Dame Pauline Green, President International Cooperative Alliance, United Kingdom Dame Green takes us through the key components of the Cooperative Decade, as laid out in the ICA's Blueprint For a Cooperative Decade and challenges cooperators to take action to make the vision for 2020 a success.
Say hello to Maine's newest cooperative grocer, the Portland Food Co-op! Board Member Chris Stacey takes us through their startup story, and shares valuable insights about what startups can teach all co-ops, new or established: Participation Matters.
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.
For nearly a decade, the Columinate Co-op Cafe has been a way for workers, directors, consumer-owners, and leaders in the cooperative movement to gather, connect, learn, and tackle relevant issues. Although the Co-op Cafe looked a bit different in 2021, the event survived and, in some ways, even thrived in the face of adversity.
The River Valley Market Co-op in Northampton, MA has seen skyrocketing growth since they opened their doors as a startup in 2008. Hear from their GM and Board President about what kinds of impacts RVM has been able to create as a result of building a successful, thriving co-op market, and listening to and serving the needs of their membership.
So much of the critical work of movement-building is getting the word out there to those who are looking for what we offer. As the Executive Director of Neighboring Food Co-ops Association, Erbin Crowell spend a lot of his time getting the message out about cooperatives. Here he shares with you some of his tips and offers up some regional co-op data for the [...]
Cooperative Hall of Fame inductee Ann Hoyt tells a tale of three of her top picks for people that displayed courageous leadership in the face of impossible odds. Hear about the work of Abraham Shadid, Carol Greewald and David Smith. She believes "the ability to act rightly" in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, discouragement and personal loss defines the core of courageous [...]
At Outpost Natural Foods they've achieve success by growing their co-op too reach a wider portion of the market and to create increased access to healthful foods for much of the Milwaukee area. Hear from their GM, Pam Mehnert, some valuable insights and first-hand reports about what has worked well for Outpost on their journey through growth.
People's Food Co-op in Portland, OR has been doing the hard work of examining the implications of expanding into a more diverse, and rapidly-gentrifying, neighborhood. While fully acknowledging the difficulties and messiness of confronting racism, displacement, misogyny, and trans-phobia in the community, Sofie Sherman-Burton, Marketing & Membership Manager, still manages to lay out an optimistic vision for the future of food co-ops.
