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“It was a scary time,” she said. “We thought: if we work together, we can be scaling up and serving 100 families per week.”

On Monday September 14, news broke that Mountain Equipment Co-op’s board of directors had unanimously approved a deal to sell MEC’s assets to a private U.S. firm.  MEC never asked its members (more than 5 million) to weigh in.

What happened to Co-operative Principle #2 – Democratic Member Control?

In this episode, we dig into the background stories and asked these important questions:

We are sharing our guiding documents for anyone interested in learning more about Sassafras, co-ops, or both.

Small to mid-size ranchers in the Bay Area are used to driving long distances to one of just a handful of USDA-approved slaughtering facilities in the state. They have learned to manage the logistical acrobatics required to keep their businesses running. They book time slots to harvest months ahead of time—without fully knowing demand or what state their livestock will be in—and make the long drive every time.

A new cooperative announced on Monday it is entering the regional air transport business in Quebec, filling the hole left by Air Canada’s recent announcement it would cut several regional routes.

Treq said its mission is to offer an airline that “serves the regions of Quebec and allows their development.” It said the system had been deficient for “several decades,” confirmed by Air Canada’s announcement.

Every year we have an Annual General Meeting (AGM) — two days of retreat where we clear our schedules and spend quality time with each other to think about the business we’ve created, where we’ve come from, and where we’re going.

AGM objectives include planning our 18-month roadmap, agreeing on when and how to hire, updating our core policies, and learning from the past. In order to have these pivotal conversations effectively, we need to be able to share information and learn from each other without causing harm (intentionally or not).

After a year filled with twists and turns that none of us expected, the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and racial injustice have left our country reeling and left many of us more committed than ever to crafting a new, more equitable economy. The graduates of this year’s Start.coop accelerator program are at the forefront of this movement and have spent the last 6 months building cooperatively-owned businesses all across the economy.

Reflecting on my own workplace, I am prouder than ever to work for and be a part of a not-for-profit financial cooperative.  Our cooperative structure enabled us to create the first Crisis Assistance Relief Loan just days after the pandemic started and offer loan deferments and other forms of assistance to our member owners. Without hesitation, our volunteer board of directors, another benefit of the cooperative structure, supported our efforts to help members and the communities we serve in any way we could because it is our community, too.

Worldwide, millions of young people will be unemployed in the course of COVID-19. From India, Italy, Spain, and Brazil to the United States, the virus does not discriminate, yet its economic and social impact is unevenly distributed. Workers in tourism, the arts, retail, education, and all informal workers are the hardest hit. Low-income, marginalized, working-class people and immigrants are more adversely affected. Income inequality is growing, confidence in governments is eroding, and more and more people are embracing nationalism and populism.

In 2015 former Nokia employees, many of whom had registered many patents during their time at Nokia, set up A. Vipunen, a cooperative of inventors. It now has over 160 inventors, of whom it helps to develop and commercialise the inventions. It provides free advice and mentoring, helps make a business plan and patent the innovation. And, perhaps most importantly, it provides a community of experienced inventors that have weekly meetings open for all members, where they can socialise and share their ideas.

The cooperative community has lost a tremendous spirit this week with the passing of Elandria Williams, a visionary agitator and unparalleled educator. Elandria was an immense force within the new economy space – a huge, joyous spirit and a powerful organizer who served in so many capacities — from the Highlander Center, to the PeoplesHub, to the founding board of The Democracy at Work Institute.

Want to learn about the Co-op Principles and how they help your co-op meet member needs? Take this interactive course today!

Take the course at Northwest Community Development Center

In a back room of the Tenino Depot Museum, a modest sandstone building in a city of less than 2,000 in Washington State, there is a rickety old machine that officials believe could help save the community from looming economic collapse: With it, money is literally being made from trees.

The National Cooperative Resource Ecosystem Map is part of a broader University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives project called “Collective Action in Rural Communities: Mapping Opportunities for Cooperative Conversion and Start-up.” It is funded by the National Institute for Agriculture’s Agriculture Food Research Initiative.