Cooperative Development Institute: Northeast Center for Cooperative Business

Green Worker Cooperatives is a finalist in the Revelation to Action ideas competition. Other finalists include AS220, a community arts cooperative in Providence RI providing living and studio space to artists; Red Tomato, the local foods marketing network in eastern MA; and the Common Ground Country Fair, a revival of agricultural festivals in Maine. Too bad you only get 3 votes! Voting closes this week -- the top prize is $50,000.

Pedal People co-founder Ruthy Woodring was interviewed on WRSI by Monte Belmonte ("Ruthie the Pedal Person"), and the Valley Advocate's Tom Sturm wrote a profile, "Re-Cycling: Northampton's Pedal People are the unsung heroes of the Valley's bike trails." Congratulations to this successful 8-year-old cooperative showing a real path to sustainability. Now delivering lunch!

LSA Family Health Service, founded in 1958, is a nonprofit community based organization that works with the people of East Harlem to address the physical, emotional, educational, and spiritual dimensions of family health. Its home-based and center-based programs are designed to empower those who are most vulnerable and who have least access to the basic necessities of life in the conviction that the entire community grows when individuals and families are affirmed in their own dignity.

At this time, we are recruiting for a Cooperative Business Organizer/Manager to incubate a worker-owner cooperative that will run the warehousing, tagging and inventory functions of a retail thrift store. This is a p/t position (10 hours/week) to start, with the potential to grow into a f/t position with the development of a comprehensive Co-op Incubation Program.

The Portland Press Herald had an article yesterday by Avery Yale Kamila on Local Sprouts, the worker cooperative community supported kitchen and catering business that has now just opened a cafe. Dedicated patrons can become members of the cafe by paying for a subscription in advance and will benefit from a 10% discount on the breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu featuring organic, Maine-sourced food.

Register now to attend the 2010 national worker cooperative conference this August in the Bay Area!

Early registration deadline ($10 off) is June 30. Scholarships are available.

The Work We Do is the Solution
August 6-8, 2010

Come spend the day exploring the world of employee ownership at the Eighth Annual Vermont Employee Ownership Conference, being held June 9th in Burlington. The early registration period ends on May 28th, so register now to take advantage of the lower pricing.

Date: Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
Time: 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM (Registration starts at 7:30 AM)
Location: Champlain College, 375 Maple St., Burlington, VT
Cost: Early registration: $120/$85 additional attendees. Late registration: $150/$115 additional attendees. (Early registration ends on May 28th.)
To Register: Click here to register online. You can also download a registration form and mail it in.
For More Info: Call 802-861-6611, or email info@veoc.org.

On December 18, 2009, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont introduced two pieces of legislation intended to encourage employee ownership in the U.S. The first bill (S.2909) is called the Worker Ownership, Readiness and Knowledge (WORK) Act.

Worker Cooperative Office Manager

The Center for Family Life in Sunset Park promotes and supports the founding of cooperative businesses as part of our community development initiative. Under the auspices of our Adult Employment Program, our first cooperative business, “We Can Do It! Women’s Cooperative”(Si Se Puede!) was incubated and launched in August of 2006. This Coop has 23 members who have worked together to build a successful housecleaning business. All of the members of the coop are considered “Worker Owners” and decisions in the group are all made democratically with each owner having an equal vote. Since 2006, CFL has incubated three additional cooperative businesses and a collective, We Can Fix It!, Beyond Care, a childcare cooperative, a women’s painting cooperative and an international cooking collective called Émigré Gourmet.

The successful candidate for the position of Cooperative Office Manager will have:

In the tradition of the New Orleans second-line parade, the Coopalooza National Second-line Committee is organizing a cross-continent second-line parade to celebrate and educate about cooperatives all the way up the Mississippi, starting in New Orleans, passing through
Baton Rouge, LA
Jackson, MS
Memphis, TN
St. Louis, MO
Chicago, IL
and arriving at the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit in June 2010.

Join their Facebook page, where you can join discussions such as the one below:

The Cleveland Evergreen Cooperatives, which have already been featured in the Nation, TIME, The Economist, and Yes! magazine (see earlier post), have now also been profiled in Business Week. Talk about buzz!