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. [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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.
Rocky Mountain Farmers Union
The RMFU Cooperative & Economic Development Center was formed in 1995. During the past decade as an integral part of Rocky Mountain Farmers Union Educational and Charitable Foundation, the Co-op Center has worked with and facilitated the growth of over 80 cooperatives, LLCs, and other associations and partnerships across Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. Currently over 50% of those businesses are still in operation today. Highlights of this effort are the Colorado Farm and Art Market, Family Farmers Seed Cooperative, Organic Seed Alliance, Mountain States Lamb Cooperative, La Montanita Food Cooperative and the High Plains [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Montana Cooperative Development Center
The MCDC a stand-alone 501c(3) nonprofit corporation. As the statewide resource for cooperative development, MCDC works with new and existing co-ops and other groups to evaluate co-op business models and strategies to meet their objectives. Throughout the state of Montana, MCDC has a team of cooperative development specialists dedicated to locally promoting the cooperative model as a viable alternative for rural business development. This team of professionals works to foster the development of new cooperatives and helps to improve existing cooperatives. MCDC works with groups across Montana to develop innovative cooperative business in retail, fitness, manufacturing, agriculture, marketing, housing, [...]
Mission West Community Development Partners
The mission of Mission West Community Development Partners is to “enhance the quality of life and economic well-being of all residents of Lake County and the Flathead Indian Reservation” Established in 1995, LCCDC is a regional development organization that has proven to be exceedingly effective for Western Montana. Our collective efforts have resulted in economic development, affordable housing, and community infrastructure projects worth more than $58 million since 1995. Business development activities have created or retained more than 500 jobs in the local economy. Our Cooperative Development Center was established in 1999. [...]