About LVWROCS and #GOMOJO
Post date: Mar 27, 2015 5:19:57 AM
Mohave Roots Farmer's Market collaborative effort with #GOMOJO.
#GOMOJO is collaborating with LVWOCS, UNLV registered Student Organization for opening of the UNLV campus farmers market, the Mohave Roots Farmer's Market is a new and fresh take on the concept of a farmer's market. We as #GOMOJO are very excited for this project, this as a part of our community building project and hoping that many Hope Co-op will come out of this joint effort. This is a grand braking moment for our Las Vegas Community. Together we can end AIDS, discrimination, and more.
Based on the old model of farmers bringing their produce together, mohave Roots Farmer's Market is focused on offering a central outlet for local producers, large and small, in the Las Vegas Valley. While other farmer's markets have only a bit of produce sold alongside dairy and craft goods sourced from California, Utah, and elsewhere, Mohave Roots is being built on a unique model using exclusively local produce grown in Las Vegas and its immediate vicinity, to compete with the scant variety of local produce goods at the supermarkets that dot the Paradise area. All produce sold at the mohave Roots Farmers’ Market will be grown within a 100-mile radius of Las Vegas.
While nearly all the markets around the UNLV campus are too far away for a non-car owning student, mohave Roots is located right in the UNLV Student Union Courtyard, allowing access to produce within walking distance of the student dorms and homes in the surrounding Paradise neighborhood. In contrast to grocery stores, which are owned by large corporations which profit from the need for food and contribute to climate change by supporting the transport of produce over long distances, mohave Roots is organized by a grassroots group of local students and community residents, and your money will be going to the hard-working local farmers of Southern Nevada.
mohave Roots Farmers Market is the brainchild of Las Vegas Worker Ownership Resources and Cooperative Services (LVWORCS), a UNLV student organization and a worker-owner cooperative group, promoting an alternative management structure for local and small businesses. mohave Roots will operate as a worker-owned cooperative, with management elected from the whole of the workers participating, and only employed when deemed necessary. All proceeds left after paying expenses are distributed equitably after workers vote to determine how it will be used; either by reinvesting further into the Farmer's Market, as a dividend returned to the workers, or however else they agree to do so.
Mohave Roots Farmer's Market will open on Sept. 11th from 2 P.M. to 6 P.M., and will be located in the UNLV student union courtyard. If you are interested in supporting mohave Roots, feel free to donate at http://igg.me/at/mohaveroots. If you are or know anyone who is a producer, even a home gardener with an excess harvest, that is interested in market space, contact us on our Indiegogo page or at 702coop@gmail.com.
Help us to raise $10,000 to start a farmer's market at UNLV with Indiegogo.
Short Summary
Mojave Roots Farmer's Market is a worker-owner cooperative Farmer's Market located on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus. Our market features fresh produce from local sources, sold weekly out of the UNLV Student Union Courtyard. Our market is open to all UNLV students, as well as the general public, and to any local producers looking for a place to sell their bounty.
What We Need & What You Get
We are looking for $10,000 for:
- Procuring our local produce to sell at our tables
- All of the working pieces of the market proper, such as the coolers to keep the produce fresh right up to the point we sell it, a dedicated vehicle to transport our goods from the farmers to the market, Tables and Canopies to set up on and under, a card reader system to allow for more convenient purchasing, and lastly bags and other packaging to help you bring it to your dorm or home (your own reusable bags are welcome too!)
The Impact
Our Farmer's Market is built for students, and their need for a healthy diet. Our location is right in the middle of the Student Union Courtyard, just a short walk away from the student dorms. All of our produce is sourced from local producers, and helps to support the Vegas green community.
One of our larger sources are the K-12 schools in local Las Vegas neighborhoods, Picked from the Garden Farms School Gardens program, supporting student education in home gardening and food resilience.
