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!

The Cooperative Fund of New England has been providing loans to cooperatives and small nonprofits serving the needs of low-income people for 35 years. Having started with $11,000 in social investments and an initial $2,000 loan to Buffalo Mountain Food Co-op in 1975, CFNE has over the years made over $19 million in loans, without losing a penny of investors' capital. Read more about their work helping to create good green jobs, healthy local food systems, affordable homes, and cooperative networks in the 2009 Annual Report.

The Hanover Consumer Cooperative Society, based in Hanover, NH, recently announced the opening of its fourth store, across the border in White River Junction, Vermont.

The CEO of the National Cooperative Business Association, Paul Hazen, wrote an op-ed in Forbes magazine pointing out that while the recent financial and economic crisis was largely the result of risky behavior pushed by profit-driven investors, those firms that have weathered the crisis best and are serving people's economic needs most faithfully are owned by their members: cooperatives and credit unions.

Franklin County, MA – Twenty-seven intrepid community seekers spent a full Saturday traveling the rainy hills and valleys of rural Franklin County together to explore what it takes to build sustainable and affordable housing in community. Some came to meet new people, others to get ideas for projects back home – but all left with a sense of greater possibilities.

Cooperative Development Institute has been working with the 12 organic dairy farmers who are launching Maine Organic Milling in Auburn, ME, a farmer-owned cooperative to mill and mix organic feed for their livestock. Read "Maine organic farmers launch grain mill" by Lindsay Tice in a recent issue of the Sun Journal. The farmers are members of Organic Valley Family of Farms cooperative, which helped the group with inventory, technical support and logistics. This partnering is a perfect example of co-ops helping to form new co-ops and grow the cooperative economy (see our recent presentation at the NCBA Annual Conference on "Growing the Cooperative Economy: Co-ops Seeding Co-ops").

Food Co-op 500 has Evolved...

Into a new, non-profit organization that will continue to support new retail food co-op development across the United States -- the Food Co-op Initiative. A recent press release describes the organization and its impact and announces the appointment of an executive director, Stuart Reid.

The National Cooperative Business Association held its annual meeting and conference, “Cooperatives Transforming the Economy,” in Washington, D.C. last week, with active participation from several cooperatives and groups in the Northeast.

CDI was proud to present at a pre-conference workshop, “Growing the Cooperative Economy: Co-ops Seeding Co-ops”, about the various ways that cooperatives can create more co-op activity by looking up and down the supply chain, meeting more member needs, creating more markets and products, and replicating their organizations. We also presented “Co-op Housing and You: Creating Cross Sector Connections for Affordable Manufactured Housing”, about how cooperative ownership makes homeownership viable in manufactured home communities (“MHCs”) nationwide, co-presented with Paul Bradley, CEO of ROC USA™.

There are some great ideas being proposed at the "Revelation to Action" contest sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee and Ashoka's Changemakers. They want to find and help fund the most innovative ideas and organizations that strengthen and improve communities in Maine, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts.