Ryan Welborn

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Ryan Welborn1. Why would you like to serve on the City Market Board? What excited you about becoming a Board Member?

I would be honored to participate as a member on the City Market Board bringing a perspective on community development and mental health awareness. I am a Clinical Mental Health Counselor at the Vermont Center for Anxiety Care and believe that incorporating a mental health awareness component to the City Market Board will allow not only the board to become more inclusive, supportive, and mindful, but also the community at large. City Market makes a significant statement about wellness, sustainability and community and being a part of that voice and movement gives me a great amount of joy and inspiration. I would love to have the opportunity to be an active voice at City Market to offer my perspective and opinions on how we can affect change and help continue pushing for equity and accessibility for all in our community. I believe that I could add to the already wide array of perspectives shared in the Board of Directors at City Market with my background in Mental Health and Community Development.

2. Please describe any professional skills you have that will help you to be an effective Board Member. How would you help the Board to balance the business needs of a $50 million business with the need to meet our Global Ends as a community-owned cooperative?

I have worked for non-profits in California and Colorado, both of which had a Board of Directors whose meetings I would attend and participate in. One organization was an outdoor school and the other was an organization that worked with post-incarcerated individuals to help them transition from prison to society. I learned a lot in my time at these organizations and attending the Board meetings including balancing finances across a wide spectrum of needs. I believe that my perspective will be useful in determining how to balance spending and fund-raising. I was a part of many fundraising events from the planning all the way to the end.

3. Describe your prior involvement with community organizations and/or cooperatives. What did you learn from these experiences?

As previously stated, I have been a part of two different non-profit organizations and have been a member of three different co-ops in cities that I’ve lived in. I am an active member in what I get involved with and have loved learning the ins and outs of what helps an organization not just survive, but thrive for its own sake and for the community at large. I started an organization during the pandemic to help get single serving snacks for hospital workers. We relied largely on donations and I learned a great deal in that season of life about sustaining a nonprofit. The organization was successful for the goals that we had, but it was a small scale set up, however, I believe that the perspective that I gained from that experience will help inform me if I were selected to step into the role of being a member of the Board.

4. What opportunities and challenges do you see in the future of City Market?

As far as challenges go, I see many potential difficulties as the world continues to transition into more unsustainable resource usage. I believe that locally sourced materials are of the utmost importance to combat this downward spiral that the environment is going down. I recently read a book by Norma Wirzba who discusses the importance of meaning in our food and materials. He mentions that when things are sourced from locations that we have no intimate contact with then we lose the magic and depth of connection with those things. When we know where our food is coming from and the materials we use to survive come from then we are much more connected to the source that gives it energy and vibrance. I believe that City Market stands for sustainability and has amazing potential to combat some of the challenges we all face as a society.