Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage has launched a unique partnership with Jack and Jill of America, an organization focused on developing African-American children age 2-19 to become future leaders.
The multifaceted partnership will touch on nutrition education, employment and other areas, all of which tie into both organizations’ commitment to serving their local communities.
“One of Natural Grocers’ Five Founding Principles is commitment to the communities we serve,” says Pamela Lipshitz, director of public relations for the Lakewood, Colo.-based natural-foods retailer. “We understood that their core values closely matched ours, and that they had the size, scale, reach and organization to help Natural Grocers grow in many ways.”
Founded in 1938 in Philadelphia by Marion Stubbs Thomas, Jack and Jill of America (JJOA) now has 245 chapters nationwide with more than 40,000 members. Through lobbying, educational programming, dissemination of education materials, and the organization of community and charitable events, Jack and Jill seeks to promote child development, child growth, child quality of life, child care and children’s rights.
Danielle Brown, national president of JJOA, says the organization seeks to help African-American children “understand what it means to be leaders” through community involvement.
One of the key missions for the partnership will be to raise money for the JJOA Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) GAP Fund, a program designed to help students stay in college by providing needed funds for items such as books and other expenses. A significant number of students end up leaving college because of shortfalls of as little as a few hundred dollars, Brown explained.
“We don’t want people leaving college for lack of a small amount of money,” she says.
The first such fundraiser is scheduled for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 20, 2020, when the retailer plans to contribute 2.5% of systemwide sales to the GAP Fund, with a goal of raising $60,000 on that day. In addition, the retailer will encourage customers to contribute directly to the GAP Fund by donating an extra $1, $5 or $10 at the register. The goal in that effort is to raise more than $60,000 in customer donations from Jan. 20-Feb. 29, 2020.
In addition, JJOA members will receive a “Supporting America’s Families Together” card that will generate a contribution of 5% of the total basket to JJOA — 2.5% to the National group and 2.5% to the local JJOA chapter to which the shopper belongs. Natural Grocers will also contribute financially on a case-by-case basis in support of local chapter activities.
Aligned on employment opportunities
The retailer and JJOA are also well-aligned in terms of the employment and internship opportunities that Natural Grocers will provide, both organizations say. Children who participate in the JJOA program may be ideally suited for managerial training at Natural Grocers because of their deep grounding in community service, says Brown.
“It’s the right fit,” she says. “We produce children that do well.”
Although JJOA members graduate out of that program after age 19, they often stay connected through college and beyond, and could benefit from the Natural Grocers’ SMART program geared toward developing store managers. The internships Natural Grocers will offer will benefit JJOA members as well, says Brown.
Lipshitz says the partnership is unique because it goes “beyond the traditional awareness and fundraising model.”
“Natural Grocers benefits from being able to recruit the best and brightest young people to the Natural Grocers family vis-a-vis internships, jobs and general management career opportunities,” she says.
The retailer’s Store Manager Accelerate Readiness Training (SMART) initiative is an intensive, nine-month program that starts with a month of classroom-based managerial and operational training at the retailer’s training center in Denver. After that, the trainees go through seven months of hands-on department and managerial training at a store location, followed by two to six weeks of working with Natural Grocers’ new-store opening and relocation crew.
“Trainees graduate the program equipped with a high level of leadership knowledge and experience, as well the operational knowledge needed to be a top-performing manager,” says Lipshitz.
She says the retailer expects “very strong participation” in these internship and managerial training opportunities.
“We have gotten nothing but very higher interest from JJOA leadership and members that they are very excited about this area, perhaps even more so than the fundraising since it so closely aligns with their core values and mission,” says Lipshitz. “We are extremely excited that we will be able to attract very talented, very educated and very motivated new talent to help drive our business and win the grocery wars!”
The program is in the process of rolling out to all JJOA chapters in the 20 states where Natural Grocers operates.
Related: Natural Grocers Refreshes Meat, Seafood Offerings; Regional Grocers Leave Customers Satisfied.
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