The Cooperative Movement

A Long Road of Cooperation: Revisiting Vernon Oakes

By Kelly Kristl|2023-12-05T15:47:20-05:00October 4th, 2023|

I enjoyed interviewing Vernon Oakes and asked him a few questions about his remarkable career. Vernon, tell us a few things to help Columinate readers know you better: people and places that are most important to you. My parents, Odell Oakes Sr. and Florrie Smith Oakes, met while serving in the US Army during World War II and married in New York City, where I was born. We later moved to Bluefield, West Virginia. I attended public schools, and due to a speech impediment, I was put in a “special ed” class in the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. Words and reading didn't come naturally to me, and reading still isn’t my favorite thing. But math made sense and would later help me to make sense of life and the business pursuits I had. School was tough due to the added factor of racism and integration in 1955, when I was entering the 3rd grade.

Courageous Leadership Today Stronger Co-ops Tomorrow

By Columinate|2023-05-05T20:28:46-04:00March 31st, 2016|

As Director of Co-op Development for NCG, Dave Olson has a unique perspective on what it'll take for co-ops to survive and thrive in this 'New Normal' of increased competition and slowing sales growth. In this must-watch video Dave drops some hard truths and possibly un-popular ideas in an effort to get co-ops to think hard about such crucial yet sensitive topics as product [...]

The Coming Wave: We will need to fill more GM positions than ever before

By Carolee Colter|2023-05-05T20:07:35-04:00January 4th, 2015|

By Carolee Colter 176 January-February 2015 As we all know, the baby boom generation is hitting retirement age. Roughly a quarter of the U.S. population was born between 1946 and 1964, and every month a quarter million more are turning 65. That age is not a magic number for retirement. With the recent recession, many people put off retiring longer than they otherwise might [...]

Share Values and Grow Communities

By Columinate|2023-05-05T20:30:05-04:00May 13th, 2014|

Kevin Edberg, Executive Director Cooperative Development Services St. Paul, MN The cooperative principles gives us a competitive advantage and a raison d'etre. Mr. Edberg challenges the viewers to think about applying our deep comitment to the co-op values to the wider society we live in.

Cooperation: It’s all Spirals & Rainbows

By Columinate|2023-05-05T20:30:19-04:00April 4th, 2014|

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!'

The Co-operative Decade: Why Participation Matters

By Columinate|2023-05-05T20:30:32-04:00March 1st, 2014|

Hear directly from the ICA President about the undeniable importance of Participation in building the success of the Cooperative Movement. Dame Green discusses the role of Participation as one of the components of a successful cooperative decade as laid out in the ICA's Blueprint For a Cooperative Decade.

Grow for the Good of the Movement

By Martha Whitman|2023-05-05T20:30:45-04:00November 14th, 2013|

Martha Whitman, Board President La Montañita Co-op, New Mexico

Cooperation: An engine for good

By Columinate|2023-05-05T20:30:55-04:00October 7th, 2013|

Carol Collins, Central Corridor National Cooperative Grocers Association

How We Got Here: A Co-op History

By Marilyn Scholl|2023-09-04T17:15:15-04:00April 14th, 2013|

Marilyn Scholl, of Columinate, (and not too proud to call herself the "designated co-op old fart") provides a succinct recap of the food co-op movement in the United States through history in order to glean lessons and learnings from the past. Scholl addresses the questions relevant to food cooperators in this new era of competition: How did we get here? Will we survive? The [...]

Credit Unions Co-ops Working Together

By Columinate|2023-05-05T20:08:18-04:00November 8th, 2012|

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