Marilyn Scholl
Recorded at The Cooperative Cafe

Our cooperatives have made a difference in people’s lives. The food co-ops have made a difference in terms of creating a cooperative economy, and have changed the way Americans think about food. We’ve built a local agricultural system where farmers and local producers have a place to market their products. In these ways, cooperation is rooted in the participation.

We can apply some very basic psychological frameworks to our work in growing participation to help us understand how our members interact with their cooperative. Marilyn Scholl tells us how.

“At Outpost Co-op in Milwaukee, Wisc., staff noticed people were using the word love when they were talking about the co-op. So they decided to celebrate that love on the co-op’s website with numerous images of people with the ‘I love the Outpost’ sign, telling their story of the difference the co-op has made in their life.”