August 2009

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Profile - Association of Co-op Educators Conference

In July, CCEDNet's Brendan Reimer attended the Association of Co-op Educators (ACE) conference in Minneapolis that brought together co-op educators, developers, and leaders from Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico.

There was some great Canadian content, as the current president of the ACE is Roger Herman of the University of Saskatchewan, the winner of the William Hlusko Award for Young Co-operative Educators was Tanya Gracie of the Canadian Co-op Association, and one of the speakers on Aboriginal Co-ops was Louise Champagne from Winnipeg's Neechi Foods Worker Co-op. As always, the highlight was being able to see CED in action by visiting several very successful local co-ops:

  • Land of Lakes is mostly a Dairy Co-operative with 300,000 farmers as member-owners, $200 billion in sales annually, 9000 employees, and a whole International Development Division that is creating co-ops around the world (30 projects at any one time), such as a dairy co-op with Iraqi widows in Fallujah.
  • Great River Energy is a non-profit co-operative with $1.8 billion in assets owned by 28 rural energy co-ops, which are consumer co-ops made up of 645,000 member-owners (its how energy first got to rural US across the country). Their new headquarters was the first building in Minnesota to achieve a LEED Platinum certification.
  • The Seward Co-op was founded in 1972 as a worker co-op, but changed to a consumer co-op in 1983. Located in Minneapolis in a community of progressive folks, students, leaders self-described as coming from an anarchic background, youth, and an increasing community of Somalis. The Seward Co-op has $1.7 million in sales, 170 employees, and makes $50,000 in donations to the community annually.
  • The Bike Hub is worker co-op that operates a bike shop with both sales and repair services. They are made up of 9 member owners, and keep the co-op principle of "commitment to the community" by donating 5% of their profits to various community initiatives.

Alberta CED News

Want to Start a Co-op?

ACCA's Co-op Development Program offers a range of co-op development services and resources. The following links will help get you started in the development of your co-op:


 

2009 BALTA Symposium

BALTA's 2009 symposium has been scheduled for November 24-25 in Calgary. It will be preceded by a one day forum on November 23. This will be targeted for a broader audience, but include BALTA members as well. The theme of the forum will be looking at innovative financing/resourcing models for the social economy. The symposium will have a number of sessions focusing on various themes linking together areas of BALTA's research program. Check the BALTA website for updates


CED Tool: CIEL's Beyond Economic Survival: 97 Ways Small Communities Can Thrive

This guide identifies important quality of life factors that can help communities improve themselves in areas that really matter. While such things as unemployment rates, income per capita and air quality are all important and available statistics, they do not always give a complete picture of the vitality of community. Download the guide.


National CED News

Food Security and the Social Economy in Canada

In the latest edition of the Canadian Social Economy Hub's Newsletter:

  • Redesigning Canada's Food System
  • LifeCycles is Sharing Backyards
  • Fresh, local produce comes to Toronto with FoodShare
  • University Campus' Serve-up Socially and Environmentally Responsible Meals
  • New Approaches to the Health Promoting School: Participation in Sustainable Food Systems
  • The Lay of the Land: Local Food Initiatives in Canada

Social Enterprise Angels - 2009 Request for Letters of Intent

As part of the Third Canadian Conference on Social Enterprise, three lucky (and compelling) social entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to pitch their new or existing social enterprise models to a panel of judges ("angels") in pursuit of a $30,000 investment. Do you have an idea to pitch?
Click here for the application form


Why buy-local campaigns make cents

In 2002, the city of Austin planned to extend about $2 million in incentives to a developer who wanted to build a new Borders bookstore on a prominent downtown corner. This was an unpleasant prospect for the owners of two local independent businesses, BookPeople and Waterloo Records. If the deal had gone through they would have faced a big competitor located directly across the street. Read on...


The Lay of the Land: Local Food Initiatives in Canada

The Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA) has recently released a research report, The Lay of the Land: Local Food Initiatives in Canada, which provides an initial overview of local food initiatives in this country. The report charts the geographical distribution and types of activities that make up Canada's local food movement, including co-operatives and umbrella organizations.

Download a PDF version of the report.


Co-ops Resilient in Economic Crisis

A new International Labour Organization (ILO) report provides compelling evidence that co-ops are more resilient than other business models in times of economic crisis. The report uses historical and current evidence from around the world to explain the sustainability of co-operatives and why this form of enterprise can withstand crisis. It also makes recommendations for ways in which the ILO can strengthen its efforts to promote co-operatives.

Download the report


Job Postings

For the latest CED postings visit the National and Regional job pages on CCEDNet's website

National | AB | SK | MB | North

Positions to post? Send them to breimer@ccednet-rcdec.ca

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