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 [...]
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, [...]
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.
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 [...]
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. [...]
Keystone Development Center
KDC’s mission is to sustain communities, economies, and resources through cooperatively owned businesses. As a provider of technical assistance (TA) to cooperatives and other agriculture-related businesses throughout the Mid-Atlantic, KDC is well positioned to provide support in the areas of technical assistance for businesses wishing to form as cooperatives. With over 20 years of cooperative development experience and a long-standing commitment to cooperatives in the agriculture and food business sector, KDC brings an extensive amount of relevant experience including technical assistance, capacity building, business planning, organizational analysis, IT assistance, education & training, [...]
Cooperative Development Institute
The Cooperative Development Institute (CDI) is the Northeast’s Center for cooperative business development. Founded in 1994 by cooperative leaders across industry sectors, CDI’s mission is to build vibrant economies through the creation and development of successful cooperatively structured enterprises in diverse communities in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, and New York. While our focus is rural and regional, we contribute to innovative economic development strategies on national and global levels. We envision an economy in which people work together to achieve their common goals, ensure access to quality jobs [...]