}anuaiy 2S, 2u14

Ns. Benise Tuinei Roth, City Nanagei

Ni. }im Westmoielanu, Beputy City Nanagei
City of uieensboio
0ne uoveinmental Plaza
P.0. Box S1S6
uieensboio, Noith Caiolina 274u2-S1S6
Beai Ns. Roth anu Ni. Westmoielanu,
As Boaiu membeis of the Renaissance Community Coopeiative (RCC), it is oui honoi to
piesent a pioposal to the City of uieensboio conceining City suppoit foi a community-
owneu gioceiy stoie as the anchoi tenant of the RenaissanceBessemei Shopping Centei.
With City suppoit anu coopeiation, we aie on tiack to open a full-seivice gioceiy stoie by
}anuaiy 2u1S (as eaily as Novembei 2u14, constiuction peimitting). 0ui stoie will offei its
customeis anu the community:
A wiue iange of healthy foous - incluuing plenty of fiesh fiuits, vegetables, anu
meats - available at affoiuable piices iight in the neighboihoou
An attiactive, welcoming stoie - the kinu of stoie oui community ueseives
Noie than Su uecent jobs with goou pay anu benefits, filleu by people fiom oui
community
A stoie owneu by the community that will stay in the community, with the explicit
mission of builuing community health anu wealth
This is the seconu pioposal we have submitteu to the City, the fiist coming in Febiuaiy
2u1S, when the City was consiueiing a veiy uiffeient set of options foi the shopping centei.
The pioposal we senu you now ieflects these changeu ciicumstances. At this point in time,
the City is consiueiing selling the shopping centei to Self Belp ventuies Funu. We have
been in close communication with Self Belp since last spiing. At that time, we weie
exploiing a lenuei-boiiowei ielationship with Self Belp. Since last Novembei when Self
Belp offeieu to puichase the shopping centei, we have tuineu to exploie a potential
lanuloiu-tenant ielationship with them. This pioposal ieflects that change, as well as the
fact that we aie fuithei uown the ioau in ueveloping oui own business plan, oiganizational
capabilities, anu pioject financing.
We think it is impoitant to state that in all phases of oui ielationship with Self Belp, we
have enjoyeu cleai, iespectful communication anu finu them to be tiustwoithy paitneis
who genuinely keep the community's inteiests at the foiefiont. We believe a paitneiship
with Self Belp incieases the likelihoou of the shopping centei's success anu oui success.
Foi that ieason, we encouiage the City to sell the Shopping Centei to Self Belp.
As Self Belp's iole has evolveu fiom potential lenuei to potential lanuloiu, they have
continueu to show theii commitment to oui success by making oui stait-up moie
affoiuable, in two ways. Fiist, they have offeieu to covei up to $SS psf in leaseholu
impiovements in oui stoie. This will covei all oui piojecteu constiuction costs, which
means we will neeu to boiiow significantly less money. This, in tuin, ieuuces oui uebt
seivice, which helps us to meet the ient commitment they aie seeking. Seconu, Self Belp
has agieeu to a maximum ient plus Taxes Insuiance anu Common Aiea Naintenance
(TICAN) of $11 psf, which is slightly lowei than they expect to chaige othei tenants.
We believe they aie uoing this because of theii stiong inteiest in woiking with the RCC as
theii fiist choice gioceiy tenant. They know it's goou business to woik with the community,
anu the RCC is most ceitainly community-focuseu. Noie than that, theii mission is closely
aligneu with oui mission - both of us aie focuseu on builuing sustainable businesses that
