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 [...]
By Joel Kopischke 167 July-August 2013 “SERVANT AND LEADER. Can these two roles be fused in one real person, in all levels of status or calling? If so, can that person live and be productive in the real world of the present? My sense of the present leads me to say yes to both questions.” – Robert Greenleaf, in his revised edition of “The [...]
In this six-minute video Amy Fields, general manager of Eastside Food Co-op in northeast Minneapolis, describes the creation of their community participation project, Northeast Network. For more than three years, the co-op has hosted a monthly morning meeting to dig into topics important to their neighborhood. Creating the network was part of the co-op’s desire to expand beyond its immediate network and build neighborhood [...]
Rochelle Prunty, General Manager River Valley Market, Northampton, MA Hear about the River Valley Market's 5-year young journey from startup to profitability, along with all the wonderful benefits the enterprise now brings to it's community, local farms, and its membership.
Amy Fields, General Manager Eastside Food Co-op, Minneapolis, MN The Eastside Food Co-op have emerged as innovators in participation and engaging their owners. Listen to Amy and get inspired as she explains the model and what it has done for NE Minneapolis.
Bill Gessner, Co-op Development Consultant CDS Consulting Co-op Minneapolis, MN Widely known throughout the food co-op community, Mr. Gessner has travelled the country helping grow co-ops and start new ones. His experience gives him a unique insight into the strengths and the potential of the cooperative movement.
There has been a resurgence in food co-ops the past several years. People have different reasons for pursuing quality, nutritious, locally sourced food. The recent unstable economy has driven some families to be more selective about what they eat and some share a collective interest in sustaining their own control over their neighborhood businesses. Local co-ops have been enjoying expansions: Weavers Way Co-op, founded [...]
Our series on innovative co-operative organizations in Austin had to cover what is probably the largest and longest-running co-op in central Texas. The Wheatsville Food Co-op began operations in 1976 and has been one of the outstanding features of Austin’s food community ever since. We met with Rose Marie Klee, President of the Board of Directors, to learn more about the history of Wheatsville [...]
Pam Mehnert, Board President National Cooperative Grocers Association
Jake Schlachter & Stuart Reid, Food Co-op Initiative With guest panelists: Laura Theis, Idaho's Bounty Laura Hanson, Stone's Throw Market Shannon Ousley, Frontier Co-op
