Every cooperative organization in Greenbelt and elsewhere is governed by a board and any member can run for election to it – each is a grass-roots democracy. Decisions are made by the board and the management carries out those decisions. Most local co-ops exist through the determined efforts of a small number of residents who saw a need and drove the concept to fruition – continued efforts hand down the benefits from generation to generation and involve persuading new members to sustain the work. Any resident who lauds the benefits of community in living in Greenbelt is benefiting from one or more co-ops, even if indirectly, and should consider how they can help.
Consumer Cooperatives
All but one of Greenbelt’s co-operatives are of the consumer type, even though they take many forms. In a consumer co-operative, the customers for the goods or services on offer are the owners of the co-operative. These commodities maybe concrete like groceries or tools to be borrowed, or be services – like banking, education and entertainment. Though appearing somewhat different, all these organizations are owned by their customers. Greenbelt consumer cooperatives covered in this article provide groceries, education, banking, entertainment and do-it-yourself assistance.
Groceries
The Co-op Grocery Store is the most obvious consumer cooperative organization that gives the community the benefit of shared buying power. Its roots are also perhaps closest to the original co-operative concept that guided the first such store in December of 1844 in Rochdale, U.K. (See the story in the October 13, 2022 issue of the News Review.)
The store was originally opened in what is now Roosevelt Center in 1937 to serve the new city growing up around it, and was bought in 1940 by a group of residents – the Greenbelt Cooperative. For a while, it had a second smaller store in the north end of town in 3 Court, E through H of Laurel Hill Road to serve the new North End “Defense Homes” that were built in the 1940s.
Over the next 20 years, this original Cooperative acquired more grocery stores, gas stations, a furniture store, drug store, barber shop, beauty parlor, movie theater, laundromat, a bus service and small shopping centers, but by 1984, it was in financial trouble. To the consternation of many residents, the board at that time voted to close down much of its operation, including Greenbelt’s gas station and supermarket – both of which were losing money – and retain only the then-profitable Scan furniture stores (see greenbeltnewsreview.com/issues/GNR19840105.pdf for the full scoop).
A Phoenix Arises
After much hard (and pretty fast) work, including a court case brought by some members of the original Co-op, the grocery store was taken over by a newly formed cooperative – still in operation today – and Scan and the gas station went their own way (the new Co-op was outbid for the local gas station). Scan filed for bankruptcy in 2007 and the gas station has passed through several ownerships. Apparently, Greenbelt backed the right horse.
Today with a new and lively management and a resurgence of local interest, the Co-op is holding its own and its service to the community during Covid’s worst periods was thoughtful and supportive. Its mission, as always, is to serve the community and one person has remained in a key position to do that since the 1984 coup. That’s Treasurer Joe Timer, who worked with Jim Cassels to effect the purchase. Even for Greenbelt, Timer’s 42 years of tenure in the role are extraordinary.
Today’s Co-op keeps alive the mission of serving the community and has acquired new energy and practices. Manager Dan Gillotte has thrown his lot in with Greenbelt by spearheading the takeover by the Co-op of the New Deal Café’s food and beverage services – and not coincidentally giving both organizations increased buying leverage. The new Co-op, in adapting successfully to Covid, also brought a wider variety of food (merguez and chourico sausages, for example), an expansion in locally sourced produce and more available ready-to-eat options especially tempting to younger audiences.
Timer confidently expects that the Co-op will go on to serve new generations of Greenbelters. It offers a convenient, local, friendly, easy-in-and-out access, full-service grocery store that doesn’t take an hour just to navigate.
Banking
The Greenbelt Federal Credit Union (GFCU) is also a cooperative – where banking, savings, loans and investments are governed by a locally elected board of members. Chartered on December 13, 1937, it became the first community credit union in the area and the first financial institution in Greenbelt. It stepped in to help finance the switch from federal to cooperative ownership of the new Greenbelt Homes Inc. in 1952 – raising funds and securing a loan from another credit union to fulfill the all-at-once demand to finance hundreds of homes.
The credit union is one of the primary lenders for purchasers of Greenbelt Homes, Inc. (GHI) housing. It understands and has experience with the share-secured loans that GHI members have, where their share of the co-op is the security for the loan and not a deed to the property. Many larger or less-involved/non-local financial institutions don’t finance the co-ops.
In addition to online banking, GFCU also maintains a useful point of service in Roosevelt Center with counter and banking services and a cash machine that provides no-fee withdrawals for its members and those of most other credit unions.
During the 1980s savings and loan crisis, the GFCU stayed solid throughout – guided by the best interests of the community. In contrast, another Roosevelt Center lender that was not a co-op, Bethesda-based Community Savings and Loan (which had taken over local Twin Pines S&L) went under, plundered by its chairman and majority owner, Tom Billman. In 1994, Billman was caught and sentenced to 40 years in jail and a $25M fine after a high-rolling decade hiding out in Brazil and Europe.
Education and Child Care
The Greenbelt Cooperative Nursery School has been in operation since 1942. In addition to tuition, parents contribute work to the school as part of the tuition, such as serving as an aide in the classroom or housekeeping and maintenance tasks. A board of parents provides governance. Housed earlier in a small building beside the Community Church, it now resides in the Community Center. Generations of small children are now the parents or grandparents of today’s students – an enduring tradition and a friendly and happy place to start school life.
Entertainment
The New Deal Café is a more recent cooperative at 25 years. Owned by its members, it has followed a checkered existence – weathering one crisis after the next and narrowly avoiding dissolution on a number of occasions. In the last year, however, its association with the Co-op Grocery Store as the food and beverage provider may have conferred more stability, and its innovative music and event programming also continues to draw audiences from well beyond Greenbelt – especially as Covid’s impact lessens. In addition to the Café cooperative, the Friends of the New Deal Café Arts (FONDCA) nonprofit sister organization provides arts and music programming.
Do-It-Yourself
The baby of the family is the new MakerSpace cooperative: a mere fledgling. Starting life in a garage on Parkway a few years ago, living for several years in Roosevelt Center in the former dry cleaners (now the Old Greenbelt Theatre Screening Room), it has established a new foothold and gathered a selection of tools and expertise to help Greenbelters repair their homes and maintain their stuff. Now moved to new quarters on the lower floor of The Granite Building in Roosevelt Center, the MakerSpace recently held an opening ceremony for its new offerings and is actively seeking tools and volunteers to assist in its quest to bring DIY literacy and resources to residents.
Next Week: In the third and final episode of this cooperative series, find out about Greenbelt’s housing linchpin – Greenbelt Homes, Inc., and get the scoop on Greenbelt’s only worker cooperative – this newspaper.
