Sean Doyle, General Manager Seward Community Cooperative, Twin Cities, MN Sean shares his perspective as a St. Mary's Graduate and long-time GM on how to invigorate the co-op culture at your store. In brief: It starts with investing in staff.
Suzi Carter, Startup Co-op Consultant Food Co-op Initiative, Harrisonburg, VA Suzi shares the lessons that she has learned and some fresh perspectives on how startups (and established) co-ops can push their missions forward through active participation.
CE Pugh, Chief Operating Officer National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA), Iowa City, IA CE Pugh sheds his perspective, from the national level, on the importance of Participation in helping our cooperatives thive. There are many interesting questions we can explore if we look at data and trends from a national perspective and CE guides us along.
Shawn Furst, Development Manager People's Food Co-op, Portland, OR Shawn and her team of ~30 Co-Managers take inclusivity and openness very serious when they talk about providing "Safe and healthy food for ALL". Hear how the collective management at People's Co-op in Portland has led to a lot of difficult and important work around breaking down barriers to food access.
Tom Mattox, Board Member Food Front Cooperative, Portland, OR Tom Mattox gives a personal and compelling talk about new ways for us to invite genuine participation from co-op stakeholders. His perspective will have your whole Board thinking about participation in a new light. Highly recommended!
E. Kim Coontz, Executive Director California Center for Cooperative Development Davis, CA Kim shares an integrative view of cooperation as she see in her work the overlapping of co-ops in many sectors organizing around the same co-op principles & values. She even shares a co-op song at the end. Careful, it's catchy!'
Dan Arnett, General Manager Central Co-op, Seattle, WA Dan gets brainy about participation. Watch Dan break down participation into 3 components and explain some theory behind effectively engaging stakeholders in your co-op and its direction.
Realistically the board president can’t do everything. No matter how strong someone is at the role, having a hired facilitator may give board chairs the opportunity to lead with their strengths and address different governance needs. More boards are finding that hiring a trained facilitator has also helped make their meetings run smoother. A win-win for everyone. At Abundance Cooperative Market in Rochester, New [...]
