Tomorrow, on Sunday, June 2nd, I will be standing up in front of the owners of Common Ground Food Co-op to talk about the future of their co-op. I will not be talking in vague terms, but instead unveiling a concrete 'what's next' for our co-op - the next steps, the next big project your co-op will work towards.

Unlike with grocery store chains, the first to hear the about the 'next big thing' will not be the press. There will be no press conference, but instead a meeting with you, the people who actually own this amazing cooperative community creation we call Common Ground. And also unlike any grocery store chain, we will have come to that moment, that announcement of what CGFC will work to accomplish next, not by looking at what will make the most money for the owners or shareholders, but by looking at what will make the aspirations of Common Ground's over 4800 owners most possible. We will set our course not to reach sheer profit, but to empower and enrich our entire community.

As the owners of this grocery store, you have set our priorities. We run the best grocery store we can to forward your joint aspirations for your community, which are embodied in CGFC's Ends (the co-op word for "goals") that are on display right over the registers in your store:

• The Co-op is the center of a vibrant, inclusive community.

• The Cooperative Movement is strengthened.

• The Co-op serves as an educational resource on food issues.

• Our local food chain is more equitable, robust and environmentally sound.

The impacts your co-op has had in our community in all of these areas over the last five years of going from eight employees in a basement room of a church to over eighty employees in a beautiful, full-service store at Lincoln Square have been phenomenal, but there is much more I and your CGFC Board of Directors believe we can yet accomplish, so much farther we can go in moving these Ends forward in our community.

The announcement I make tomorrow about the future of your co-op will impact each and every one of these ends and, I believe, take what we can accomplish toward our community dreams to a whole new level. Your board and I have worked hard to hear you through owner visioning processes, tabling events, owner surveys, in-store comment cards and more. I am excited to unveil what we've heard and the next step we can take as a cooperative that will have the most impact on making those aspirations a reality.

If you can't make it to the meeting tomorrow afternoon, there will be an owner-only e-mail going out first thing Monday morning with all the details of the next big step revealed at the meeting. As an owner of Common Ground, the real power behind the success and the community impact of your cooperative, you get to hear about the future of your co-op first. I hope what you hear will thrill you and inspire you about the power we can harness as a community through cooperative business.

In Cooperation,