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starting a cooperative
In our work, we have often found that residents in revitalizing areas want to explore the role that a food cooperative or similar community-owned enterprise can play in building wealth, providing needed services and employment, and helping to improve their neighborhood - to help turn the area where they live into a "people's empowerment zone."
Here we have put together some resources that can help in making these ideas a reality.
What is a cooperative?
Cooperatives work on the principle that by working together people are able to accomplish much more than if they worked alone.
A cooperative, or co-op, is a way of organizing a business so that it is owned by the members that use it or run it. It is a way in which community-based businesses have traditionally organized because it ensures that whatever profits are generated remain with the customers and workers of the business rather than being sent off to shareholders who might live in another city altogether.
How does a cooperative compare to other models of organizing a business?
Types of cooperatives
There are many more cooperatives around us that people realize: credit unions, for example are a type of cooperative, as are some agricultural associations and even taxi companies.
The type of cooperative that most people are familiar with is a food cooperative. Typically, these are small community-based grocery stores that have as their goal increasing access to wholesome, healthy food at affordable prices for people living in and around that community.
Mercado Central, at Bloomington and Lake, is a cooperative business incubator that has helped immigrant entrepreneurs succeed.
Another type of cooperative, the business incubator, allows aspiring entrpreneurs to pool their resources and share in the expenses that are required for starting their businesses.
Cooperative links and resources
- from Coop Grocers' Network: how to start a food co-op
- from Cooperative Life: starting a cooperative
- Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund
- Cooperative business resources
- from New Internationalist: Co-operatives issue
- How does a cooperative compare to other models of organizing a business?