Co-op week is the opportunity for Canadian co-operative and credit union members to celebrate the fact that they have collectively helped to build this country.  Co-op Week is recognition of their continuing contributions at home and abroad.

Co-op Week is always celebrated during the same week as International Credit Union Day, which is the third Thursday in October of each year.

Co-op Week 2015 will take place from October 11-17.

This year the theme is Our Co-op Advantage. Share your views on the co-operative advantage with others across the country by contacting Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada. Don't forget to share your event dates and event photos and show your co-op pride this October.

For more information visit Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada

The History of Co-op Week in Canada

Co-op Week has been celebrated by francophones throughout Canada since 1958. In 1981 celebrations were held among anglophone co-ops in the Maritimes and Saskatchewan. The event went national in 1982 with the encouragement of the Co-operative Union of Canada, a predecessor of the Canadian Co-operative Association.

Co-op Week appears to be a uniquely Canadian phenomenon. In the US, October is Co-op Month, and the International Co-operative Alliance and United Nations have an International Day of Co-operatives on the first Saturday in July.

International Credit Union Day, co-ordinated by the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU), has been celebrated on the third Thursday of October since 1948.

Noon to 1pm Mountain Time

This year Albertans will put billions of dollars into RRSPs. The majority of this money will be invested outside of the province.  However, several Albertan community are bucking this trend. They are investing directly in their local economy. This has led to the revitalization of businesses districts, created jobs, and increased vibrancy. By investing locally, community members receive both a financial and social return. One only has to look to the communities of Sangudo and Crowsnest Pass to see the impact.

This webinar will teach participants about raising local capital, to finance local business development. Unleashing Local Capital is a new and innovative local financing program that supports communities in establishing Opportunity Development Co-operatives (ODCs) that pool capital within a designated community using RRSP eligible shares.

This lunchtime webinar will teach you everything you need to get started, as well as provide an opportunity to ask questions and discuss your local business development project. It will include: The webinar will include

• An overview of the project, drawing from successful examples in Alberta
• The process of raising capital in your community
• Rules and regulations related to local financing, and how to raise capital in accordance to the current rules

At the end of this session you will be prepared to get started on a local financing project in your community! If you are involved in local business, community economic development, or are an entrepreneur this webinar will provide you with some excellent new information and insight into how local financing can be used to build strong and vibrant communities. Opportunity Development Co-operatives can be used to finance:

• Expansion, renovation, and upgrading of existing businesses
• Revitalization projects of a once-bustling main-street
• Succession planning that will keep an important business in the community
• New businesses

Opportunity Development Co-operatives also:

• Keep wealth in communities
• Let you invest in your community
• Connects you to a local business and the local economy in a meaningful way

Register for Introduction to Unleashing Local Capital

For more information please contact Paul Cabaj, Director of Co-operative Development at pcabaj at acca.coop

9am to 10am Eastern Time

More information to come

Source: BALLE

1pm Eastern (10am Pacific, 2pm Atlantic)

Midtown Detroit, Inc. (MDI) is a non-profit planning and development agency charged with revitalization of Detroit's Woodward Corridor. MDI is involved in over 30 collaborative projects and programs that address the challenges and opportunities of the greater Midtown Detroit community.

Over the last decade, MDI and its predecessor organization, the University Cultural Center Association, have raised $56 million for a variety of initiatives including the Midtown Greenway Loop, restoration and conversion of six historic homes into a boutique hotel, the Woodward Avenue Streetscape Enhancement project, the creation of the Sugar Hill Arts District, the construction of two community gardens and a Green Alley, the renovation of many commercial facades throughout the district, and a matching grants security enhancement program for property and business owners.

This webinar will explore how MDI works as an effective non-profit shaping the revitalization of Midtown Detroit and how its successful initiatives are leveraging creative placemaking practice at different scales to achieve positive returns across the district.

