Round Two: PPE Group Purchase
CPA Co-op is focused on listening and responding to the needs of our community. We’ve been in communication with leaders in five regions of the country, and the vast majority of them have indicated a willingness and need to continue purchasing PPE and other COVID Response supplies in the anticipation of reopening by the end of the summer.
The Community Purchasing Alliance partnered with 3 different vendors for this round (2 of which are MWBEs/Cooperatives:
Freshprints, a U.S. based University apparel company and an e-commerce business that has proven to be one of our most reliable, responsive, and scrappy suppliers. This new order form is embedded in its technological infrastructure to allow for single payment and order processing. No more having to pay 7 different invoices or delaying shipment while awaiting payment
Carolina Textile District, a diverse network of North Carolina manufacturers and cooperatives owned and operated by New Americans and Minority Communities, emphasizing worker dignity and environmental sustainability, to offer high-quality cloth masks.
In Case of Emergency (ICE) Safety Solutions, a Black-Latinx Woman owned firm based out of Fremont, California that has been in the PPE and Safety supplies industry for over 21 years. They have experience working with Twitter, the NBA, Oracle, and several other large organizations around safety supplies and training.
Your organization must order by July 17th to join in this cooperative buying opportunity.
Support Local Manufacturing and Minority-Owned firms: Our products are mostly made in the U.S., ranging from a North Carolina cooperative of manufacturers to California, Chicago, and Houston based manufacturers. Your purchase supports small mills (like furniture manufacturers) keeping their doors open and communities working.
Harness the Buying Power of the Mission-based Community: This is a collective/group order. As such, pricing is significantly lower than any single organization would be able to get for these products. Feel free to compare to national benchmarks like Project N95.
Invest in High-Quality Products: Many of these products are simply not the cheapest product you could find if you were willing to look through endless catalogs like Amazon’s. We have been meticulous about choosing products from vendors that provide the best value given the quality needs of all our participating institutions. For this reason, not every product in each vendor’s individual catalog is available on this order form. In the case of the Carolina Textile Masks, these breathable, lightweight masks are made with BioSmartTM antimicrobial technology to keep you safe.
Avoid the coming and continued rush for large quantities of masks and COVID Response supplies as the economy begins to reopens in the midst of still-growing virus counts. Act early and responsibly to help your communities stay safe.
Care for the Environment: Many of the products, particularly the reusable masks are washable or reusable, providing effective protection up to 75 washes.
Learn more about one of our WMBE Vendors by watching the above video.
Participants have collectively saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by securing PPE supplies with better rates than those offered by some of your standard supplies providers.
For your reference, we are also sharing with you here the product and price ranges we will be offering in this round here.