meet authentic community neeus. This, plus theii tiack iecoiu in Buiham anu othei
communities, leaus us to encouiage you to negotiate a sale to Self Belp.
Since the exact teims of the sale aie still being negotiateu between the City anu Self Belp, it
is inappiopiiate foi us to make any haiu uemanus foi exact language in the Teims of Sale.
We uo attempt in the attacheu pioposal to point towaiu some of the specifics we aie
cuiiently uiscussing with Self Belp, peitaining to leasing aiiangements, leaseholu
impiovements, anu the like. We hope the City will consiuei uiawing up its Teims of Sale
with Self Belp in such a way that these teims can be met oi exceeueu when we finalize oui
lease with them. We feel goou about oui ielationship with Self Belp, anu we also think the
City shoulu be cleai in its expectations of them as owneis of an asset that is cuiiently a
public tiust. Since the futuies of the RCC anu the shopping centei aie so inteitwineu, we
hope the City woulu consult with the RCC iegaiuing the Teims of Sale befoie those teims
aie finalizeu.
0f couise, we iecognize that the City may make a uiffeient uecision (that is, not to sell to
Self Belp), though we note that no othei potential buyei iesponueu to the City's RFP last
fall. Shoulu the City uecline to sell to Self Belp, we woulu be veiy inteiesteu in engaging in
negotiations with the City as oui lanuloiu, oi with othei buyeis with whom the City enteis
negotiations.
0ui pioposal also incluues iequests foi economic uevelopment assistance fiom the City,
notably an Economic Bevelopment uiant of $1uu,uuu anu a twenty-yeai Economic
Bevelopment Loan of $6uu,uuu at u% inteiest. These aie viitually the same teims we
iequesteu in oui pievious pioposal. We note that the highei ient figuie we'ie facing in the
cuiient scenaiio pushes us to postpone iepayment of the loan by ten yeais, so that we can
spieau oui uebt seivice ovei a longei time fiame. We iemain committeu to paying back the
loan so that the City's economic uevelopment coffeis will be ieplenisheu, enabling othei
communities in uieensboio a chance to gainei suppoit in the way that we have.
In auuition to this covei lettei anu the pioposal, the full pioposal packet incluues a iange of
suppoiting mateiials to help you evaluate the pioposal anu oui capacity to open anu
opeiate the stoie, incluuing:
! Naiket Stuuy
! 0puateu Pio Foima (ieflects owneiship
by Self Belp & changes in capitalization)
! RCC Bylaws & Aiticles of Incoipoiation
! RCC Boaiu Listing
! Piojecteu Timeline
! Lettei of Suppoit anu scope of woik fiom
0plift Solutions, oui piimaiy gioceiy
consultant
! Niscellaneous RCC mateiials
(membeiship application, newslettei,
biochuie, ownei loan inteiest sheet)
We aie eagei to uiscuss any anu all aspects of oui pioposal, anu look foiwaiu to heaiing
fiom you. The best way to contact us is thiough Lamai uibson, RCC Funuiaising anu
Nembeiship Cooiuinatoi. Be can be ieacheu at SS6-686-1292 anu at icc.lamaigmail.com.
Lamai will answei youi questions anuoi contact us as soon as he heais fiom you.
In auuition, the Funu foi Bemociatic Communities (F4BC) has pioviueu technical
assistance to the RCC since its inception, anu is playing a cooiuinating iole in this phase as
well. As we continue conveisations about this pioposal, please incluue Nainie Thompson
in all communications. She can be ieacheu at SS6-497-18S4 anu at mainief4uc.oig.
0n behalf of the entiie RCC Boaiu,


