Mandela is a cooperative that supports workers owner in the area as well as support healthy food
Mandela Cooperative is a grocery store in West Oakland full of healthy food. It is a also place for worker/ owners to support each other.
By Leon Breckenridge
On the day that I visited the store, Worker-Owner James Bell was placing greens in the produce section to be purchased by customers.
Bell also worked with the farmer of those greens Mr. Scott in Fresno.
“When I was there he had us helping in the trenches to plant the various vegetables out there. Then he took us to see that some other people were actually pulling up the sweet potatoes,” said Bell. “First time I ever saw the way sweet potatoes grow. He was pulling them up from really deep in the ground.” James also expressed that in the future he wanted to go back to the farm and help Mr Scott again.
Mandela Coop is a grocery cooperative owned by the workers in West Oakland that sells healthy food items. “Mandela is operated, centrally governed, and democratically controlled by our worker-owners. Our structure and operations are guided by cooperative principles and a strong community centered mission,”according to the Mandela website.
The grocery cooperative came out of the community wanting a grocery store in the area, something that has not been there since the 1960’s.
Bell is one of those community members born in West Oakland that also works at the store. “The best part in my opinion about living in West Oakland is the connection to a lot of historical figures and their legacies. All the way from the Pullman Porters and the Panthers and various activists to people that were performing at Esther's Orbit Room like James Brown.”
“People come here particularly because it's a neighborhood grocery store , " said worker-owner Nikia Durgin. “They recognized the people here. A fair amount of us live in the neighborhood. They feel comfortable here.”
Bell explains the difference between working at Mandela Coop and instead of working at a regular grocery store. “Working for Safeway or Lucky you just have to come in and do the things you are asked and you have no input on how that goes,” said Bell. “But when you work in a cooperative you get to be involved in all of the decisions.”
Bell explains the different functions the worker owners do, “They could run the register, take deposits next door, go through spreadsheets, and do various things that members do,” said Bell. “It makes it more fluid on the floor so things can get done in a timely manner.”
This kind of work environment helps the worker-owners support each other in healthy ways. “This is the first place I have worked where I would give feedback. If I voice an idea with my group, my peers, my teammates, then it's received,” said Durgin. “I have the power to have an idea and see it through. I think it's transformed the way I see labor.``
Bell also states the worker owner supports each other if they are financially in a pinch.
“The cooperative I’m in, there are times when people may need an extra bit of money for a bill or they are trying to purchase a motorcycle,” said Bell. “And this person will be able to borrow however much if in a realistic amount and pay it back for a particular percentage or dollar amount of their check.”
Bell believes that melanted black people will be more involved with cooperatives because of their lineage of working with people in their own community that was beneficial for all. Durgin believes that there is an uptick in worker-cooperatives in connection to the rise of black entrepreneurs. “I feel like a lot of people are trying to take their own labor into their hands to start a business. We have such a surge in small businesses, artists, entrepreneurs kinda making their own way.”
The Store has a wide variety of healthy local items like Ancient Organics, Kube Ice Cream, and Keller Crafted Meats. This is a part of the sourcing ethos. “We intentionally support businesses run by people of color because we are deeply committed to creating opportunities for interdependence in the food space, where POC entrepreneurs generate livable incomes that support their families.”
The store location of West Oakland with the healthy food gives the community and the worker-owners a chance for a fruitful life. “Growing up in West Oakland helps me do my job and helps me realize the importance of somebody being able to provide healthy fruit and vegetables to improve the neighborhood,” said Bell.