AT THE TABLE,
ON OUR TERMS
Detroit People’s Food Co-op builds food sovereignty through Black-led coalitions.
ISSUE 1: THE UN/MAKING ISSUE
At DPFC, this determination and stewardship take the form of a “member ownership” model. DPFC is a variant of a consumer cooperative (a business that is collectively owned and controlled by its patrons), wherein eligible individuals can pay a one-time membership fee in exchange for an ownership stake in the business and a vote. Member-owners elect their leadership board democratically and are entitled to regular updates at membership meetings. They can also voice their opinions on the many factors that impact the store’s operations, especially regarding how it serves its surrounding community: Which products are stocked? How are products priced? What partnerships might the store engage in? How relevant are products to Black American and Black diasporic foodways? As DPFC grows and becomes more profitable, member-owners can also decide to evolve the terms and benefits of ownership; critically, they would determine whether members receive monetary returns or equity, how profits might be reinvested, and the co-op’s expanding role in the neighborhood.
As of early January 2025, DPFC’s total membership sits at 4,023. Lifetime membership at the co-op costs $200, which can be paid upfront or in installments of $20. A prospective member-owner must be over 21 (due to laws surrounding establishments that sell alcohol) and a Michigan resident. Neither workers nor shoppers are required to be member-owners; rather, since anyone in the state can buy into the co-op, member-owners residing outside of Detroit may not be regular customers either. While employees are encouraged to buy in as community members, they don’t have distinct membership benefits and are not considered a separate class of “worker-owners”; they receive the same benefits and voting power as any other member-owner. Cole estimates that roughly half of DPFC’s 33 employees are currently also member-owners. He is effusive in saying that the “opt-in” nature of member ownership “truly keeps the power in the hands of the people, allowing them to make decisions that are best for the community.” Citing Yakini’s belief that you can’t give people a co-op, he declares, “It’s group thinking…people have to buy into that on their own.”
Guiding the store’s philosophy is its specific target of achieving Black food sovereignty—a reality in which “people of African descent [can] access healthy, culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and [can] define their own food and agriculture systems.”
The co-op follows a “free sample” strategy common at many grocery stores, but the difference at DPFC is that these samples connect patrons to a local business that shares the co-op’s principles. “Show me any other store that has 30-plus local, Black-owned products,” Cole affirmed. “And that's spread across all the departments…we’ve even got local water bottles.” When I first visited the store earlier in the summer, I noted that the sample tables all had a story and a core value; I chatted with Gregory Broadnax of Bonyx Enterprises, a Detroit-based brand making sustainable bamboo toothbrushes while also hoping to reduce recidivism rates by hiring formerly incarcerated folks. During my most recent Thanksgiving visit, Cole introduced me to Dr. Velonda Anderson of Sweet Potato Delights, who had set up a table for the holiday. A dietitian by training, Dr. Anderson now makes desserts with nutritious ingredients to increase food literacy and health in the community. For me, this exchange of sweets and words shifted the energy of a mundane grocery run into a forum for connection.
Given that a co-op is inherently based on community principles, and a community's needs often vary depending upon whose interests are centered, the dense and layered question of “What does it mean to be ‘community-owned’?” arises when considering DPFC’s participatory model. Centering Black leadership, ownership, and cultural relevance is difficult to balance when membership is open to people across race, class, and geography. DPFC’s Board President, Lanay Gilbert-Williams, reflects, “No group of people is an island…We could have hustled and found ways to ensure that everything about the co-op is Black, right? But if we're envisioning a better world, then that's not ideal.” DPFC’s goals may center on increasing engagement from Detroit’s Black community, but the appeal of a structure like the co-op extends to non-Black residents of the highly diverse, largely immigrant-populated surrounding areas. For DPFC’s non-Black members, it’s a matter of decentering one’s interests and learning why achieving Black food sovereignty in a segregated food system is an imperative endeavor.
For DPFC’s non-Black members, it’s a matter of decentering one’s interests and learning why achieving Black food sovereignty in a segregated food system is an imperative endeavor.
Another facet of bridging communal gaps is identifying intergenerational connections. Gilbert-Williams, whose background is in youth advocacy, is passionate about creating roles for Black community members under 21; when I spoke to her, she recounted moments when she was anchored by her own six children and the elders in her life, and fondly punctuated our conversation with stories of how she grew as a result of being shown a mirror when she least expected it. She noted that many children in her community have a sharply honed sense of justice and aren’t afraid to question the status quo. Still, she says, a majority of young Black Detroiters associate life in the city with impenetrable systemic segregation and struggle to imagine a way out. She and Cole are vocal about how critical it is for adults to model cooperation that defies these norms. Cole expresses, “The community is majority-Black. So it's only right that the children get to see people who look like them solving the problems.” Now in his late 20s, Cole sees his role at DPFC as an ideal vehicle for connecting with young and elderly Detroiters. For her part, Gilbert-Williams is developing a youth advisory council for young people to contribute to DPFC and build their leadership skills.
The Detroit People’s Food Co-op exists within a broader solidarity economy in Detroit; a small vanguard of organizations is at work alongside DPFC, building community ownership and stewardship citywide. The Detroit Community Wealth Fund (DCWF) educates residents about cooperative ownership and encourages paths to building and retaining local wealth. The Cooperative Economic Network of Detroit (CEND), an offshoot of DCWF, stewards a directory of Detroit’s existing cooperatives. Surrounding DPFC, the neighborhood is rallying against rising gentrification. Groups like the North End Christian CDC have started food security efforts—such as Oakland Avenue Urban Farm, which makes good use of vacant lots—as well as lifestyle and cultural programming. At present, DPFC is the only one of Detroit’s 27 co-ops that sells groceries, including non-perishable and prepared foods. Cole shared that DPFC is now an invaluable hub for local entrepreneurs. Beyond the transaction of sourcing quality local products to stock, he takes the opportunity to teach more business owners about the co-op model’s value, hoping to grow Detroit’s solidarity economy one business at a time.
1. Detroit’s two other Black-owned grocery stores, Neighborhood Grocery and Linwood Fresh Market, both opened in 2023. BridgeDetroit reported in 2023 that Detroit “hadn’t seen a grocery store in decades” until Neighborhood Grocery was opened, and that nearly 20% of Detroit residents could not access a car. See BridgeDetroit's article "Detroit’s new Black-owned grocery store aims to improve food access,” 2023.
2. Hallie Clark, “Co-op Grocery Stores: More than Food | Building a Self-Determined Food Community in Detroit’s North End,” Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, 2014.
3. For additional examples and resources on the different types of cooperative structures, including more examples of grocery co-ops, see “What is a Co-op?” by the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives.
4. Ed. The Detroit People’s Food Co-op (DPFC) involves multiple stakeholders but differs from traditional "multi-stakeholder models," where groups like workers, consumers, and producers have separate membership classes with distinct rights. Instead, DPFC has a single membership class open to all Michigan residents, including those who may not live in Detroit or regularly shop at the co-op.
5. The “Hood Closed to Gentrifiers” campaign is an effort to combat rising housing costs and Black displacement in the North End. For more information on this, read the full story as reported by Evrod Cassimy for ClickOnDetroit, “Hood Closed to Gentrifiers” Street Sign Gains Popularity in Detroit Neighborhood.”
6. See the Cooperative Economic Network of Detroit’s “Directory of Detroit Co-ops & Collectives.”
7. To see an image of this mural in DPFC, see “Dr. Gordon-Nembhard Depicted in Detroit Co-op Mural” from DISE Collective News Archive.