Sauie Blue Louis Beveiiuge
RCC Boaiu Nembei RCC Boaiu membei






Building Community Wealth
in Northeast Greensboro

A Proposal to the City of Greensboro from
the Renaissance Community Cooperative





January 23, 2014

"
Building Community Wealth in Northeast Greensboro
A Proposal to the City of Greensboro from the Renaissance Community Coop
January 23, 2014
Summary
! Working with the City, Self Help Ventures Fund, and other partners, the Renaissance
Community Coop (RCC) is on its way to opening a 10,000 square foot full-service grocery
store in the Bessemer Center/Renaissance Center in late 2014 or early 2015. The store will be
a community-owned cooperative, democratically controlled by its membership of at least
1,000 people, the majority of whom will be drawn from Northeast Greensboro.
! The RCC community owned grocery store will address three critical needs: (1) Need for a
full-service neighborhood grocery store that sells fresh food at affordable prices; (2) Need for
greater economic opportunity (more and better jobs, plus wealth creation opportunities); and
(3) Need for better ways for the community to work together to solve its own problems and
create the kind of community it wants. The RCC will meet these needs through a store that
offers to its customers and the community:
A wide range of healthy foods - including plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats -
available at affordable prices right in the neighborhood
An attractive, welcoming store - the kind of store the community deserves
Decent jobs with good pay and benefits filled by people from the community
A store owned by the community that will stay in the community, with the explicit
mission of building community health and wealth
! The RCC has developed a good working relationship with Self Help Ventures Fund. The
RCC requests that the City act rapidly to sell the Bessemer Center to Self Help.
! Since the exact terms of the sale are still being negotiated between the City and Self Help, the
RCC requests that the City draw up its Terms of Sale in such a way that we and Self Help will
be able to reach mutually workable terms when we finalize our lease with them, with regard
to leasing rates, leasehold improvements, and lease term. We also hope the City will consult
with the RCC regarding the Terms of Sale before those terms are finalized.
! The RCC requests some economic development assistance from the City:
An Economic Development Grant of $100,000
A twenty-year Economic Development Loan of $600,000 at 0% interest
Assistance from the Citys Economic Development office in securing additional grants,
loans, and loan guarantees from Federal and state sources
! In return, the RCC will bring at least $900,000 additional investment to the store, provide at
least 30 good jobs with benefits, and work in a collaborative manner within the community to
ensure the success of the store, the shopping center, and the neighborhood.
#
Urban Food Deserts Require New Approaches to Economic Development

Since 1998 when the Winn Dixie store on Phillips Avenue closed, the surrounding community
has expressed a consistent desire for a high quality full service grocery store, where a family could
do all of its shopping. By current terminology, this Northeast Greensboro neighborhood is a
food desert where healthy food choices require traveling for miles, even for those who have
little access to transportation.
Lack of progress in securing a grocery store has been a source of frustration for many residents,
causing some to feel that City government is not doing all that it can, and leaving others to
conclude that there is something wrong with the community or its residents. Stagnant economic
conditions in Northeast Greensboro, characterized by high unemployment and low wages for
those who can find work, are a product of the national economic crisis on the one hand and
remnants of social inequality on the other. Many people are discouraged, especially young
people, who see little opportunity in their futures. The lack of a neighborhood grocery store and
the specter of the mostly-empty shopping center that remains are daily, discouraging reminders
of limited opportunities.
Sadly, the Phillips Avenue area is not alonefood deserts are appearing in other Greensboro
communities that were once well served with diverse food choices. Food deserts are a growing
local and national problem that emerges from corporate decisions intended to maximize overall
company profit. Major grocery chains are moving to consolidate their stores into larger units,
despite the fact that people still have to eat, and the negative effect these closures have on
neighborhoods. Private developers simply do not see enough profit to enter into this arena. This
can be seen in the failure of 15 years of efforts to attract a true full service grocer to the area, even
with the Citys offer of incentives. For a business whose prime motivation is making a sizeable
profit, the numbers simply do not work out. This cycle creates disparities of income, wealth, and
the availability of goods and services that are not consistent with a healthy democracy.
Clearly, we need to try something new. We need a new approach to economic development that
brings the community the goods and services it needs, while also providing good jobs with good
benefits and helping to create community wealth. We need an approach to economic
development that begins to address longstanding issues of disparity along lines of race and class
that have been raised by the community for years and have been highlighted in official studies
commissioned by the city government.
A New Approach: The Renaissance Community Cooperative Grocery Store

