A Time to Learn: Upcoming co-op trainings, presentations, meetings, and more
A Time to Learn: Upcoming co-op trainings, presentations, meetings, and more
These cold winter months are a great time to bone up on the topics that interest you most. And spring and summer are great for traveling to meetings that will inform and inspire. Below are the upcoming presentations that CDI will be doing, and a selection of offerings from other cooperative centers. If there is a topic you’d like to see, let us know.
Upcoming CDI presentations:
March (dates to be confirmed). Fisheries Co-ops 101 webinar series. Co-sponsored with Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance.
March 11, 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. How to Develop a Food Co-op Store. Community Health Services Inc., 520 Albany Avenue (Garden Street Entrance), Hartford, CT.
March 25, 8:30 AM to 4:15 PM. Massachusetts Farmers’ Market Managers Workshop: Empowering the Market Manager for Success. North Grafton, MA. Co-sponsored with Mass Farmers’ Markets and Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources. Registration of $35 includes morning refreshments and lunch. Register by March 15 as space is limited.
May 4-6: The National Cooperative Business Association will be hosting its Annual Cooperative Conference, “Cooperatives Transforming the Economy,” in Washington, D.C. at the Capitol Hilton.
May 4, 2:45-4:15 p.m. Learn how your co-op can serve your members and live the cooperative principles by seeding other co-ops. Presenters: Lynda Brushett and Noémi Giszpenc, CDI. This pre-conference session is an additional cost of $50.
May 6, 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Co-op Housing and You: Creating Cross Sector Connections for Affordable Manufactured Housing. Learn how cooperative ownership makes homeownership viable in manufactured home communities ("MHCs") nationwide. Come prepared to explore opportunities for your co-op to assist home owners and benefit your own co-op. Presenters: Paul Bradley, ROC USA™ and Jen Caruso, CDI.
Other break-out sessions include a presentation May 6 at 10:30 on the Neighboring Food Cooperative Association, a New England-based alliance of food co-ops, and May 6 at 1:30 on the Cleveland Evergreen Cooperative project. The conference coincides with the North American Students of Cooperation Emerging Leaders Program. Early bird registration ends March 26.
June 12: Together on the Land: Guided Tour Come see the range of possibilities for living in affordable, ecological, community-centered housing in western Massachusetts. Tour arranged by coalition led by Valley Community Land Trust and Mount Grace Community Land Trust, co-sponsored by CDI.
Spring (to be scheduled) How do co-ops help you live your values? A panel discussion and Q&A at Hampshire College with local co-operators on the cooperative experience/difference. Sponsored by CDI. Free and open to the public.
Many other cooperative development centers have their own offerings. Here is a selection:
Feb. 16-April 27, every two weeks, 2 p.m. Starting a Food Co-op? What you need to know! CDS Consulting Co-op and the Food Co-op 500 program present this series of six internet-based workshops. Free, but registration is required.
February 17, 2-4:30 p.m. Employee Ownership for Small Companies Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, 60 Main Street, Burlington, VT. Presenters: Steve Magowan and Dunbar Oehmig. Free, but advance registration is required.
April 24-25. Re-Inventing Small Business: Employee Ownership, Multiple Bottom Lines, and Business as Community. Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Warren, VT. Presenter: John Abrams. Tuition is $300 and pre-registration is required. Yestermorrow is offering Vermont residents a 15% discount on this and all classes at the School throughout the coming year.
February-April. Mid-Atlantic Alliance of Cooperatives Youth Leadership Development. The Cooperative Business and Leadership Training (BLT) program is designed to create an understanding of business, cooperatives, and entrepreneurial skills among older teens within a workshop-learning environment that fosters team building and leadership development. Held across Pennsylvania, the workshops are the first step to learning about cooperatives.
February 17, noon – 1:30 pm. Entrepreneurship in Worker Co-operatives. Ontario: Lunchbox Speakers' Series February Speakers' Panel. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, 252 Bloor St. West, Toronto, Room 12-199. Also offered as a simultaneous webcast.
February 18, and every Thursday at 4 p.m. Education for Liberation Series The Education for Liberation Series is grounded in Food For Thought Books Collective commitment to creating spaces for voices that are silenced or overlooked by mainstream corporate media. The series features workshops, screenings, lectures and presentations with artists, educators, community organizers and every day folk who are working towards a social justice agenda centered around ending oppression and supporting liberation and self-determination for the politically disenfranchised, ethnic minority and other subaltern groups. Food For Thought Books, 106 N Pleasant St, Amherst, MA. Free to Youth Action Coalition members, $5 suggested donation for general public.
