Positive Power of Principled Profit
Volume 2, Number 1 - October, 2004

Positive Power Spotlight: Nuestras Raices

Holyoke, Massachusetts is an economically depressed community of about 40,000, with a very large Latino population. The city has been struggling to get back on its feet for years; unemployment in the downtown area is a terrifying 31 percent. 28.6 percent of Holyoke's households earn less than $15,000 a year and the average among Latino households is just 37% of the city-wide median income.

One of the most visible and active organizations working to improve the community is Nuestras Raices ("Our Roots"). This group fosters economic development through a number of ventures, including a commercial kitchen where neighbors can prepare food for sale, meeting the strict standards of sanitation and equipment that would be impractical for a beginning entrepreneur. A year and a half into the project, the kitchen has made two ongoing businesses (and numerous one-shot events) possible: a rapidly growing company called Sofrito El Cielo ("Heavenly Sofrito"): a family-owned manufacturer of sofrito, a Puerto Rican condiment made from cilantro, onions, and peppers. This business has been selling retail to a few private accounts, and is expected to get a wholesale license and ramp up production soon. Also, a new caterer, Borinquella.

For nine years, the organization has also provided both individual and market garden space to grow traditional Puerto Rican vegetables, which are successful in spite of the very different climate; we have snowy winters here in Massachusetts!

As a consumer, my personal favorite Nuestras Raices venture is the El Jardin ("The Garden"; accent over the "i") bakery. Hand-shaped organic breads baked in a brick oven.

12 local stores and two fine-dining restaurants carry the breads, and they're also available seasonally at six farm stores and four area farmer's markets.

And I can tell you from personal experience; you can taste the love in each loaf. They are delicious.

Profits are reinvested in sustainable community development.

More on Nuestras Raices at http://nuestras-raices.org; the El Jardin page is http://nuestras-raices.org/Bakery/aboutbakery.htm

Another Recommended Book: " The Good, The Bad, and Your Business: Choosing Right when Ethical Dilemmas Pull You Apart" by Jeffrey L. Seglin (New York: John Wiley, 2000)

This is a general business book, rather than one about marketing (though there are some great examples from the marketing world, like the oil pipeline company that, as part of a court settlement, had to run ads acknowledging culpability in a pipeline rupture that polluted 23 miles of river; the company went well beyond its legal requirement to top the ad with a huge headline declaring, "We Apologize.")

Seglin's main point is that ethics have to be a part of all our working lives, of every decision, and that workers at all levels must be trained to wrestle with the tough decisions and to stand up for honest, ethical responses.

He sees a dangerous trend, though: instead of taking responsibility for their own and their subordinates' actions, too many managers simply kick the problem upstairs to the legal department. But just because something is within the law doesn't mean it's right, and managers get ever more rusty in making these decisions if they don't get to practice ethical decision making because the lawyers have already stepped in.

One of my favorite parts is a four-question "sniff test" taken from Lockheed Martin's former CEO, Norman R. Augustine (these four questions are a direct quote form the book):

1. Is it legal?

2. If someone else did "this" to you, would you think it was fair?

3. Would you be content if this were to appear on the front page of your hometown newspaper?

4. Would you like your mother to see you do this?

If you get a yes on all four, you're probably pretty safe, ethically.

Among many other tests, Seglin also suggests these: will you be ashamed to look in the mirror, and what kind of a legacy do you want to be remembered for?

If you'd like to buy this book, please follow this link to buy from a BookSense independent bookseller:
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