Seward Community Co-op

Vina Kay

Vice President, Movement Capacity Building at Race Forward
Incumbent

I am running for re-election to the Seward Co-op Board of Directors after having served one term. My first three years as a board member have presented multiple challenges to our co-op and to our community, and I believe that having the experience I now have will further support the co-op through this difficult time. In my time as a board member, I have served as secretary for the board and as chair of the Community Engagement Committee, a joint committee of board and staff.

I have been dedicated in my professional and personal life to advancing racial justice, here in Minnesota, and now at the national level. As Vice President of Movement Capacity Building at Race Forward, a national organization that works to catalyze a movement for racial justice, I lead a team of organizers, trainers, and policy experts. Prior to joining Race Forward, I was Executive Director at Voices for Racial Justice, which works statewide to support an ecosystem of racial justice organizing. I bring a racial justice lens to my service on the Seward Co-op Board.

I first joined the Seward Co-op Board of Directors with a commitment to cooperative values, engaging meaningfully with our community, and further operationalizing equity in our policies and practices. All of these commitments remain true for me. If re-elected, I will continue my efforts to build relationships and engagement opportunities with members and the broader community so that the co-op’s leadership is informed by diverse
community voices.

I believe in collaborative and transformative leadership, and work with fellow board members and the management of the co-op to build alignment and consensus. Though that process can sometimes take more time, and we may still respectfully disagree, the result is greater trust and growth for all of us.

To me, a healthy community is an equitable one, and I believe that Seward Co-op has an important role in the overall health of our community through access to high-quality, nutritious, sustainably-sourced food, as well as through cooperative values that support the well-being of our staff, our community, and the planet.