The Power of Community Ownership
The Renaissance Community Cooperative (RCC) is pursuing a community ownership approach
that assumes satisfying the needs of the community as its core purpose. Quality goods at lower
prices along with better wages and benefits are possible if the driving concern of the store is not
maximum profit, but rather maximum community benefit. The RCC model requires an
operation that will have enough profit to assure sustainability and growth, but it will not operate
with the goal of maximizing profit.
The RCC is well on its way to creating a self-sustaining, viable business that is democratically
$
owned and controlled by the community itself through a cooperative business model.
Cooperative businesses, or coops, have been around for a long time in all kinds of sectors
agriculture, industry, and retail. Perhaps the best known are the organic and natural food coops
that launched in the 1970s as small businesses and are now flourishing to meet growing demand
for these kinds of products. These food coops are a far cry from their 1970s forebears.
Professionally designed and managed, they are catering to the needs of tens of thousands of
customers. Theyre still coops, in that they are owned and democratically controlled (one
member-one vote), but on a day-to-day basis, they have the look, feel, and revenues of
conventional businesses.
Coops are built to meet the needs of their member-owners. In the case of Northeast Greensboro,
the needs are these: (1) A close-at-hand full-service conventional grocery store (that is, not an
organic food store, but one that sells the kind of food to be found in a Harris-Teeter or Food
Lion) that sells fresh food at affordable prices; (2) Greater economic opportunity more and
better jobs, plus wealth creation opportunities; and (3) Better ways for the community to work
together to solve its own problems and create the kind of community it wants to be.
Our Value Proposition

The RCCc community owned grocery store will address these needs through a beautifully
designed 10,000 square foot store that offers to its customers and the community:
A wide range of healthy foods - including plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats
available at affordable prices right in the neighborhood
An attractive, welcoming store the kind of store the community deserves
Decent jobs with good pay and benefits filled by people from the community
A store owned by the community that will stay in the community, with the explicit
mission of building community health and wealth
Partnering with City government, local foundations and nonprofits, and many civic groups, the
RCC is well on its way to opening our store in late 2014 or early 2015.

The Opportunity is Bigger than a Grocery Store

The RCC model begins with a grocery store, but it doesnt end there. The community-owned
grocery store will not only address the food desert issue, but can also anchor an economic revival
for the shopping center and neighborhood by building community know-how, community self-
confidence, and community wealth.

There is a lot of talk these days about community wealth building. Thats sensible: the wealth that
is attracted to a community and remains and grows in that community impacts the quality of
life, determines how resilient communities are to economic instability, and facilitates the capacity
of communities to meet their own needs.
Much of the current work on wealth building is based on the premise that all that is missing is
economic literacy at the individual family level. In fact, the real problem is that often there is very
%
little community wealth from which more can be built. The City governments investment in the
RCC will translate into wealth that will be retained and grow in the community for the benefit of
the community as a whole rather than simply for the benefit of a few.
With the ownership of the RCC grocery store in the hands of a broad, democratically controlled
community body, the strategic direction of the business toward meeting the needs of the
community and its continued presence in the community are assured. While an individual
entrepreneur might want to take his investment out at some point in order to attain higher
returns elsewhere, the community as a group will have no such desire, given their ongoing need
for the healthy foods and local jobs that their store will provide.
The community is empowered when it can be directly involved in its own development through
community-based approaches. Engaged communities will become more interested in the whole
range of civic functions that are part of the life in this city.
Even better, the RCCs approach is Replicable, Scalable, and Inspiring. The model is not
particularly costly or hard to teach, so it can be taken up in other neighborhoods that are willing
to invest the time and effort to do community building, learning, and grassroots fundraising. As
the RCC approach in Northeast Greensboro becomes a model for the rest of the city, Greensboro
can become a model for other cities in the country that are experiencing the same problems that
we face.
Lets Move Forward!

