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HFC Press Release – Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Hillsboro Food Co-op launches “HFC 2.0” with Jon Steinman Presentation,
Monthly Gatherings and Renewed Membership and Volunteer Recruitment

HILLSBORO, OREGON — With a site now reserved at the new Block 67 development and a
partnership with Fresh Foods, the Hillsboro Food Co-op’s (HFC) effort to establish a food
cooperative has been re-launched after more than a decade of work. The re-launch will begin with a
presentation by Jon Steinman, author of “Grocery Story: the Promise of Food Co-ops in the Age
of Grocery Giants” on Friday, March 14 at 7 pm at the Public Services Building Auditorium (155
N. First Ave., Hillsboro). His talk will celebrate and inspire an improved grocery alternative: the
cooperative. For over 200 years, cooperatives have embedded democratic principles into the
economy by placing the stewardship of businesses and services into the hands of the people
who use them – YOU!

In the following two months, the co-op’s board hopes to break the 1,000 member-owner
threshold (they currently have 916), recruit 30 new volunteers, and field a full slate of candidates
for open board positions—all by May 15.

“We’re really excited about our new partnership with Fresh Foods, an experienced community grocery store company, and our store location in the new Block 67 development,” said Tom Sramek, Jr., board member and outreach committee chairperson. “Our biggest challenge is to fully engage our owners and community members to rebuild our volunteer pool, all in preparation for a future capital campaign and eventual store opening.”

Hillsboro Food Co-op has been working for a decade to bring this plan to fruition. Now, with both
an experienced partner and a settled location, momentum is again building. On December 19,
dozens of community members packed a conference room in the Civic Center to hear about the
plans for Block 67 from the city and Koz Development, the project’s developer. More than half of
those attending were HFC member-owners, and everyone was excited at the prospect of a
locally-owned neighborhood grocery store returning to downtown Hillsboro. Ground-breaking is
targeted for this Summer.

Sramek explained that “like the physical building itself, building a co-op takes a huge amount of
preparation. We need to re-engage our member-owners and get them excited after years of
waiting. We need additional board members. Most of all, we need to attract new
member-owners and re-establish a volunteer corps that can serve on committees, help with new
owner-member integration, strengthen our IT infrastructure, expand our outreach and marketing
efforts, and prepare to launch what will be a more than a million dollar capital campaign.”

As part of that re-engagement effort, the co-op has started a monthly “Third Thursday
Gathering” at local bars and restaurants. The first such gathering was a “State of the Co-op”
gathering at The High Ground Cocktail Bar on SE 2nd Avenue on February 20 following the
“State of the City” event at the Civic Center. The Steinman presentation will be their March gathering, with third Thursday gatherings in April and May. If you are interested in being an owner or volunteer, contact the co-op at the email below.

If you are interested in finding out more, you are invited to attend the Steinman presentation on
March 14 and/or a Thursday gathering. You can find more information and a member-owner
application form on the website at hillsborofood.coop or by emailing info@hillsborofood.coop.
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For more information, contact:
Tom Sramek, Jr., HFC Outreach Chairperson at (971) 232-0550 or tomsramekjr@gmail.com
Event link:

EVENT LINK IS HERE