Summit will reveal strengths of 'Community Wealth Building'

Early one Thursday morning, we walked through the doors of Hudson River Lodging, Hudson River Housing’s program that provides permanent and short-term housing for families and individuals facing unstable housing situations.

We walked down a narrow hallway and into the lodge’s commercial kitchen. There, Feza Oktay greeted us and passed around hairnets. We put them on as he measured out green coffee beans from a five-gallon bucket and explained that he developed an interest in roasting coffee when his daughter started working as a barista. Since then Feza has launched North River Roasters and will open a coffee shop in the Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory in fall 2016.

North River Roasters’ business-model integrates the triple-bottom line into its operations. While profit is the bottom-line of those who do business as usual, today’s economy and consumers often demand that businesses measure their success on people, planet and profit.

Sourcing beans from Fair Trade and Rainforest Alliance certified sources, using compostable bags for packaging, and purchasing renewable power for his unique fluid-bed roasting method are just a few components of North River Roasters’ business strategy. Beyond that, Feza hires individuals who are homeless or coming out of homelessness — the reason why he’s currently roasting in the lodge — and pays them a living wage.

Customers can sign up for what North River Roasters calls Community Supported Coffee Roasting (CSCR) — a subscription model in which participants pay for a few months of coffee in advance and then pick up their freshly-roasted beans on a weekly or bi-weekly basis at various locations throughout Poughkeepsie.

North River Roasters recently doubled their subscription-base after signing a contract to provide coffee for the Bridge Cafe at Vassar College in the newly opened Bridge for Integrated Sciences. This partnership between a small, local business and a college illustrates how area anchor institutions can make an impact on the local economy.

When hospitals, colleges and businesses source goods and services locally, they strengthen the local economy. A study by Re>Think Local found that 58.2 percent of revenues from local retailers continues to circulate in the local economy, compared to only 13.6 percent of corporate revenues. These multiplier effects could be a powerful driver of sustainable economic development in Poughkeepsie.

North River Roasters coffee will be served at the Poughkeepsie Community Wealth-Building Summit at Vassar College this Friday.

The event will bring together over 150 representatives from regional and local organizations to discuss how other cities across the country have implemented collaborations among hospitals, colleges and local businesses. This model, known as community wealth-building, pulls together local talents, capacities and institutions to rebuild capital by creating and strengthening locally-owned family and community businesses.

Take for example, the Democracy Collaborative, an organization based in Cleveland, Ohio that recognized an opportunity for job creation after taking inventory of hospital spending patterns. Area hospitals were shipping laundry away to be washed. The result? A local industrial laundromat, co-owned by workers who earn a living wage.

Also speaking at the event will be Holly Emmons, food service manager of Union Hospital in Maryland, an organization that made the commitment to go from “can to pan” to “plow to plate” and now sources 60 percent of their food products directly from local farms.

Feza leaned over the coffee-roasting machine, shining a light into the crock of roasting beans and meticulously taking notes in a small notebook. As we watched the beans change from green to brown, our conversation was interrupted by the sound of… popcorn?

“That’s first crack,” explained Feza. “That’s the sound of the beans expanding. They say that it’s drinkable after first-crack but it’s after this point where you get into the subtleties of the roast.”

Justine Porter is the conference director for the Community Wealth-Building Summit and the arts & outreach coordinator for the Mid-Hudson Heritage Center. Alistair Hall is the sustainability coordinator at Vassar College and a member of the conference planning board. You can still register for the summit at www.communitywealthsummit.com. There is a cost, but summit organizers also offer a “pay-what-you-can” model. Anyone interested in this option should e-mail communitywealthsummit@gmail.com