The Jersey City Independent "

Gillian Allen and her family relocated from Brooklyn to Jersey City in 2001, settling down in the Greenville section of Ward F. She quickly came to love her new home, savoring the close-knit feeling and rich history of her adopted community, along with the small-town vibe that Jersey City neighborhoods can have.

Along with the neighborliness and diversity, she found the opportunity to participate in the civic and economic life of the city in a way that doesn’t always materialize to residents of larger cities. Along the way, she also realized that the neighborhood presented challenges, like violent crime, underperforming schools and corrupt local officials.

Now she’s intent on taking one of the challenges — an inadequate supply of quality food available in her predominantly minority, economically challenged community — and turning it into an opportunity.

“My family would and could travel by car to the stores in other wards that carried the better quality foods, but for those without this form of transport this idea is very challenging,” Allen says. “Additionally, this food of better quality would cost much more than its industrialized counterpart, making it unaffordable to those whose monthly income is not only meager but fixed. Those who cannot afford to leave our community are subjected to limited and substandard food options.”

Growing up in a Seventh Day Adventist household with West Indian parents, Allen was raised with a love of fresh, healthy foods. As a current mother of two, she draws on her upbringing when making dietary decisions for her family, a major driver in her mission to bring fresh, local, organic foods to her community.

A major food revelation came for Allen after she left corporate American in 2002 to care for her children full time.

“We were a family of fast living in a very fast paced environment — leaving home at 6:45 am and returning home at 7 pm and eating anything that we could microwave,” she explains. “When we took the opportunity to slow down and honestly look at the areas where our family suffered, we realized that we were speeding through the fundamentals of family, like meal preparation.”

While Allen has no formal background in food retailing or production, she’s committed to creating the healthy attitude toward food that she strives to cultivate in her own family. Her answer to the problems she sees in her community and her personal commitment to eating well and sustainably: The Jersey City Food Coop Initiative (JCFC).

The idea is to combine “healthy, reasonably priced, mindfully selected grocery options with cooperative practices,” thereby taking “an immediate, active role in supporting a passionate, local, diverse community,” as the JCFC’s guiding statement says.

“Change at a grassroots level is the only way to participate in the necessary and fundamental global movement towards protecting our world,” the statement continues. “Sustaining natural resources, providing ethically produced, local food options, respecting our suppliers, caring for our customers, and participating as positive citizens in our community at large, are the motivations behind JCFC.”  
 
Allen, along with the JCFC’s co-founders and steering committee currently guiding the project, sees the co-op as more than simply a store, although it is certainly that, and more than just a chance to improve the health of Jersey City residents. The greater vision is one of community, the affinity of people who care about that quality of their food and how it is produced. 

“We hope to create a community of tolerance and understanding around food and its importance in our lives,” Allen says.

Currently, it’s difficult for Allen to meet her food needs in her immediate environs; most of her food sources are in the downtown area, with occasional forays into Bayonne, Westfield or even back to Brooklyn. She hopes the co-op will change this, giving residents the opportunity to feed themselves well while they support local producers and a local business. Since the store will be structured as a cooperative, it will be member-owned and operated, so members will be invested in a direct way, dedicating their own time and energy to the project.

The organization is still in its infancy, discussing its formation, exploring potential members and determining the location and overall feasibility of the project; Allen estimates that it will take anywhere from 18 months to two years before the co-op’s doors are open. Still, it has quickly gained support and wisdom from a handful of dedicated local residents, Rising Tide Capital and has a 200-person-and-growing email list of prospective members and/or volunteers.

The project is currently supported financially by Allen and the steering committee, as they search for local support and grants targeted at food co-ops. A series of fundraisers, including a June 11 wine tasting, are planned, as is the collection of membership fees from interested parties.

The organizers are also in the process of exploring sources for the food that will ultimately be sold, using a clear set of criteria: farmers and vendors within 100 miles of Jersey City who share the JCFC vision — healthy, fresh and cost-conscious — and are willing to work directly with the organization. In this they’ll rely on the community as well, tapping them for vendor ideas and seeking suppliers from amongst those who already participate in the city’s seasonal farmers markets.

Along with the concrete goals of providing high-quality food for Jersey City residents — particularly in the underserved neighborhoods — the co-op is simultaneously working on bigger long-term plans, looking for ways to serve each of Jersey City’s neighborhoods through JCFC’s infrastructure.

“This idea of a food co-op in Jersey City has been a collective thought for quite some time,” Allen says. “I am exceedingly grateful to those in this city who are willing put in the necessary work to create a community that genuinely cares to make quality food accessible to the ’least of these’ in our society.” 

For more on the Jersey City Food Coop Initiative, or to get involved, visit the JCFC website.

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