We also support any and all local producers, from the commercial farms to the home gardens and more. We accept any produce available for sale from Las Vegas citizens, working to build a support structure for local production of foods, as well as the network of farmers and gardeners available in the valley. The more we grow, the more we can support and grow the local food supply, the more produce is available without the need to transport from across the country, providing fresher produce and more resilient communities, in both food and income sustainability.
Our operations structure is based on the Worker-Owner Cooperative Movement, a system that allows all workers to take part in the operations as if the company was their own. This type of management allows for more pride in one's work, as every task is an improvement of one's own business, and all income is shared and distributed equally amongst all of the workers. In place of the boss-supervisor structure, management is elected from the workers, by the workers; allowing for empowerment of the individual worker to determine the actions of the business instead of just following the orders of officers that aren't privy to the needs of the ground operations. This lets the market run more fluidly, allowing for a better community atmosphere.
That same structure allows for the education of both worker-owners and volunteers in Worker-Owner Cooperative model, which has the capabilities of being implemented in many other Business types. This develops the communities to build their own local small businesses, which again leads to developing community resilience, all while selling healthy foods.
Risks & Challenges
- Another Valley Farmer's Market
There are many different Farmer's Markets in the Las Vegas valley, and many outlets for our local producers. While the abundance of locations is a boon for the Valley and it's health, none of them are located in an area central to our college students. So, while the competition is numerous, we have a base of customers that can't easily access these locations, and based on our survey of the UNLV student body, there is a high demand for our Market and it produce.
Also, our Market is dedicated to produce and produce only in order to support our local producers. Many of our other markets have their produce intertwined with dairy products and craft items. With our goals of providing the student body and surrounding neighborhoods healthy foods to eat, we have a unique market that sets itself apart in its vision.
- Local Produce Availability
With the exception of a few commercial producers, local produce is hard to come by in the valley. The UNLV campus is no different, located in an area with only one supermarket within relative walking distance, and only a few more with-in a reasonable distance for bus travel while staying fresh. Almost all of the produce available is imported, from California to out of the country. Our partnering with our local growers allows food to be bought at it's freshest, sometimes picked within hours of our selling it. We also work to support programs that intend to increase our local harvests, including hydroponic operations to bring more food to the valley while conserving precious water in our current drought conditions.
- The Worker-Owner Cooperative Structure
Implementation of a novel management structure is a large task. It takes constant education for everyone involved, as well as a system structure that is easy to interact with. To cope with this, we have modeled our structures from existing Worker Cooperatives, of which there are many successful business structures to choose from. Our primary source is from a San Francisco grocery business, right in the heart of one of the largest Worker Cooperative development organizations. While a different type of work, by emulating these successes, we hope to build our own model to share with our workers and customers, and inspire others to develop their own jobs and careers with the intent to support their co-workers and communities instead of businesses and shareholders who tend to take their profits out of the city.
Other Ways You Can Help
Some people just can't contribute, but that doesn't mean they can't help:
When we first open, and for the first couple of months, we need people interested in volunteering to help our front counter. Not only does a volunteer get to assist in keeping our city's current and future students healthy and fit, but they would get to see the ground floor of the Worker Cooperative movement in action, and learn a bit about how they work.
Many of the goods we need could be donated to cut down on operation costs. We would love some gently used tables and canopies, even some folding chairs that are sitting around without people to sit on them. Email us at702coop@gmail.com if you have anything that we may need, anything you think would help will be considered.
Spread the News! If you know anyone in the UNLV campus area, or the greater valley, spread the word that were opening soon. If you know of any Producers, from the largest farms to backyard herb gardens, that would be interested in bringing in some extra revenue, have them contact us and we'll figure out what it takes to get their produce on our tables. The more we find, the more we sell, the more the valley's access to it's own local produce grows.
Come join our community, and let's help Las Vegas grow.
Contact:If you are interested in getting involved or have any questions, please send email to: 702coop@gmail.com
Sponsored by:
About FARMERS MARKET at UNLV
The farmers market at UNLV will provide locally grown organic and Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) free produce to UNLV students, faculty and staff, and the surrounding local neighborhoods and communities.
