 7 days a week without having to leave their own community.

Cooperative Council

Deborah Rosenberg, RN, has been on the Urban Greens council since 2008. She currently works as a nurse at the RISD Student Health Center (Providence, RI), and is a resident ceramic artist at the Providence Steel Yard ceramic cooperative. While studying nursing at Oregon Health & Science University (Portland, OR), Deb created and managed the "Healthy Snax" food co-op out of the School of Nursing, providing healthy snacking alternatives to vending machines. She became involved with Urban Greens upon moving to Providence and finding the city sadly devoid of a food co-op. She is committed to seeing a store open in Providence's West Broadway neighborhood and coordinates the Membership committee. Contact Deb at debbielrosenberg at gmail.com

Hillary Adams (Council Vice Chair) is a certified, licensed massage therapist who runs her own massage therapy practice, Hillary Adams Massage, located on the east side of Providence. She has been in business for 10 years, first in Arlington, MA and then in Providence, RI since 2001. Having lived within walking distance to co-ops in Kingston, Boston and Seattle, Hillary looks forward to having a co-op on the west side of Providence. Hillary is also a member of the Capital City Connection chapter of BNI and RI Birth Network, a birthing resource list for expecting mothers. Send Hillary an email.

Kristin DiVona (Council Treasurer) is an art director of advancement communications at Brown University with 15 years of design, writing, and advertising experience. She runs a successful freelance business whose local clients have included the RI Neighborhood Consortium, Garrison Confections, the Highlander School, RI Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Life is Good. She currently serves as communications chair on the board of Groundwork Providence, and is a member of the Women’s Community Arts Leadership group. She has also taught graphic design at the Community College of Rhode Island, RISD’s youth programs, the RISD museum, and Providence CityArts for Youth.

Craig O’Connor works at Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island. Over the last ten years, Craig has worked in the Providence community as an organizer and political activist with organizations such as Ocean State Action, the International Institute of Rhode Island and RI Jobs with Justice. He currently serves on the board of several organizations, including Clinica Esperanza/Hope Clinic, the RI Clean Water Action Vote Environment Pac, and Urban Greens Food Co-op. In the past, he spent two years as a worker-owner of the People’s Market in Amherst, MA.

Bridget Dignan (Council Chair) has been working as Asset & Community Building Program Manager for Olneyville Housing Corporation (OHC), a community development corporation in Providence, since 2002. In her many years at OHC, Bridget has experience with event planning, managing working committees, developing organizational partnerships, grant writing and management, and meeting facilitation. She is responsible for a departmental staff of four as well as a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance site.

Michelle Sheehan (Council Secretary) currently works for The Nature Conservancy and the Department of Environmental Management with the State Land Conservation Program. She has worked at several community non-profits including Southside Community Land Trust here in Providence and Dollars and Sense Magazine, a collectively owned and operated social justice and economics magazine, in Boston. She has experience with grant writing, fundraising, and community outreach. Michelle has lived on the west side of Providence since 2005.

Corey Auger currently works as a Systems Coordinator in the health care industry. He studied Social Thought and Political Economy at Umass Amherst where he spent 3 years as co-manager of People's Market, a student-run natural food store collective. He has worked with the Willimantic Food Co-op in Willimantic, CT, the 193 Degree Coffeehouse collective in Kingston, RI, and Fiddleheads Food Co-op in New London, CT. He has also spent several years working for Taylor Brooke Winery, a community farm-winery in Woodstock, CT, as the tasting room manager and marketing/business consultant. Corey has been living on the west side of Providence since 2007 and was elected to the Urban Greens Cooperative Council in 2009. He currently chairs the Communications committee. Send Corey an email.

Stephanie Obodda lives in Providence and works at Brown University in the Computer Education department. She also writes the "In the Kitchen" chef interview column for the Providence Monthly. Before Rhode Island, she lived in New Jersey and got her BA from Princeton University. Stephanie started her first business when she was eight!

Carey Jones currently works as an architectural historian throughout the New England and New York region. She has lived on the West Side of Providence and has been an Urban Greens Food Co-op member since moving to Providence in 2008. She also currently sits on the board of the West Broadway Neighborhood Association (WBNA) and serves on the Community Development Committee. Carey has over ten years of retail management experience including large-scale stores and a small, independent business. Having been a co-op member of every city she has lived in, Carey is looking forward to the opening of Providence’s first co-operative grocery!