Governance Archives - CooperationWorks!

Network Collaboration: Farmers’ Co-op Empowers Northwest Hmong Farmers
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Network Collaboration: Farmers’ Co-op Empowers Northwest Hmong Farmers

Network Collaboration: Farmers’ Co-op Empowers Northwest Hmong Farmers

Northwest Agriculture Business Center Provides Technical Assistance to Hmong Farmers The Washington Hmong Farmers Cooperative (WHFC) is a newly formed Cooperative that exists to serve and expand the market potential of Hmong Farmers in the Puget Sound region. The Hmong migrated from southern China in the nineteenth century to the mountainous areas of Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. During the Vietnam War the Hmong worked with the American CIA in the “secret war” in Laos and were forced to flee their homeland after the victory of the communists. After spending time in refugee [...]

By Alex Stone|2023-10-23T10:58:05-07:00October 17th, 2023|Comments Off

Ed Potter
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Ed Potter

Ed Potter

Ed is an international cooperative development practitioner with over 20 years of experience working in North American, Latin American, and Caribbean countries. He previously served as executive director of the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation’s Americas Regional Association (ICMIF/Americas), representing 67 cooperative and mutual insurers from Canada to Argentina. He co-founded the Cooperative Law and Regulation Initiative (CLARITY), which promotes cooperative legal and regulatory reform and advocacy with secondary and tertiary cooperatives in developing economies. Ed led a USAID Cooperative Development Program grant supporting ICMIF/Americas members’ capacity to develop and deliver affordable microinsurance financial [...]

By Alex Stone|2023-07-19T10:20:00-07:00July 17th, 2023|Comments Off

Frank Cetera
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Frank Cetera

Frank Cetera

Frank Cetera is an Advanced Certified Business Advisor with 10-years service for Onondaga SBDC - Syracuse, NY. He specializes in Employee-Ownership. Frank’s business and community developer experience includes the following. CDCU/CDFI Cooperative Federal Credit Union Board Member/Chair (since 2010/2012 respectively). And living in and co-managing two housing cooperatives. As well as member and volunteer of two retail grocery cooperatives. And professional presentations including twice at statewide NYSBDC Staff Training, Eastern Conference for Workforce Democracy at Fordham Law in NYC, New Economy Coalition’s CommonBound Conference at SUNY-Buffalo, North Country Symposium at St. [...]

By Alex Stone|2021-02-22T16:17:27-08:00February 5th, 2019|Comments Off

Corrigan Nadon Nichols
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Corrigan Nadon Nichols

Corrigan Nadon Nichols

Corrigan Consulting provides a broad range of technical and training services for cooperatives and democratic, community-based organizations, including business planning, commercial loan consulting, board training, accounting system setup, leadership coaching, and back-office bookkeeping. Corrigan Nadon-Nichols previously served as the Director of Development for NASCO, supporting start-up and expanding housing cooperatives, and the general manager for Qumbya Housing Cooperative in Chicago, IL.

By Alex Stone|2019-03-07T09:04:40-08:00January 24th, 2019|Comments Off

Margaret Bau
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Margaret Bau

Margaret Bau

USDA Cooperative Services focuses on co-op education, development, legal information, research, and farmer co-op statistics. We strive to connect co-ops with resources within USDA Rural Development and across the federal government. CW member Margaret Bau has been engaged in co-op development since 1998 across her home state of Wisconsin and nationally since 2015. Margaret has assisted in the formation of over 35 cooperatives in industries as diverse as homecare worker co-ops in long-term care, the forest products industry, distributing local foods into regional institutions, arts marketing and galleries, ownership conversions, disability services, [...]

By Samantha Foust|2023-01-06T11:51:44-08:00September 25th, 2017|Comments Off

Matthew Epperson
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Matthew Epperson

Matthew Epperson

Matthew Epperson (pronouns he/him) is a southern cooperator based in Athens, Georgia. He grew up in Tampa, FL where he became a first-degree black belt (in Tang Su Doo, Aikido & Jujitsu) before relocating to Athens in 2008 for love and education. He is a worker at Daily Groceries Co-op (a consumer-owned retail food co-op), where he has worked for the past 8 years in various capacities, now human resources manager and bookkeeper. He's a graduate (2015) of the Masters of Management: Co-operatives and Credit Unions program through Saint Mary's University. Also [...]

By Samantha Foust|2021-02-22T16:18:27-08:00September 25th, 2017|Comments Off

Virginia Foundation for Agriculture, Innovation, and Rural Sustainability
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Virginia Foundation for Agriculture, Innovation, and Rural Sustainability

Virginia Foundation for Agriculture, Innovation, and Rural Sustainability

The Virginia Foundation for Agriculture, Innovation and Rural Sustainability will assist rural Virginians in developing and advancing their agricultural, economic and social interests to enhance their quality of life. We provide technical assistance to new and existing rural cooperatives, mutually-owned businesses, farm and forestry associations and communities engaged in improving their economic condition for the mutual benefit of their members/owners/citizens. Technical assistance is provided organizational development and governance, strategic planning, feasibility analysis, business/enterprise/market planning, finance and grant assistance. We are a long standing USDA-funded rural cooperative development center. We assist individual farms, [...]

By Alex Stone|2022-07-20T16:38:04-07:00September 25th, 2017|Comments Off

South Carolina Center for Cooperative and Enterprise Development
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South Carolina Center for Cooperative and Enterprise Development

South Carolina Center for Cooperative and Enterprise Development

The Center for Cooperative and Enterprise Development is dedicated to enhancing and expanding local food and agricultural businesses in South Carolina. The Center and partners provide technical assistance to cooperatives, mutually-owned businesses, and other small business within multiple industries, but with a strong focus on agricultural businesses. Primary activities are cooperative formation, business planning, feasibility studies, cooperative financing, grant writing, assisting producer associations, and new business development.

By Alex Stone|2022-07-20T16:29:18-07:00September 25th, 2017|Comments Off

Northwest Cooperative Development Center (NWCDC)
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Northwest Cooperative Development Center (NWCDC)

Northwest Cooperative Development Center (NWCDC)

Fostering community economic development primarily through the cooperative business model since 1979! NWCDC is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3), organization devoted to assisting new and existing cooperative businesses, from daycare centers to credit unions. NWCDC primarily supports cooperatives in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho but has also supported projects as far away as Alaska and Hawai’i. Founded by cooperatives in 1979, the Center has grown into the Northwest’s leading provider of services for co-op business development. We have a long history of collaborating with communities, governments, economic development agencies and other cooperatives, sharing expertise and building cross-sector support for new [...]

By Samantha Foust|2022-12-14T10:06:13-08:00September 25th, 2017|Comments Off

North Dakota Association of RECs
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North Dakota Association of RECs

North Dakota Association of RECs

The Rural Electric and Telecommunications Development Center adds new wealth to the economy by creating, retaining, and expanding rural cooperatives and other primary sector business enterprises in North Dakota. The Center provides consultation, technical assistance and financing programs. The Rural Electric and Telecommunications Development Center has been providing federally-supported technical assistance to rural areas since 1994. Operating under the umbrella of the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives (NDAREC) and the North Dakota Association of Telecommunications Cooperatives (NDATC), the Center has come to be recognized as a major development player in [...]

By Samantha Foust|2023-01-06T16:04:50-08:00September 25th, 2017|Comments Off