PROVIDENCE — When Deborah Rosenberg moved from food co-op friendly Portland, Ore., two years ago and was looking for a city neighborhood to move into, she chose the West Side, largely because she mistakenly believed a co-op grocery store existed.

"I Googled 'food co-op and Providence' and Urban Greens came up," said Rosenberg, who admitted her Internet research ended there. "Rhode Island is known as a very foodie state, so I immediately thought there would be a food co-op in Providence."

Rosenberg was both surprised and disappointed when she found out otherwise. She soon was offering her time to help the Urban Greens Food Co-op open a market, which would be the second grocery store for the West Side's 44,000 or so residents.

"There's a lot of energy behind the idea," said Rosenberg, now an elected member of the Urban Greens cooperative council.

A group of undaunted West Side residents has been pushing the idea for nearly a decade, sustaining momentum in its drive to establish a cooperative market that would expand the community's access to healthy foods.

The Urban Greens Food Co-op was founded as a cooperative buying club in 2000, by city residents who believed their need for an affordable source of healthy foods was not being met.

While the buying club — which operates out of the West Broadway Neighborhood Association headquarters in the Armory District — has grown to about 200 members and orders nearly $5,000 per month from distributors and local businesses, the cooperative council would like to turn the club into a grocery store.

The focus, since the co-op was created and first operated out of the old White Electric coffeehouse on Broadway, always has been to open a full-service market on the West Side. The council's chairwoman, Bridget Dignan, even has an e-mail dated Jan. 5, 2001 from a member expressing her excitement for such a storefront.

Nine-plus years later, the first cooperative grocery to open in Providence is closer to reality that it ever has been.

Tonight, March 16, from 6-8 at Loie Fuller's, 1455 Westminster St., Urban Greens is holding its biggest membership drive event in its history.

However, to open a cooperatively owned community grocery store that is stocked with affordable, natural and organic foods, bulk items and local produce, Urban Greens needs founding members, about 1,000 of them.

"We need supporters to become founding member-owners," Dignan said. "With enough founding member-owners, we can secure financing from cooperative foundations and traditional lenders to open shop and provide Providence residents with a new way to support local farmers and access sustainably grown food."

As of last week, the Urban Greens Food Co-op had signed up 116 founding member-owners, who paid a one-time fee of $160 — or $80 for low-income supporters. Memberships can be paid in installments.

Tonight's membership drive launch party will feature guest speaker Betsy Powell, of the River Valley Market, a food co-op in North Hampton, Mass., that opened last year with 1,000 founding members-owners.

Members of the Urban Greens council have toured that market, and say Powell is a "very inspirational speaker."

The Urban Greens Food Co-op is a cooperatively owned business, with members participating directly in major decisions affecting the store and electing the organization's board. "There will be no corporation controlling your food," Michelle Sheehan, a council member, said. "The profits won't be going into the pockets of some CEO."

The market would feature "stuff people can afford and stuff people want," said council member Craig O'Connor.

Today, as evidenced by the growing number of Rhode Island farmers' markets, consumers want local food — something the buying club already does and something the market certainly will continue, O'Connor said.

"Red Planet Vegetables has been involved with Urban Greens for as long as we've been growing vegetables," said Catherine Mardosa of Red Planet Vegetables, which grows chemical-free vegetables in and around Providence. "We have no doubt that the Urban Greens Food Co-op will be a partner to Rhode Island farmers, and that the membership shares our vision for a sustainable future. At last we will have a year-round market for our produce that releases us from the job of selling our greens in our driveway, or out of our front hallway through the winter."

Frank Carini is the executive director of ecoRI.org, a nonprofit organization devoted to covering Rhode Island environmental news.