Marketing Analysis

In three short years, the Renaissance Community Cooperative (RCC) has grown
to 583 owners, and raised over a million dollars. The cooperative has monthly meetings
that regularly draw between 30 and 70 people, and has a core of dedicated volunteers
from all over the community. The RCC is off to a strong start, however, in order to move
from a young cooperative into an established coop, with an active and united
membership, some hurdles will need to be addressed. The RCC will need to address the
many social dynamics that impact its members and community, and the City of
Greensboro, in order to build a cooperative body that is united across demographics and
reflects the neighborhood in which it is built. Three dynamics impacting greater
community participation include class dynamics within the neighborhood, the agemakeup of most active participants, and racial, class, and motivational differences
between those in the community surrounding the cooperative and those who volunteer
from across town. It is important to contextualize these challenges with the understanding
that when North East Greensboro feels threatened, the whole community comes together
despite their differences. It is also important to recognize that while there are certainly
differences, the general mood between the non-involved neighborhood residents, the
cooperative, and participants from all backgrounds has not been tense. Still, addressing
these differences and the way they impact community participation is important.

The grocery store will be situated in a neighborhood that is predominantly African

American, low-income, and is classified as a food desert. The community is well-

organized politically, and local elections are often determined by voting blocks in North
East Greensboro. There are a multitude of community organizations that drive North East
Greensboros political action, including Citizens for Economic and Environmental Justice
(CEEJ), Concerned Citizens of North East Greensboro (CCNG), the Kings Forest
Neighborhood Association (KFNA), and the Claremont Courts Community Association
(CCCA) among others. Additionally, there are a number of very active churches. All of
these organizations have been deeply involved with and critical to the Renaissance
Community Cooperatives success. The level of pre-existing organization in the
community prior to the cooperative entering the picture positively impacts the
cooperatives ability to do meaningful outreach. Many of the cooperatives first members
are affiliated with these organizations, or have neighbors who are and trusted their leaders
who encouraged them to join the coop.

While the community is primarily African American and low-income, no

community is a monolith, and the Phillips Avenue area is no exception. Historically and
presently, the area also includes many African American middle-income households, and
the community is somewhat divided between homeowners, renters, and residents in
public housing. Claremont Courts is a public housing project, which will be crucial to the
success of the cooperative due to its large population and close proximity to the shopping
center. There is often some friction between residents who live in the houses near the
projects, and the residents in the public housing. This is primarily a class divide. Within
the housing projects, there are divides as well. Black residents and white residents are
separated by block. That said, Claremont Courts has a community association, whose

president is very active in the housing projects, the city, and in the cooperative. While
much of the RCCs official and unofficial leadership is active in one of the associations
mentioned above, there has been limited success in recruiting members, volunteers, or
even community ambassadors from Claremont Courts. Part of this has to do with the
membership requirement that involves $100, either paid up front or in monthly
installments of $10 after a $20 initial payment. However, many people in similar
financial situations have joined. In addition to the financial barrier, many in public
housing view their status as transitional and do not wish to invest in a grocery store that
they hope to not live near for too much longer. Despite the financial difficulties and
residents hopes to leave the area, beyond canvassing and a few community association
meetings, outreach with this community has been sparse. Despite the likelihood that these
residents may not purchase memberships, they will make up a large portion of the stores
customers. This alone is enough to ensure that they feel reached out to, and included in
the cooperatives development.

Age is another factor in the makeup of the cooperatives membership. Many of

our most enthusiastic volunteers have been older people in the community, who have
time to volunteer, remember a of economic vibrancy in the neighborhood, remember
Greensboros black economy prior to integration and the necessity of doing for
ourselves, and who are primarily active in the civic organizations that first offered their
support to the RCC. Because of their schedules and health needs, many of the older
members prefer to schedule meetings when younger people are working. Many initially
thought that young people would be the largest and most active demographic in the RCC,

because cooperatives tend to appeal to young activists, however that has not been the
case. While there are certainly young people who have been involved in leadership and
volunteer work with the coop, there are few. Many have cited school, work, children, and
involvement with other organizations as reasons they have not gotten involved. Many of
those who have gotten involved have done so through civic organizations that are
specifically youth-centered. One such organization is SynerG, an organization to develop
young professionals and allow them to network in Greensboro. This has proven to be an
important connection because it drew in the newest City Council Member, Justin Outling.
If the cooperative wishes to continue its strength in the neighborhood and city, and
involve the communitys economic future in its development, the coop will need to find
ways to engage more young people, particularly from the neighborhood.

The third dynamic this paper will explore is the one created by having people of
different class, educational, and racial backgrounds, from different areas of the city,
involved with the project. Much of the membership is from the neighborhood
surrounding the organization, but not necessarily a majority. The organization is likely
50-60% Black (but since that data is not collected in applications, it becomes harder to
tell as we expand), and the largest racial demographic after that is White, followed by a
few Latinos and Asians. Many donors, and members who joined to support are white (and
black) residents of the city who do not live in North East Greensboro, but are sympathetic
to the cause of economic development and food access. The most visible leadership body,
the board of nine, has three people from the neighborhood, six people who are black, two
women, three young people, and two immigrants. The second most visible body is the

RCCs technical support organization, the Fund 4 Democratic Communities, which is

50% black, but the people who most often address the community, and who many assume
are in charge, (with the exception of one person), are white and middle class to wealthy.
Often, when people do not see themselves reflected in an organizations leadership, they
are reluctant to join. The RCC has gotten this feedback from residents of the
neighborhood surrounding Phillips Ave. that at times it has seemed like a group of white
people from across town coming to open up shop. While having highly visible unofficial
leadership that is already deeply embedded in the community has been useful, building
trust in the community and official leadership that represents the community will be
important in outreach.

The final dynamic impacting the cooperative that this paper will explore is the
absence of a grocery store for the past 17 years. The residents in the Phillips Ave. area
have been waiting for a grocery store for the past 17 years, ever since the Winn Dixie that
used to occupy the space closed. Observing a continued pattern of underinvestment from
both private investors and local government has built distrust in efforts to build anything.
They have also seen the city have visioning sessions every few years, to have nothing
come of it. They have seen outside investors say they were interested in opening a
grocery store only to back out at the last minute. These repeated letdowns have not
fostered much trust in new development in the community. Additionally, while
organizations diversity (discussed in the previous paragraph) has helped the RCC
connect to a variety of volunteers, members, and contributors, it is not something that the
neighborhood is used to seeing. To be fair, the whole nation is not used to seeing people

from a variety of racial and class backgrounds work together to economically develop a
community-owned business in a primarily minority area. As the coop makes more
progress it gets more support. Asking people to join something they have little experience
with, and invest their time and money in it, is asking a high-vulnerability group of people
to invest in a high-risk operation. In addition to the investment, the coop faces the uphill
battle of building trust in a community who has had its trust abused many times before.