blogginess

— Don Kreis, Hanover Consumer Cooperative Society & Erbin Crowell, Cooperative Fund of New England

This was another great session full of lots of valuable information.  I’m in a hurry though so i’m going to make this one snappy!

First off, our co-op heritage is one of an integrated cooperative economy.  This means stretching across sectors.  And [...]

— Ann Hoyt, University of Wisconsin

This one was a GOOD one!  This topic could be it’s own semester-long college course.  But obviously we had to breeze through the material in an hour and a half.  I am not a history buff, and i took notes as best i could, so consider this a disclaimer.  I’ll [...]

— Mark G., Michael Healy, Bentley Lein, CDS Consulting Co-op

Understanding the board’s role as leaders/pioneers will naturally result in more effective leadership and member linkage.  Not news to us board members who spent the recent board retreat exploring this very subject.  So, maybe not all of this workshop was news to me per se, but [...]

— Sarah Zaug, The Wedge, HR manager

There was plenty of discussion which led to some worthwhile take-aways.  Such as:

Supporting the GM/Link – This role is difficult and lonely.  We often see and hear that Lori is stressed, overworked, and working looong hours.  How can we better support the Co-Manager filling this role?  The better equipped [...]

The juicy bits of the conference have finally commenced bright and early this morning with the keynote address.  Speakers were Ann Hoyt, of the University of Wisconsin Co-op Extension Program and main organizer of these annual CCMA gatherings.  Adam Schwartz, VP of Member Svcs. for NCBA, and Mark Meyer, CEO of the Filene Institute, a [...]

I just thought this was too hilarious:  In a room full of cooperators from all over the country i find Lori (People’s), Holly (Food Front), and Courtney (Alberta) standing around a table gabbing for the better part of the evening. [...]

Hey Boardies! If you’re out there i need your help! There are way too many great-sounding seminars to attend and i need to figure out which ones to attend! And soon! So here’s the break-down, starting with Friday AM:

Friday June 12th 10:30am—12:00pm:

Winning in Tough Economic Times (Michael Sansolo, Sansolo Solutions LLC) [...]

Here are the pix i snapped from our tour today.  We almost avoided the rain but had a blast anyway!

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Hula hoops and humongous KALE

2L soda bottles make a [...]

Tour time: headed out to the east end neighborhood for a tour of some interesting-sounding sites.
First is the Garden dreams urban farm. An urban sustainable farm in the midst of a struggling neighborhood Then a tour of our host co-op, the East End Food Co-op. Then Construction junction, my guess is [...]

Hello to all from overcast Pittsburgh, PA. I’m here for the 53rd annual Consumer Cooperative Management Association conference. I’ll be serving as a representative to the Board of Directors for People’s Food Co-op, as well as emissary to the IS4C/Fannie software projects. I hope to use this great opportunity to sponge up [...]