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Common Ground Food Cooperative
(Urbana, IL)

In 2008, financing from NCDF and the local economic development agency allowed Common Ground Food Co-op to take a giant leap, moving from the church basement it occupied for 30 years near the University of Illinois campus to become an anchor tenant in a shopping center that was part of a redevelopment initiative of a low-income neighborhood. After just three years, the consumer-owned retail grocery store has been so successful it has embarked on a new $1.6 million expansion at its current site, with another loan from NCDF and with 40% of the project costs financed by its consumer-members.

The co-op provides 41 jobs and will triple its retail space from 2,000 to 6,000 square feet. The projects have created high-quality jobs, increased access to healthy, fresh foods for the surrounding community and supported small, local farmers and producers who have an expanded market for their products.

Common Ground's general manager Jacqueline Hannah attributes the co-op’s success to the enormous growth in demand for local foods and organic foods, despite the recession. “People want a connection with their foods and their farmers,” said Hannah.

Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund is a cooperatively owned community-development loan fund committed to fostering economic democracy by investing in cooperative enterprises. Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, NCDF serves more than 170 cooperatives in 30p states, including consumer, producer, housing and worker-owned cooperatives. A federally certified Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI), NCDF has provided more than $31 million in financing to more than 900 cooperative since 1978. Through its Sustainable Food Systems Financing, NCDF provides financing to local and sustainable food producers, processors, distributors, and retailers. Since 2006, NCDF had made $5.5 million in loans to support the development and expansion of 22 retail grocery cooperatives in 9 states.