The September 11, 2024, business section of the New York Times bore the front-page headline: “Only One Supermarket Is Left.” Here is an update on an EPB feature about Phil Knight’s money.
The money spawned 1803 Fund . The first paragraph within this sparse homepage declared:
1803 Fund seeks to grow shared prosperity, through investments in community-based organizations and through smart financial investments. We will prioritize investments in education, place, and culture and belonging. 1803 Fund is not a conventional investment firm, and it is not traditional philanthropy, though our work will include pieces of both. We think of ourselves as a private equity fund for the people.
The recent newspaper 1½ page article (with two 5”x6 ½” pictures) chronicled a neighborhood within Portland, i.e., Rockwood, which sits geographically within the 1803 region. Rockwood has painfully witnessed the decline of supermarkets to currently one (an Albertsons) when three existed 25 years ago. This constitutes a food desert. (We have multiple in Chicago) Rockwood has a population of 40,000 that includes the lowest income quintile within greater Portlandia.
I agree with many that corporate consolidations lead to increased prices due to less competition. The article references research studies regarding supermarket consolidation and increased prices between 1993 and 2003. Now, the nation’s largest supermarket chain, Kroger, seeks to purchase the Albertson chain for $25 billion. The NYT article focuses nearly entirely on a business and regulatory perspective. Not a single utterance of 1803.
Now, juxtapose the silence against 1803 that prioritizes “education, place, and culture and belonging.” Not a single utterance of either grocery stores, corporate consolidation, or a food desert.
Surely Phil Knight will ensure the 1803 includes grocery options with employers who pay union employees, right? A union job with benefits and a 40 hour work week creates a pathway away from the lowest quintile.
Since Phil Knight has chosen to play with $400 million through a nontraditional philanthropy, does he envision employment of a universal basic income (UBI) for 1803 residents? UBI espouses a small cash income, sufficient for basic needs, ought to be provided regularly e.g., monthly, and unconditionally to every citizen. This growing UBI movement – simple, audacious and yet radical – has generated bodies of research that conclude it too creates conditions ripe to reduce poverty and uplift belonging. Uplifting belonging is an 1803 goal.
For more UBI information on UBI, which I enthusiastically endorse, visit https://widerquist.com/the-economics-of-ubi/
Phil Knight, the ball is in your court.