You Will Learn

• How creative placemaking is informing and shaping Detroit’s revitalization
• How MDI’s different projects have succeeded and why
• How Midtown Detroit makes decisions in a context of seemingly endless opportunities
• Midtown Detroit’s key tools and strategies in project and community development
• Building mixed-income housing, commercial, and arts-related uses on vacant properties; transforming underutilized/unsafe spaces into community assets
• How MDI builds stakeholder confidence and partnerships in creative placemaking projects that achieve multiple bottom lines

Register for The Revitalization of Detroit and the Non-Profit that Could

About the Speakers

Susan T. Mosey has been the Executive Director of Midtown Detroit, Inc. (MDI) in Detroit, Michigan for twenty seven years. This non-profit organization is responsible for community development, marketing, real estate, small business development and arts programming within Detroit’s University Cultural Center and New Center districts – an area now known as Midtown. MDI also manages public space maintenance and security initiatives for the district. Projects that have been undertaken by the organization under her direction include public improvements such as new streetscapes and park development, greenway planning and construction, and residential and commercial real estate development and management. MDI’s newest initiative is the Live Midtown Residential Incentive Program that encourages employees of the anchors to move to Midtown. The organization also produces a number of signature arts events, including Art X Detroit, DLECTRICITY and Noel Night.

Pru Robey is a passionate advocate for the transformative impact the arts and culture have on the lives of individuals and communities. Throughout her career, the development of innovative, multi-sector approaches to support cultural sector development, creative economy activation and sustainable urban regeneration has been a centerpiece of her work. Pru has over 30 years of experience as a consultant, researcher, manager, promoter and funder in the arts, culture and creative industries in Canada and the UK. As Vice President and Creative Placemaking Lab Director at Toronto-based Artscape, Pru takes the lead in new project research and development and on major research initiatives; directs a suite of programs and services designed to build the capacity of communities internationally to undertake creative placemaking; and advises communities internationally on strategies to support city-building through the arts. She designed and teaches Canada’s only undergraduate course in Creative Placemaking for the University of British Columbia and is a member of the Placemaking Leadership Council.

SOURCE: Artscape

12:00pm - 1:30pm Eastern Time

This is an information webinar for those who are thinking about taking one of the courses through the CoopZone On-line Training Program. This webinar is open to anyone. 

Please RSVP to Hazel Corcoran (hazel@canadianworker.coop) by the end of the day on June 14th. You will receive the dial-in information by the start of the day of the call. (If you do not receive it by then, please write again at that time.) 

CoopZone offers various levels of training:

• The Introduction to Co-op Development course is appropriate for people interested in understanding the types and roles of co-ops and the basic co-op development process but who will not be active developers; it lasts half as many weeks as Foundations, and it runs from late October through March; 
• The Foundations Program course lasts for one year (mid-October - May).  This level is designed for individuals who are in the position of advising groups interested in exploring the creation of a co-operative enterprise;
• The Advanced Program lasts for two years and both years will be offered each year if there is sufficient demand. This level is designed for people who seek to provide full development services to co-operatives.

All of these on-line courses are designed to fit around a full-time job (a few hours per week). There is a new Course Director, Eric Tusz-King. Experienced co-op developers provide mentoring to students.

Learn more about the CoopZone program and how to apply

Download the brochure

Here's what some of the students have had to say:

"The course is concise, informative and interactive. Mentors and course director are very knowledgeable, skilled, experienced, approachable and helpful. The readings and tools were very useful." ~ Billy Granger, SEED Winnipeg.

"I would absolutely recommend the CoopZone program to anybody interested. The course is pretty amazing in the way that it creates a common community amongst us aspiring co-op developers and several fully established and tremendously experienced ones. The instructors are great, and the mentoring system gives me the chance to have hours of one-on-one time with an expert in my desired field." ~ Joel Ratcliffe, Ontario.

"The Advanced Co-op Developer training has enabled me to connect with other Co-op Developers and a Mentor which allowed me to apply what I am learning directly to the groups and projects I am working on, in real time. I would recommend this program for anyone interested in Co-op Development as we are often working alone or in small teams in communities; the course allows you to feel part of a co-op team!" ~ Amanda Hachey, CEC-NB