Food Co-op Gets Mixed Welcome From Some Low-Income Fort Greene’s Residents

Daniel Morgan, 51, has lived in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, since 1976. He has never thought about leaving the area that he describes as the City’s war zone during the 70s and 80s, and where he raised two children, who now have families of their own.

Last year, when he heard about the opening of the Fort Greene Food Co-op at 18 Putnam Ave., he welcomed the initiative, but was concerned at the same time. Like him, some low-income residents in the area find it difficult to be part of this community project since they are still loyal to their nearby supermarkets for their food-shopping, and also because the one-time cost of the membership, $150 and a $25 processing fee, is unattainable for them.

But at long-term, what worries Morgan -who works various jobs, as security guard, construction worker or driver when he’s not at Rutgers University where he studies social work- is not about the supermarket’s sales declining but that the food co-op becomes an instrument of the growing gentrification trend in the city that is displacing low-income people from their communities.

About Jose Bayona

Journalist based in New York City.
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