Sean Doyle is the general manager of Seward Community Co-op, a rapidly growing food co-op in Minneapolis, MN. Doyle is an energetic advocate for staff empowerment, and in this video he makes the case that greater co-op participation is enhanced when people are engaged in a workplace where the values of cooperation are in place and part of every workday. “When we talk [...]
People join co-ops to be a part of a community with shared values, and to belong to an association that enhances their well-being. Their sense of belonging is reinforced and grows when the co-op meets their needs, when they feel included, and when they understand that the co-op also belongs to them! Check out this short video by Patricia Cumbie on this important aspect [...]
Fostering Belonging Dale Woodbeck, General Manager Lakewinds Food Co-op Chanhassen, Minnetonka, and Richfield, Minnesota Dale Woodbeck shares the story of Lakewinds Food Co-op’s success fostering a sense of belonging among its stakeholders through the Lakewinds Organic Field Fund. The fund gives assistance to farmers producing organically and to farming organizations providing sustainable agricultural support. “This is something that resonates totally with our owners,” [...]
Chris Dilley, General Manager, Peoples Food Co-op, Kalamazoo, Mich. You won’t want to miss this video of Chris Dilley, general manager of Peoples Food Co-op in Kalamazoo, Mich. Dilley speaks very eloquently about the impact of their co-op’s growth on the community and as well as how growth has begun to create a conversation about greater access to healthy food for everyone. He spoke [...]
At the Cooperative Café in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 2013, participants discussed the question of growth and Sarah Christensen, general manager at GreenTree Cooperative Grocery in Mt. Pleasant, Mich., addressed the group about GreenTree’s approach to growth in the past and how they are addressing it now. The co-op had been founded in the 1970s and had stayed a small storefront for many years because [...]
Ever wonder how an economist would coach you to talk about growing your co-op? Now’s your chance! In this five-minute video=, Doug Hoffer, economic researcher and the State Auditor of Vermont, does a quick download of most of the key talking points supporting the opportunity to grow our co-ops. Hoffer points out that research supports the benefits of cooperatives in communities for the [...]
In this 13-minute video Bonnie Hudspeth shares some key strategies in launching the community participation efforts at the startup Monadnock Food Co-op and how those ideas relate to all our co-ops. Hudspeth, a startup champion from the Monadnock Food Co-op in Keene, N.H., and a staff member at the Neighboring Food Co-op Association thinks long established co-ops and startups both need to continue to [...]
Jade Barker, Governance Consultant with Columinate and co-author of "Everyone Welcome?", shares some of the wisdom that she gained in working on the "Everyone Welcome?" project. In this video Jade shares some of her personal experience as a person of color in the predominantly white food co-op sector and what it has been like on her 15 years journey so far with food co-ops.
Many people visit a food co-op on a daily basis, not just to meet their needs for groceries, but to get information or be more engaged in their communities. Likewise, hundreds upon thousands of people also use public libraries with a high degree of participation. John Sheller, a trustee at PCC Natural Markets in Seattle, Wash. and manger of the King County Library System, [...]
Michael Healy Recorded at The Cooperative Cafe Michael Healy invites us to expand our thinking around participation in our co-ops, specifically how we look at measuring participation. According to Healy, there may be way more to examine if we can move beyond just counting voter turnouts and Annual Meeting attendance. Rather than looking at participation as something co-ops need to convince people to do, [...]
