diversity Archives - Community Food Co-op

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month! Annually celebrated since 1992, AAPI Heritage Month recognizes the cultural contributions of Asian and Pacific Islander heritage to the United States. AAPI is an umbrella term for cultures from the entire Asian continent and the Pacific Islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

At the Co-op, we are grateful for our AAPI vendors, coworkers, and community members.

Ways to Support and Celebrate

Shop AAPI Brands at the Co-op

Flynn Farms

Co-op vendor Flynn Farms is woman-owned, veteran-owned, AAPI-owned and certified organic. They grow beautiful veggies, fruits, and lettuce varieties. Keep an eye out for their local produce this summer!

Nutpods

Nutpods was born from a gap in the market for delicious, dairy-free creamers with a rich taste but without additives. They first hit the shelves eight years ago, beginning in co-ops around Seattle. Nutpods has a strong fan base that has helped them become a nationwide sensation in just 10 years!

Savannah of Flynn Farms harvesting greens.

Maya Kaimal

Maya Kaimal personally oversees her collection of South Asian sauces, meals, marinades, and more. Her mission is to make it easy for Americans to bring India into their home. These products’ packaging and flavors are inspired by Kerala, where her family lives in India.

Sun Tropics

Sun Tropics is a family-owned business focused on making authentic street foods and tropical fruits accessible to kids through snacks and juices. Their best seller at the Co-op is the passion orange guava juice. A beverage both kids and adults will love!

Star Anise Foods

Star Anise Foods, a woman-owned, Asian-owned business, seeks to create the best value Vietnamese foods with high-quality ingredients. Two friends who value easy, nutritious meals created Star Anise. They hope to make homemade Vietnamese food achievable for everybody.

Dang Foods

Founded by two Thai-American brothers and their mom’s recipe, Dang Foods features plant-based, whole-food snacks. Dang Foods is named after their mom. Their treats are inspired by Thai street snacks.

A Dang bar sits next to its ingredients.

Listen to AAPI Experiences

https://asianpacificheritage.gov/

Donate to Combat Anti-Asian Racism and Support AAPI Communities

https://asianpacificfund.org/make-an-impact/solidarity/

https://aapip.org/donate/

Published May 1, 2023

Standing with Our AAPI Community

The Community Food Co-op is saddened by the continued violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community and condemns all hate crimes.

The Co-op has zero tolerance for racism, and we continue to work to transform our organization and community for racial equity. Racial equity work is a journey that includes a shift in policies, procedures, and our culture. We are committed to creating strategic goals, initiatives, policies, and practices to support that journey with measurable steps. Click here to read about the Co-op’s equity, diversity, and inclusion strategic plan goal.

Combatting racism requires us all to speak out whenever we encounter it. The Co-op is adding our voice to amplify the call to stop anti-Asian hate crimes and to support the AAPI community.

Here are a few resources to counter racism, support Asian Americans, and help communities heal.

Amplifying AAPI experiences

Asian American Stories in the Time of Coronavirus — Asian American Documentary Network
Stand Against Hatred — Asian Americans Advancing Justice
Know What Your Asian Colleague is Experiencing — Fakequity

Take action

Asian American Pacific Islanders Organizing Coalition Against Hate and Bias — Seattle
Stop Asian Hate Crime - Stop AAPI hate
Stop AAPI Hate Action Steps — Stop AAPI Hate
Bystander Intervention Resources - Training on how to protect your neighbors and co-workers when bias and harassment occur in front of you.
Asian Pacific Solidarity Fund - The Solidarity Fund will provide grants to organizations working to address the persistent anti-Asian racism, including supporting the physical and mental health of survivors, ensuring the safety of seniors, and advocating for racial justice across racial lines.

Organizations to support

AAPIP.org - Resource directory to mobilize the philanthropic sector towards meaningful action in the midst of heightened violence and hate targeting Asian American communities.
Asian Pacific American Heritage - Learn about events and resources for Asian Pacific American Heritage month.

Visit our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion page for more information.

Co-op Town Hall: Privilege & Responsibility

Location: Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship, 1207 Ellsworth Street

The Co-op hosted its first Town Hall in February 2018 -- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Your Co-op -- during which we gathered community input on how we can build a socially responsible business that is truly welcoming to all members of our community.

Since that time we have continued to build our foundational knowledge with trainings on Racial Equity, Race & Privilege, and Colonialism.

Now we are preparing to incorporate this knowledge throughout our cooperative. To do so, we will incorporate a new Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion strategic plan goal that will provide the cooperative with specific goals, and metrics to measure our success in achieving those goals.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Goal: We purposefully identify, discuss, and challenge systems of oppression and the disempowering impacts they have on the organization and our community.
Over the next 5 years, we will focus efforts to:
• Increase diverse cultural representation within our organization to create a culture of inclusivity in staff, members-owners, shoppers, and leadership.
• Strengthen staff development programs to support internal skill, leadership, and service.
• Publicly report equity, diversity, and inclusion indicators and progress that transform industry standards.
• Develop systems to incorporate community input into our processes and policies.
• Build collaborations and partnerships that drive equity, diversity, and inclusion goals.

We are looking forward to listening to the input from our community about this new strategic plan goal and how best we can develop and report measurable metrics to track our progress in a meaningful manner. Help us achieve the next level: from intention to action.

Please take our 1-minute survey to share your feedback on the proposed strategic plan goal.

Facilitated by Dr. Breyan Haizlip.
ASL and Spanish interpretation provided. Childcare provided.
Free, everyone welcome.