Shane K. Floyd, pastor of Grace AME Church, talks about the importance of better food access in Warren and how it would benefit the community during a presentation Tuesday afternoon at the church.

WARREN — Community leaders and residents gathered at Grace African Methodist Episcopal Church Tuesday to discuss what it would take to create a food co-op in the city.

Those in attendance at the meeting saw a presentation from Amaha Sellassie, founder and president of Gem City Market, a community-owned grocery store in Dayton.

Sellassie said the key to the success of such cooperative stores are the active participation and ownership of the residents and consumers of products.

“Community ownership is the key,” he said. “How do we practice greater self determination? How do we take ownership for the things in our community, on our block, in our neighborhood, these are all of the things in our realm of possibility.”

Sellassie said the co-op in Dayton was created by the community because of the closing of local grocery stores, including its Kroger.

“Our Kroger closed in 2009. … That’s what gave the majority of the west side not having a grocery store,” he said. “Now we have 40,000 residents all over the west side and no full-service grocery store.”

Sellassie said the idea for the Gem City Market initially emerged during a community meeting in 2015.

He said it took the Dayton group five to six years to bring the cooperative store to fruition. He said the store is a “mixed co-op,” with shareholders, including worker-owners and community-owners. The store is led by a nine-member board of directors.

“Five of (the board members) are worker-owners because what you find is that if the worker is actually an owner too, then they have more of a stake in the business,” he said. “It’s more meaningful to them than just punching the clock and leaving.”

Gem City Market has multiple tiers of ownership, from shares costing $10 to $100.

Those in attendance at the meeting, including Warren administration officials, city council members and other community influencers, discussed how such a store could be created in Warren.

Mayor Doug Franklin said a food co-op in Warren would be important to address health disparities that affect certain residents of the city because of “disinvestment, redlining, you name it.”

“To have a project of this magnitude that could address the food access issue and also build community empowerment (would) start affecting health outcomes,” Franklin said. “Because at the end of the day, that’s what’s driving this whole process, the health disparity outcomes that we need to address.”

Franklin said such “health disparity outcomes” must be addressed by the community and not always “outside influences.”

Sixth Ward Councilwoman Honeya Price said she and Sellassie were driving around the city when he asked “Where was the local grocery store?”

“As we were driving up Parkman Road, all the way up Parkman, if you don’t have a car, that’s a long ride to Sparkle and to Giant Eagle,” Price said.

Franklin said when considering food cooperatives established in other municipalities, the cities weren’t “necessarily the first dollar in.”

“The city helped as a catalyst for unity but the actual community did the organizing and made it all possible,” he said. “Then, the public dollars just supported the vision. That’s how I see this playing out.”

Sellassie said community members seeking to create a food cooperative likely will have to conduct a feasibility study and might have to hire a dedicated project organizer, both of which would carry financial implications.

Sarah Lowry, senior director of community impact with the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, called the project a “super exciting opportunity.”

Lowry said the foundation has several funding sources that could potentially support a feasibility study and an organizer.

Have an interesting story? Contact Mason Cole by email at mcole@tribtoday.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @masoncoletrib.

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