With community development-focused Self Help Ventures Fund stepping up to buy the
Bessemer Center, the opportunity to build a community-owned grocery store that can fulfill
these promises has never been better. Working with Self Help, and with assistance from the City,
the RCC is positioned to raise the money, build its membership, and get all the expertise it needs
to succeed.
Since the Fall of 2012, when a determined group of Northeast Greensboro residents decided to
quit waiting for someone else to bring them a grocery store, the RCC has gotten organized and
educated, started raising money and members, and connected with experts in the grocery
business and cooperative enterprise. Throughout 2013, the RCC has convened monthly
community meetings, with attendance running from 30 to 95 people in per meeting. In the
summer of 2013, the RCC incorporated as a cooperative enterprise in the State of North
Carolina. In December, the initial Steering Committee of the RCC stepped aside, when the RCCs
Bylaws were approved by the membership and a new Board of nine Directors was elected to steer
the ship through the launch of the store.

The Board relies on numerous collaborating groups to help it stay on course. The Fund for
Democratic Communities (F4DC) continues in its technical assistance role, providing certified
experts in cooperative business planning and operations and providing extensive resources to
support ongoing community engagement and organizing. Since 2012 F4DC has provided
$45,000 in financial support to the project, and has pledged $50,000 more in 2014.

The RCC has also contracted with Uplift Solutions, a respected grocery store consulting group, to
provide all the needed expertise in the retail grocery business, including store design, selection of
&
equipment, operations, determining the right product mix, establishing relationships with
appropriate vendors and distributors, hiring experienced management, training the management
team and staff, minimizing shrinkage, advertising, and more all the essential elements of
business planning. Uplift Solutions has a great deal of experience in launching full-service
grocery stores in urban food deserts, and is known for building stores that become the center of
community health and well-being. In addition to business planning and management training,
Uplift will also be helping to identify and secure grants and low interest loans from federal and
state sources, through contacts and research they have developed in building grocery stores in
other urban food deserts.

Another big step forward in 2013 was fueled by a low-interest $50,000 loan from the Community
Foundation of Greater Greensboro, which enabled the RCC to hire a full-time Membership and
Fundraising Coordinator and open its own office. We are refining our fundraising and
membership building plans this month, and will be officially launching these campaigns in
February and March. As early as last spring, a small group of potential owner-lenders indicated
willingness to loan the RCC more than $43,000. With a dedicated staff person, we will be able to
close those loans and seek additional support from a wider pool of potential lenders. (So-called
owner loans are a typical part of food coop financing.) Other fundraising sources that the
Coordinator will be developing are grants, crowdsourcing campaigns, and a wide array of
grassroots approaches that engage the community and build membership, along with
fundraising.

With regard to membership, we note that many in the community need to see bricks and
mortar before they can commit their hard-earned dollars to the $100 membership fee this is
why we are so eager for the City to sell the shopping center to Self Help and get the renovations
underway! Its worth noting that staff from the Self Help Venture Fund continue to provide
moral and technical support, connecting the RCC to experts like Uplift Solutions and the Food
Trust, helping us think through our financial projections, and asking tough questions that help
us tailor our market strategy so we can achieve the $4 million in annual sales that we need to
succeed.

With all this forward motion, uncertainty about the future of the shopping center makes it
difficult for the RCC to advance its business planning, fundraising, and membership-building.
The communitys interest in and support for the RCC has built over two years, but the
community cannot be expected to hold on indefinitely. In this proposal, we respectfully request
that the City move with all reasonable speed to sell the shopping center, and we heartily endorse
Self Help Ventures Funds November 2013 proposal as a great starting point for negotiation.

What We Need from the City to Make It Work

Requests Regarding Ownership of the Shopping Center
1. In order to allow us to proceed much more effectively in our business planning, fundraising,
and membership-building, the RCC requests that the City act rapidly to sell the Center to Self
Help Ventures Fund.

