The Great Grocery Squeeze
Friday, May 30, 2025, 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. CT
- Stacy Mitchell, Co-Director, Institute for Local Self-Reliance
- Moderator: Allanah Hines, Independent Cooperative Consultant, Allanah.h Consulting, LLC
Across the country, communities are grappling with food deserts*, rising grocery prices, the spread of predatory dollar stores, and the collapse of local businesses. These challenges aren’t simply the result of inevitable market forces — they stem from deliberate policy decisions that have consolidated corporate power, deepened systemic racism, and widened economic inequality. A pivotal shift occurred in the 1980s, when the federal government abandoned antitrust enforcement and allowed dominant retailers like Walmart and Amazon to rig the playing field.
In this keynote, Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, traces how these decisions radically reshaped the grocery sector and examines the promising movement now underway to restore fair competition. With a growing number of state and federal policymakers working to revive antimonopoly laws — including the long-dormant Robinson-Patman Act — co-ops have a critical opportunity. Mitchell will share how this policy shift could transform the landscape for community-rooted grocery stores — and why co-op leaders have a key role to play in making it happen.
Stacy Mitchell, Co-Director, Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Stacy Mitchell is a writer, strategist, and policy advocate. Her work focuses on dismantling concentrated corporate power and building thriving communities and a healthy democracy. She is Co-Executive Director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, an organization that for five decades has challenged the wisdom of neoliberalism and championed local, community-oriented models — from municipal broadband to distributed solar power, community banks, family farms, and local businesses. Stacy has played a leading role in today’s growing antimonopoly movement, helping to popularize its ideas and secure its embrace by the Biden Administration. Her insights about the importance of small, independent business have shaped the thinking of a wide range of policymakers, scholars, and advocates.
Stacy has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Washington Post, and many other outlets, both popular and academic. She is the author of Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America’s Independent Businesses, which was named a best business book of 2007 by the American Library Association’s Booklist. In 2016, she co-authored Amazon’s Stranglehold, an influential report that “provided a road map for a new, more critical approach to the e-commerce colossus,” the New York Times noted in a profile of her in 2020. Congress cited her research on Amazon’s monopolization strategy in its investigation of Big Tech’s dominance in 2021 and her work informed the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against the company in 2023.
Through her advocacy, Stacy has championed policies that expand community self-determination and build happier, more prosperous, and more sustainable places. In 2022, the political strategy firm Baron named her to its list of the top ten “antitrust super influencers” for her role in shaping federal policymaking and discourse. She has also worked extensively at the local level, helping communities craft policies that support local entrepreneurship and vibrant commercial districts. A close collaborator of both small business leaders and progressive organizers, Stacy has co-founded many campaigns and coalitions, including Athena and Small Business Rising. She also serves on the board of the Maine Center for Economic Policy.
Allanah Hines, Independent Cooperative Consultant, Allanah.h Consulting, LLC
Allanah Hines is a visionary community food systems strategist and intercultural equity consultant, dedicated to driving meaningful, community-led change. With over 17 years in the cooperative sector, she has been at the forefront of shaping inclusive and sustainable food ecosystems.
Passionate about turning bold equity initiatives into tangible action, Allanah believes that food is more than nourishment—it’s a catalyst for economic empowerment, cultural preservation, and collective well-being. She thrives at the intersection of strategy and impact, fostering connections that strengthen communities from the ground up.
Guided by the question, “What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?” Allanah approaches every challenge with innovation, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to justice.
*ISLR has chosen to use the term “food desert” because it highlights the systemic causes of food inaccessibility—particularly how corporate consolidation and weakened antitrust enforcement, often rooted in or reinforcing systemic racism, have stripped many communities of access to local, healthy food options. It is a way, not without limitations, to point to deeper policy decisions that have shaped today’s food landscape.
Evolving Cooperative Identity: Strengthening the Future of Co-ops in 2025 and Beyond
Friday, May 30, 2025, 12:45 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. CT
Moderator: LaDonna Sanders Redmond, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Consultant, Columinate
From the very beginning of humanity, people have thrived by working together. At the heart of cooperatives are the seven international cooperative principles—guiding values that form the foundation of most cooperatives across diverse industries, both in the US and globally. These principles, widely embraced in the food cooperative sector, were originally drafted in 1844 and have since evolved to remain relevant in an ever-changing world. In 1995, new principles were introduced and adopted by the International Cooperative Alliance, reflecting this ongoing evolution.
Now, as 2025 marks the International Year of Cooperatives, this workshop will explore whether the cooperative identity should grow and change to reflect better the society we live in today. Are the current principles enough to guide co-ops through the challenges of the modern world, or is it time for a shift?
This workshop will provide participants with the knowledge and practical tools to evaluate,apply, and potentially reimagine cooperative principles in today’s world.
“Everyone Welcome?”—Challenging the Myth of Inclusion in Food Co-ops
Saturday, May 31, 2025, 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. CT
Gabby Davis, Equity, Inclusion & Community Engagement Manager, National Co+op Grocers
Fran O’Farrell, Board & Owner Engagement Coordinator, Seward Community Co-op
Ray Simpkins, Chief Executive Officer, Outpost Natural Foods
Ray Williams, Chief Executive Officer, Seward Community Co-op
Moderator: LaDonna Sanders Redmond, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Consultant, Columinate
Many food co-ops proudly display signs that say, “Everyone Welcome,” but how often do we pause to ask: Is that truly the case? Despite our best intentions, exclusion still shows up—sometimes in subtle ways, sometimes not—through food preferences, race, political ideologies, gender identity, class, and more. In reality, we all operate within a single food system shaped by inequity, and the vision of universal welcome remains unfulfilled.
