Alan Rubin
Meet Candidate Alan Rubin
1) Why would you like to serve on the City Market Board? What excites you about becoming a Board Member?
I'd like to contribute to the market that has nourished us almost exclusively since the opening. We have lived on College Street since 1997 and City Market is our almost only food source. Suki and I are almost daily shoppers, usually on foot. I am excited by diversity of shoppers and foods!
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?
Since 1974 I have practiced and taught medicine at UVM. My interest has been in teaching communication skills to students and practitioners, mentoring students and faculty and teaching the skills involved in behavior change and course development.
I especially enjoy teaching using simulation.
I hope I can use these methods in negotiating the balance between business and social needs.
3) Describe your prior involvement with community organizations and/or cooperatives. What did you learn from these experiences?
I have no previous involvement with cooperatives but served two terms as president of our condo board. I have also served on the Victims Compensation Board, the VYO and Lane Series Boards as well as many med school projects and committees.
I learned and relearned group dynamics, agenda setting and managing, and de-escalation: to search and find something of value in each participant.
4) City Market, Onion River Co-op is a learning organization committed to Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) work. What opportunities do you see as a Board member to support these initiatives at City Market and how would you ensure that the Board's work is grounded in these principles? Describe any prior involvement in JEDI work either personally or professionally.
As part of our doctoring skills course, we try to teach our students to listen to and understand our patients' values and wishes. We introduced Trauma informed care, developed cases to include social determinants of health including disparities, gender equity substance abuse, intimate partner violence and food insecurity.
I see my knowledge experience and skills as paths to support the Co-op initiatives in this domain.
5) What opportunities and challenges do you see in the future of City Market?
As downtown expands in population and diversity we will have the opportunities and challenges of working with new Americans disabled and elderly folks especially facing inflation, fixed incomes, mobility issues. As a newly retired old man, I feel I can represent that expanding group.