2. We know that the City and Self Help need some flexibility to arrive at mutually agreeable
terms, so this proposal does not make any hard demands for exact language in the Terms of
'
Sale. Instead, we request that the City consider the specific provisions listed in (a) and (b)
below as they draw up its Terms of Sale with Self Help. These provisions are ones that we
have been discussing with Self Help over the last few months and are consistent with their
November 1 proposal to the City. These are also the terms that we have used in the RCCs
financial forecasting:
a. Self Help will treat the RCC as its first choice to serve as an anchor grocery store
tenant, making every good faith effort to work with the RCC to see if the RCC can
qualify as a tenant by presenting Self Help an adequate management, capitalization,
and business plan within a reasonable period of time after the City sells the property
to Self Help.
b. If RCC qualifies as a tenant, Self Help will work out a mutually agreeable lease with
the RCC that includes these terms:
A five year lease, with at least two five year renewal options
Approximately 10,000 square feet of space within the shopping center, with
appropriate grocery store frontage, signage, and loading dock access (to be
finalized during design phase prior to construction)
Starting rent at or below $8 psf annually, plus TICAM not to exceed $3 psf
annually, and annual inflation escalators not to exceed 3%
Self Help will pay up to $35 psf, or approximately $350,000, for leasehold
improvements within the final negotiated square footage of the grocery store, and
will work closely with the RCCs design and construction team to ensure that such
improvements are made in the most cost-effective way.
3. Since the futures of the RCC and the shopping center are so intertwined, the RCC requests
that the City consult with the RCC regarding the Terms of Sale to Self Help.

Requests for Economic Development Assistance
1. An Economic Development Grant of $100,000, which is more than proportional to the grant
made in 2012 to Proctor & Gamble, in terms of jobs created
2. A twenty-year Economic Development Loan of $600,000 at 0% interest, with payments to
commence in year eleven
3. Assistance from the Citys Economic Development office and lobbyist in identifying and
securing additional grants, loans, and loan guarantees from Federal and state sources
including the US Department of Agriculture, the Small Business Administration, Federal
Block Grants, and other sources.

Commitments from the RCC to the City and the Community

1. Build our membership to a minimum of 1,000 members by January 2015, if not sooner,
through community outreach anchored in the area immediately surrounding the Renaissance
Center and spreading outward
2. Acquire necessary training and continue to develop our democratic practice, community
(
accountability, cooperative governance skill, and business acumen so we are ready to assume
management and financial oversight of an operating cooperative grocery store by January
2015, if not sooner
3. Continue to build community partnerships and work collaboratively with a broad array of
local, regional, and national institutions and organizationsfoundations, universities,
neighborhood groups, social service agencies, City government, lendersto access expertise
and resources that will be needed to make the grocery store a success
4. Continue to raise equity for the grocery store, through memberships, grassroots fundraising,
and grants, reaching over $600,000 in equity (including the Citys grant) by January 2015
with the help of our partners,
5. Obtain sufficient financing (including the Citys $600,000 loan) to augment our equity stake
for a total investment of $1.6 million in our grocery store
6. Design, equip, and operate a welcoming, clean, well-stocked, full-service grocery store that
anyone would be proud to shop in and that inspires its staff, its customers, and the wider
community
7. Create at least 30 good jobs in the community, and model good employment practices by
paying decent wages to all staff of the grocery store and providing health benefits to every
full-time worker, putting more than $2 million in wages and benefits into the community in
our first three years of operation
8. Repay our loans in full
9. Use democratic, community-based processes to decide how to use any profit from grocery
store operations to further community development
10. Work closely with Self Help Ventures Fund, the Centers other tenants, the City, and the
surrounding neighborhoods to ensure that the shopping center is a successful enterprise that
operates in a manner that the neighborhood would be proud of
11. Assist other communities in the city who are considering a similar approach by offering
advice and materials derived from our own experience launching and operating a
community-owned grocery store.