This session will hold space for stories from individuals who have felt “othered” in the food co-op community—voices that too often go unheard. Their stories will invite us to examine the gap between our ideals and our actions—and to sit with the discomfort that brings.
Change doesn’t come from comfort. It comes from listening deeply, challenging assumptions, and being willing to transform. So together, we will explore what it means to live out the cooperative values of equity and solidarity, and how we, as a movement, can move beyond signage to build spaces that truly welcome everyone. Come ready to listen, reflect, and explore real steps toward deeper belonging in our co-ops.
Moderator: LaDonna Sanders Redmond, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Consultant, Columinate
LaDonna is an Qualified Administrator (QA) of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) and Intercultural Organizational Development Consultant and Coach with Columinate. LaDonna Redmond is the former Diversity and Community Engagement Manager for the Seward Co-op in Minneapolis, MN. LaDonna led the co-ops diversity and engagement initiatives that contributes positively to organizational culture, marketplace competitiveness, and social responsibility. LaDonna is a community activist who worked on several public health issues throughout her career such as substance abuse, violence and food justice. LaDonna successfully worked to get Chicago Public Schools to eliminate junk food, launched urban agriculture projects, started a community grocery store and worked on federal farm policies to expand access to healthy food in communities of color. LaDonna is a 2003, WK Kellogg Food and Society Policy Fellow In 2009, Redmond was one of 25 citizen and business leaders named a Responsibility Pioneer by Time Magazine. LaDonna has a popular Tedx talk, Food + Justice = Democracy.
Panelists:
Gabrielle Davis, Equity, Inclusion & Community Engagement Manager, National Co+op Grocers
Gabrielle/Gabby Davis is committed to advancing equity, justice, food sovereignty and community in the food co-op sector. She currently serves as the Board Treasurer for Detroit People’s Food Co-op (DPFC), where she helps steward financial oversight while championing community ownership and Black food sovereignty.
Additionally, Gabby is the Equity, Inclusion and Food Justice Manager at National Co+op Grocers (NCG), supporting a network of food co-ops in deepening their impact through inclusive, people-centered strategies. With a background in public health, counseling, and respiratory therapy, she brings a multidisciplinary approach to her work—rooted in care, systems thinking, and a drive for transformation.
Gabby lives in Michigan with her wife and her wife’s dog and enjoys participating in good trouble. Community is Gabby’s love language.
Fran O’Farrell, Board & Owner Engagement Coordinator Seward Community Co-op
Fran has been working in food co-ops since 2015 and made the move from baking to admin in 2023. Since then, she’s done quite a bit to maintain and reinvigorate the Seward Co-op Board’s organizational systems as well as coordinating the rebuild of Seward’s owner database, and a revamp of the annual Scorecard (along with the owner onboarding materials), all in addition to stewarding customer comments, helping out with events, and chairing a queer/trans affinity group. Outside of Seward, she has worked variously as a writer, seamstress, filmmaker, facilitator, and website fiddler. She is a fan of springtime and dancing. She believes there is a better world on the horizon and works to help it come into being. She hopes to see the complete collapse of capitalism, imperialism, and colonialism in her lifetime, sooner rather than later.
Ray Simpkins, Chief Executive Officer, Outpost Natural Foods
Ray Simpkins is the Chief Executive Officer at Outpost Co-op, where he leads with a deep commitment to community, sustainability, and cooperative values. With over two decades of retail management experience, Ray has held leadership roles at some of the nation’s most recognized retailers, including Dollar General, The Home Depot, Sam’s Club, Fresh Thyme Farmers Market, and The Kroger Co.
He holds an MBA from Strayer University and a bachelor’s degree from Wright State University. In addition to his work at Outpost, Ray serves on the Board of Directors for National Co+op Grocers, where he helps guide strategy to strengthen cooperative businesses nationwide.
Ray holds giving back and providing resources to inner-city neighborhoods close to his heart—values shaped by his own upbringing. Outside of work, he enjoys racing R.C. cars with his family and producing music in their home studio.
Raynardo Williams , Chief Executive Officer, Seward Community Co-op
Raynardo Williams is general manager at Seward Community Co-op, a 20,000-member food cooperative with two grocery stores and a café in Minneapolis. Ray is passionate about healthy food access for all, with a focus on communities of color; increasing diversity and inclusivity within food cooperatives; and raising awareness of cooperative economics in communities of color.
Ray has several years of leadership experience in retail food cooperatives and the financial services industry. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration at National American University and a master’s degree in management at Hamline University in St. Paul. He is a board member of Walker West Music Academy in St. Paul and Food Co-op Initiative in Savage, a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., and a mentor with Be The Change mentoring program. Conferences at which he has presented include: the Consumer Cooperative Management Association Annual Conference, Up and Coming Food Co-op Conference and the National Cooperative Business Association IMPACT Conference.
Born and raised in St. Paul, Ray lives in Minneapolis and enjoys traveling, cooking, fashion, and spending time with family and friends.