What We’re Up To


April 6, 2022
The board has a new board member, Joy Goshorn who is a member of the ACG’s Collective Management. Welcome Joy! The board is hiring a new Board Admin and the job position will be posted and shared soon. The board is looking forward to a few community outreach events and projects for this summer. Contact the board if you are interested in getting involved or attending one of the monthly board meetings!

March 14, 2022
Happy Spring! The board has elected a new president and VP, and have been working on restructuring the board policies and Ends. The board Hiring Committee is working to fill 1-2 positions that support board operations. The Community Engagement Committee had exciting meetings with representatives from the Alberta Main Street organization and the NE Coalition of Neighborhoods, and we are working on a few community events for this spring/summer to be located in the ACG parking lot. Reach out if you are interested in getting involved!

December 21, 2021
What a year it’s been! The Board has gained four new directors and several have retired. The directors have been busy revising policies, reviewing the monitoring structure, and restructuring committees. If you want to learn more about the directors check out the newly updated Board of Directors page! Due to COVID-19 the monthly board meetings have been virtual throughout 2021 and will remain online heading into 2022. Members of ACG are always welcome at the board meetings, email here for the link!

August 21, 2020

So little is happening, and yet so much is happening! As we all remain sheltered-in-place, holding meetings online from our respective locations, it feels like a lot is happening within the co-op. The management continues to make impressively quick and careful decisions, allowing store sales to grow even in hard economic times, with the ever-changing pandemic status and community needs. Our Board has just gained five new directors, while others have retired, and is collectively ramping up for the coming year of working together.

Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 1, on Zoom, the new norm.  Still open to all — email for the link!


July 24, 2020

Despite being yet another Zoom call, the Annual Meeting was great! Owners showed up and contributed to dialogue around equity work as well as perspectives on managing our store’s profit. Both topics spoke to the theme of accessibility for all in our community. While most operational decisions are outside of the Board’s purview, we’re glad to be having these discussions as we move towards some strategic planning work later this year and next. You can expect us to be reaching out for specific input during that process, but it’s always great to see and hear owner engagement — working together is what a cooperative is all about! If you’re interested in being more involved, get in touch!

Furthermore, all five candidates for the Board of Directors introduced themselves at the Annual Meeting and were elected to three-year terms. There hasn’t been much information about individual directors on our website, historically, but the intentions are there as this website is slowly updated. Anything in particular that you’d like to know about us? Again, let us know!


July 9, 2020

While you’ll have the chance to hear from prospective directors themselves at the Annual Meeting, introductory statements are online here.


July 5, 2020

If you haven’t yet been sent information about our Annual Membership Meeting and election, be on the look out! We’ll be meeting on Zoom from 3-5 PM on Sunday, July 19, with presentations on the 2019 Annual Report and 2019 Financial Report, as well as more information about current goings-on and introductions from all of the candidates on the ballot for this year’s Board of Directors election. All details are included in this PDF of the agenda, and the following link can be used directly to pre-register for the Zoom meeting:

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUkcOurrTkqHNFM3ggRdY88cgrYP3Oyvkc5

Please contact Rachel (Owner Services) at owner.services@albertagrocery.coop for questions about the election, or Cecca (Board Director) at cecca@albertagrocery.coop if you have any other questions about our Annual Meeting!


June 23, 2020

Just a quick update to announce that our Annual Membership Meeting will be held online this year, on Sunday, July 19. Voting in our annual election will close on that day, so be sure to vote online or in the store by then! More information about both the election and the meeting will be sent out to members, so look for it in your email inbox.


May 12, 2020

Are you thinking about running for a seat on the board this summer? Our elections are held in July, but the deadline for your declaration of candidacy is coming right up! We’ve extended the date from May 15 to May 22, and encourage you to contact us with any questions you might have about the job or eligibility. If you haven’t yet attended one of our meetings, you can still attend in June. Check out this page for more information about the job and to download the official Candidate Packet.


April 27, 2020

In case you haven’t read about it elsewhere, the Board is hosting a Zoom meet-up this Thursday, April 30, from 5:30-7 pm — you can pre-register here! If you’ve ever considered serving ACG as a Board Director, this is a great opportunity to meet a few of us and ask questions before applications for candidacy are due next month.