The produce will be provided by a network of school gardens through the Clark County School District and with the help of Gardenfarms and Green Our Plane and local farmers.
- The UNLV farmers market helps the children in the Clark County on their journey in organic gardening and sustainability for Mohavi Roots Farmer’s Market.
- At the same time, supporting UNLV students opens more opportunities for us to receive grants.
- The market also creates student jobs and stimulates the local economy.
- Offers rare opportunity for the UNLV’s students to learn and participate for a new movement, the worker cooperative movement is increasingly recognized as part of the larger movement for sustainability and a new economy based on people's needs. The farmer’s market creates on-campus student jobs and ultimately the students become owners of the market.
- Helps the children on their journey in organic gardening and sustainability. The children from the schools that provide the produce participates to run the market as an educational experience or field trip.
- Bringing worker cooperatives lesson to the school curriculum and ultimately developing local produce distribution system with establishing a Worker Owned Delivery Service. It provides delivering service around town to various clients, including restaurants and other local businesses and residences.
LVWORCS – Las Vegas Worker Ownership Resources and Cooperative Services- is an all-volunteer worker-cooperative educator and incubator in Las Vegas NV. We are dedicated to educating others about worker cooperatives, creating family-sustaining jobs by organizing worker-owned cooperatives and growing the local economy.
As a consequence of the recession of 2008, which devastated the national economy, Las Vegas suffered from a high foreclosure rate, one of the worst unemployment rates in the country, and considerable wealth inequity.
Worker cooperatives are small business that are democratically owned and operated by the people that work there, and no one else. Worker-owners pay into their local taxes, spend the majority of their pay locally, source materials and services for their business in the local community, thereby developing local ownership of the economy. By creating family-sustaining jobs through worker-cooperatives, we are taking back our local economy from corporate control, generating wealth that circulates in the local economy, in turn empowering the local community.
LVWORCS :: Las Vegas Worker Ownership Resources and Cooperative Services “We Cultivate Locanomy: Local Food, Local Jobs, Local Economy.”
Email: 702coop@gmail.com
Phone: (702) 280-4754
LVWORCS Web: http://www.lvworcs.us/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/lvworcs
Current Project:
FARMERS MARKET at UNLV
Currently LVWROCS is working together with the network of school gardens through the Clark County School District and with the help of Gardenfarms and Green Our Planet to start the farmers market at UNLV.
The farmers market at UNLV will provide locally grown, organic, and Genetically Modified Organism (GMO)-free produce to UNLV students, faculty and staff, and the surrounding local neighborhoods and communities.
The produce will be provided by a network of school gardens through the Clark County School District and with the help of Gardenfarms, Green Our Planet, and local farmers.
Why does Las Vegas need worker cooperatives?
The city continues to suffer from these problems, in addition to the long-standing issues that have plagued the Las Vegas area for years, such as the impending water crisis, the failure of the local educational system, and widespread homelessness.
Due to the gravity of these problems, concrete action in the community is necessary to relieve them. As a response to these problems, particularly job loss, worker cooperatives have the potential to be a promising solution.
What is a worker cooperative?
A worker cooperative is a business run on a particular model in which workers, together, make the decisions for the operation of the business, control the work that they do, and split the profits that the business makes. Unlike most enterprises, worker cooperatives do not have bosses, and decisions are made by voting or by a consensus decision-making process.
A worker cooperative is controlled and owned by its members and each member receives a single vote, along with an equal number of shares in the cooperative if it has capital stock.
According to the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC), of which we are a member, worker cooperatives are defined as “business entities that are owned and controlled by their members, the people who work in them.” Any group of three or more people can form a worker cooperative under Nevada law.
The goal of LVWORCS is to inform people in the Las Vegas Valley about worker cooperatives, and assist in creating them locally