February 23, 10 a.m.-10:45 a.m. Issues as an Employee-Owned Co-operative Matures. In many ways, employee-owned co-operatives are just like any other business; in other ways they are not, especially as they mature. Managing growth, integrating new employees/owners, and more will be covered in this webinar. Presenter: Leslie Schaller, ACEnet. Free webinar, and recordings available afterward.
February 25, 10 a.m.-10:45 a.m. Selling Your Business to an Employee-Owned Co-operative: Doing the Deal Learn the nuts and bolts of selling your business to a co-operative at this webinar. Tax, legal, and financial issues will be covered. Presenter: Mark Stewart, Shumaker Loop & Kendrick. Free webinar, and recordings available afterward.
February 27, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Cooking East to West culinary course series: Indian Cuisine Participants will learn traditional Indian dishes, cooking techniques and culinary secrets from Afsari Jahan, an experienced chef of Émigré Gourmet. Émigré Gourmet is a culinary collective of immigrant chefs. With a small class size of 6 people, each participant will receive personal attention while preparing a family-style meal of famous Indian dishes. Center for Family Life, 345 43rd Street, Brooklyn, NY. Course Fee: $50. Class size is limited - reservation is required! To make your reservation or for more information, please contact Jessica Bonilla at 718-633-4823 or jbonilla@cflsp.org.
March 18-19. Northeast Cooperative Council Annual Meeting. Doubletree Hotel, Syracuse, New York. Registration $200.
April 1, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Growing a Co-operative Economy - Creative Community Building Workshop, UConn Center for Continuing Studies. In the midst of a global economic crisis, people are again looking for an alternative to business as usual — one that puts people and community before profit — and are rediscovering the "co-operative." Presenter: Erbin Crowell. Wrench in the Works, 31 Moulton Court, Willimantic, CT. Free, but RSVP to catherine.gregory@uconn.edu or 860-486-0358.
If you like that workshop, consider registering for the full online course.
April 9-10, 9:30 a.m–5 p.m. 2nd annual California Co-op Conference This year’s conference focuses on job creation and building community-based economies to strengthen communities, create wealth, and transform lives. The keynote speaker is Jim Anderson from the Ohio Employee Ownership Center. Jim will share information about the Evergreen Cooperative model. Glaser Center, Santa Rosa, CA.
May 17-21 Session Two of the Art & Science of Cooperative Business Development: Practitioners as Facilitators for Emerging Cooperative Businesses. Presenter: Audrey Malan, Cooperation Works! Madison, Wisconsin.
July 27-30 The Ace Institute: Crossroads: Choosing Cooperation Cleveland, OH at the Downtown Marriott at KeyCenter. Keynote speaker, David Korten, author of Agenda for a New Economy and The Great Turning and the co-founder of YES! Magazine. Korten’s message is that tomorrow’s economy rests with entrepreneurial cooperators and collaborators devoted to creating a better life for all through locally based and community-oriented enterprises. Other Institute presentations will include the ground breaking partnership between the United Steel Workers and MONDRAGON; worker co-ops that are revitalizing Cleveland’s University Circle area; the ability to build assets through shared ownership; raising the bar in co-op governance, and more. New this year, the institute will carve out time for attendees to discuss where co-op development can go and what educational resources are needed to get there. Registration will be available on www.ace.coop, by early March.
Don’t forget that every year, there are course offerings and degree programs for learning about cooperatives:
Saint Mary’s Master of Management - Co-operatives and Credit Unions is an innovative web-based program that brings together, in cyber space, co-op and credit union professionals from around the world to learn how to combine the principles of co-operation with active, aggressive management practices. Visit www.mmccu.coop, or contact Tom.Webb@smu.ca or phone 902 634 4536 or 902 496 8170.
Southern New Hampshire University School of Community Economic Development Master’s program and Center for Co-operatives & CED seeks to promote and preserve the organizational efficiency and program effectiveness of cooperatives by providing them fair access to, and co-ownership of, the Center’s knowledge- and partnership-based "products and services".
Did you know?
CDI offers trainings & workshops in:
- Co-op 101: An Introduction to Cooperative Business Principles and Structures
- Co-op 201: Technical Assistance Sessions for Cooperative Business Development
- Board Training
- Making Membership Meaningful
- Marketing Our Cooperative Advantage
- Financial Management
- Conflict Resolution/Communication Skills
Why We Study
A long time ago, a group of rabbis, hiding from Romans who had outlawed the study and doing of Torah, were debating: Which is greater, study or action? For which should we risk our lives?
Finally, their leader Rabbi Akiba said: "Study is greater, if it leads to action."