You may have seen flyers in the store for a whole series of Happy Hours we’d been planning before we all took shelter-in-place. The hope was to connect with the co-op community in a casual setting, outside of our formal monthly meetings. Meeting online certainly feels different than meeting in person, but we’ve become so versed in it these days that it hardly seems strange. We’ll even have a raffle! Gather your favorite co-op snack and beverage of choice, and meet us at the computer screen.


April 5, 2020

Wow, what a month it’s been! Though the Board is maintaining social distance as much as anyone, and therefore moving our monthly meeting online, we’re still excited to connect and cooperate!

Every year at this time, we start accepting applications for candidacy for annual Board elections. You may not see us at the store as often, but your current Board of Directors are as available as ever to answer your questions about Board service – just email us!

Additionally, this unusual time in history provides new opportunities to serve in a Working Owner capacity. Whether or not you have the ability to serve in person, if you’re interested in how you can help, please contact Cecca with the Owner Linkage Committee.


March 16, 2020

The main thing to note today is that our regularly scheduled Happy Hour will not be happening this week. Much as we long for that face-to-face connection with the ownership year round, the current public health concern and social-distancing measures that come with it are more important. We hope to see you in April!

For other co-op updates, please sign up for ACG’s newsletter, Pickles Press, and check out the store’s social media pages @alberta_coop!


March 6, 2020

I thought that’d I’d updated our little blog here about the last Happy Hour, but it looks like the post didn’t stick! So here’s your notice that we’re doing it again on Thursday, March 19 – same time and place, 5-7 PM at the Bye and Bye at NE 10th & Alberta! Come say hi!

In the meantime, the board has been talking a lot about strategic planning, and how best to act on our mission with the strength and momentum we have at this time. It’s ultimately the store management’s job to decide how things get done, but we’re in this to cooperate, amirite?!


January 17, 2020

Well, the meet-up I mentioned below happened last night – we indeed put out the word via the Pickles Press newsletter, but failed to update this blog! Alas!

No worries if you missed it — the OLC is planning more meet-ups in months to come. We’ll be hanging out on the third Thursdays of February (2/20) and March (3/19) at the Bye and Bye. It’s a great neighborhood bar just five blocks from our store, at 1011 NE Alberta. We’ll be there for 5-7 happy hour, and would love to meet you!

There’s also another collaboration coming up with Conscious Comedy, to raise money for our non-profit neighbors at the Community Cycling Center. Stay tuned to this and other ACG outlets for those details.

In other news, recent board meetings have included several ongoing conversations that you may be interested in. Our Working Owner program has been at a bit of a stand-still in recent years, as we weigh certain legal factors and other coops’ experiences against our own. We’re looking to develop new opportunities for participation, and are eager to hear from owners with strong feelings about the program. We’ve also been discussing the Board’s role in strategic planning.

As always, our monthly meetings are open to the public and there is always space in the agenda for owner comment. We serve to represent you, but you are entitled to speak up! Board meetings are held from 6-9 on the first Tuesday of each month at the Church of Salt and Light on 20th & Killingsworth.


December 19, 2019

The Conscious Comedy event was a lot of fun, and we look forward to doing more! Stay tuned for the next one, probably happening in March.

In the meantime, the Owner Linkage Committee (OLC) is planning a casual meet-up at a neighborhood bar in January. The details aren’t settled just yet, but again – stay tuned! We’ll send out word in the store’s weekly e-news (Pickles Press) as well as posting here on the Board’s page.


November 27, 2019

The ACG Board of Directors has several committees responsible for the different kinds of work that we do. One of those, the Community Engagement Committee (or CEC), works with other organizations in our community to meet shared goals. This month, in cooperation with the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods and Conscious Comedy, we’re putting together an event to raise money and awareness for Right 2 Dream Too, a volunteer-run shelter in North Portland that’s been offering houseless folks a safe place to sleep since 2011. There will be by-donation bites courtesy of Snackrilege, Gem gluten-free bakery, and Reverend Nat’s.

Conscious Comedy will happen Sunday, December 15 at 7:00 PM at the Oregon Public House, 700 NE Dekum St. We hope you can make it!
If you have questions about the event, you can contact Courtney in marketing. Other questions for the board can always be directed to board@albertagrocery.coop.